Transcript Day-2
Astronomy 1010-H Planetary Astronomy Fall_2015 Day-2 Course Announcements • • Smartworks Practice: Due Fri. (Aug. 28) Smartworks Chapter 1: Due Wed. (Sep. 2) • • • Read Chapter 1 (if you haven’t already) Read Chapter 2.1, 2.2 Physics Dept. picnic – Friday – come by the office for details. Still time to register for ASTR-2010 – Problems in Planetary Astronomy • • • 1600-1700 Wednesdays, E-118 Introduction to Observational Astronomy • 1830-2130 Wednesdays, B-310 A Bit About Moi Why we will be doing stuff other than lecture in class From How People Learn: “Students enter your lecture hall with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for the purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom” How People Learn, National Research Council, National Academy Press, 2000 Active Learning Active learning is when students take active responsibility for participating in and monitoring of their own learning by engaging in critical reasoning about the ideas presented in the class. In other words: you must do it, you won’t learn it if I just tell it to you Colored Card Question The Observations Requirement for this class requires you to: A. go out on your own and observe the night sky once a week for the entire semester. B. attend at least one 1st Quarter Observing Night and one Dark Sky Night and write an Observations Report. C. buy a telescope and observe specific stars and constellations with it. D. learn the names and locations of 30 stars and 25 constellations in the night sky. Another Colored Card Question During the semester there will be: A. B. C. D. 5 exams plus a final exam 4 exams plus a final exam 3 exams but no final exam 2 exams: a midterm and a final exam Introduction To understand the origins of our planet, we need to understand how our solar system & galaxy formed. To understand how life formed, we need to understand the chemical evolution of the galaxy and the universe. This course in a Nutshell, We Have to Explain How to go from a gaseous nebula … Through a series of steps … Form a Universe, Form galaxies and stars, Form Planets, Evolve Life, And end up with … … This We Live in a Strange Universe So, Let’s Get Started What Is A Planet? 1) It orbits the central star of the system. 2) It has to have sufficient mass to self- gravitate to a sphere. 3) It has to have cleared its orbit of “debris” Classes of Planets 1) Terrestrial – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars 2) Gas Giants – Jupiter, Saturn 3) Ice Giants – Uranus, Neptune 4) Ice Dwarfs (Plutoids) – Pluto, Eris, Sedna, Makemake, … Yet Another Colored Card Question Texting/social networking is acceptable behavior in class. A. Strongly disagree. B. Disagree. C. Neutral. D. Agree. E. Strongly agree. One more Colored Card Question The homework for this class will be: A. assignments handed out in class and due the following week. B. assignments posted on the class D2L website and due in class the following day. C. assignments in the online SmartWork system plus (possibly) some. assignment handed out in class. D. None of the above, there is no homework in this class. How Big is Everything? Powers of 10 Zoomable