PES 105        Fall 2001 General Astronomy I

Lecture Notes

• I. Introduction and History (Ch. 1 - 2)
  • Astronomy: Introduction, Scientific Method and Observation (8/21)
  • Observations, Constellations and Coordinate Systems (8/23)
  • Motions, tilt of Earth's axis, Phases of the Moon, Eclipses, Planet motions (8/28 - 8/30)
  • History and development of astronomy including Kepler's Laws (8/30 - 9/6)
  • Gravity and Newton's Laws of Motion, orbits (9/11)
• II. Light, Earth, Moon ( Ch. 3, 5, 6)
  • Light: Properties and Temperature (9/18 - 9/20)
  • Light: Spectroscopy and Atoms (9/20)
  • Earth: Properties, Interior, Surface (9/25 - 9/27)
  • Earth: Atmosphere, Magnetic Fields (9/27 - 10/2)
  • Moon (10/2, 10/9)
  • Models Review (10/2)
• III. The Other Planets (Ch 7- 10)
  • Overview of Solar System (10/11 - 10/16)
  • angular momentum (10/11)
  • Inner planets
    • Mercury (10/16 - 10/18)
    • Venus (10/18 - 10/23)
    • Mars (10/23 - 10/25)
    • summary of terrestrial planets (10/25)
  • Outer planets
    • Jupiter (10/30 - 11/1)
    • Saturn (11/1 - 11/6)
    • Uranus (11/13)
    • Neptune (11/15)
    • Pluto (11/20)
  • Meteors, Asteroids and Comets (11/27 - 11/29)
• IV. The Sun (Chapter 11) (12/4)
• V. Overview (Review) of Solar System (12/6)
• VI. Life in the Universe/Other Solar Systems (Essay 3, p. 539) (12/4 briefly)