Week 1 (Aug. 25, 27, 29)
In anticipation of the coming weeks, you should begin to peruse the textbook, A Student's Guide through the Great Physics Texts, Volume 1: The Heavens and the Earth. In particular, you should read the Preface (pp. vii - xv) and browse through the table of contents (pp. xix - xxvii) in order to familiarize yourself with the organization and features of the book. You might also want to finger through the chapters to get a feel for the book.
Quiz: First day of class; no quiz!
Homework exercises: Download and install Stellarium on your personal computer or electronic device (the bigger the screen the better). A download link is available in the sidebar. Spend at least one leisurely hour looking at the motion of the sun, the moon, and the planets on Stellarium. This does not have to be all in one sitting. If you need a little assistance, the videos below will lead you through the basic features of Stellarium.
Hints: When using Stellarium, be sure your location is initially set to Milwaukee; use the date and time window to increment time in hours, days, and months while observing the positions of celestial objects such as the sun, moon, planets and stars.
Upload to Canvass: To demonstrate your newly acquired skills: take two screenshots of the sky on the date of your birth (e.g. July 3, 2007) and submit them. One of these should clearly show the sun and its surrounding constellation art at noon on the day you were born; the other should show an interesting feature of the night sky. This is due on Saturday at the end of week 1.
Introduction to Stellarium (5 videos):
Stars and Constellations (2 videos; I put two here from next week's material so you can get a head start)
Laboratory exercises: In the evening astronomy laboratory over the next two lab sessions, we will patiently assemble a horizon globe and use it to familiarize ourselves with the motion of the sun, moon and planets. The Horizon Globe is a wonderful little mechanical model of the sky—a bit like an armillary sphere. Relax and take your time. Don’t rush; you have two weeks to complete the following laboratory exercises. You are welcome to come into the lab to work on some of these exercises during the week if you’d like. I assure you: the more quality time that you spend on them, the better will be your grasp of everything we do in subsequent astronomy lectures and laboratory exercises.
Homework exercises: Download and install Stellarium on your personal computer or electronic device (the bigger the screen the better). A download link is available in the sidebar. Spend at least one leisurely hour looking at the motion of the sun, the moon, and the planets on Stellarium. This does not have to be all in one sitting. If you need a little assistance, the videos below will lead you through the basic features of Stellarium.
Hints: When using Stellarium, be sure your location is initially set to Milwaukee; use the date and time window to increment time in hours, days, and months while observing the positions of celestial objects such as the sun, moon, planets and stars.
Upload to Canvass: To demonstrate your newly acquired skills: take two screenshots of the sky on the date of your birth (e.g. July 3, 2007) and submit them. One of these should clearly show the sun and its surrounding constellation art at noon on the day you were born; the other should show an interesting feature of the night sky. This is due on Saturday at the end of week 1.
Introduction to Stellarium (5 videos):
Stars and Constellations (2 videos; I put two here from next week's material so you can get a head start)
Laboratory exercises: In the evening astronomy laboratory over the next two lab sessions, we will patiently assemble a horizon globe and use it to familiarize ourselves with the motion of the sun, moon and planets. The Horizon Globe is a wonderful little mechanical model of the sky—a bit like an armillary sphere. Relax and take your time. Don’t rush; you have two weeks to complete the following laboratory exercises. You are welcome to come into the lab to work on some of these exercises during the week if you’d like. I assure you: the more quality time that you spend on them, the better will be your grasp of everything we do in subsequent astronomy lectures and laboratory exercises.
- Lab exercise 1. Prepare your astronomy laboratory notebook. Get out your notebook and skip two or three pages (for a table of contents). Now put your name, the date, your lab partner’s name, and a title at the top of a fresh sheet in your notebook. As you work through each exercise below, label the section in your notebook, and write a short paragraph in your notebook summarizing what you have learned and any difficulties that you encountered. In each section, do not move on to a new section until you have written down appropriate information for the previous section.
- Lab exercise 2. Assemble horizon globe. First, take a picture of the un-assembled horizon globe pieces. To assemble the globe, you will need an assembly sheet and some patience. Be sure to place rubber o-rings where necessary. Gentle pressure must be applied at some points in the assembly process. Please do not apply too much force; the pieces may break! Take a picture of your assembled globe. Write a short paragraph in your notebook summarizing what you have learned during the assembly exercise, and any difficulties that you encountered. Be sure to tape both photos in your astronomy observation notebook.
- Lab exercise 3. Horizon Globe getting started: the right tool for astronomy. Read pages 6-15 in the pdf file titled “Horizon Globe—getting started”. Perform the activities as you go. Again, write a short paragraph in your notebook about what you have learned and any difficulties you encountered in these exercises. No need to be wordy, just clear and succinct.
- Lab exercise 4. Sun and Moon exercises. Read pages 16 - 61 in the pdf file titled “Horizon globe—sun and moon”. The text is large and there are many images, so don’t be intimidated. As you read, do the exercises. When you are finished, write a paragraph in your notebook detailing what you have learned, and any difficulties you encountered in these exercises.
- Lab exercise 5. Constellation exercises. Read pages 62 - 89 in the pdf file titled “Horizon globe—constellations.” As you read, do the exercises. When you are finished, write a paragraph in your notebook detailing what you have learned, and any difficulties you encountered in these exercises.
- Lab exercise 6. Planets exercises. Read pages 90 - 115 in the pdf file titled “Horizon globe—planets.” As you read, do the exercises. When you are finished, write a paragraph in your notebook detailing what you have learned, and any difficulties you encountered in these exercises.
- Lab exercise 7. Seasons exercises. Read pages 116 - 135 in the pdf file titled “Horizon globe—seasons.” As you read, do the exercises. When you are finished, write a paragraph in your notebook detailing what you have learned, and any difficulties you encountered in these exercises.
- Lab exercise 8. Summary and appendix. Read pages 136 - 140 in the pdf file titled “Horizon globe—more.” When you are finished, write a paragraph in your notebook detailing what you have learned, and any difficulties you encountered in these exercises.