AST 160 SPACE SCIENCE II:
This is document under development and has to be accessed often! Note the DATE: current version 4/22/2013) watch the stop points
NOTE: lecture and laboratory assignments are in the working stage watch for the "RED" STOP and under construction images.
NOTE: Laboratory exercises are listed below at the end of the homework assignments.
Syllabus: An Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics:
Prof. Irv Robbins (CSI-CUNY)
and cast of thousands!
TEXT: Please purchase in bookstore IF YOU DO NOT HAVE IT.
The book has a website at http://www.astronomyaphysicalperspective.com/, a list of errata are found there and be sure to correct your text with them..
GRADE POLICY :
Grade AVERAGE = +20% HW + 5% Laboratory preparation assignments +20% Laboratory Assignments +5% Observing requirement+ 50% (Midterm Exam + Comprehensive Final EXAM) + Extra Credit -excessive absence
ABSENCE POLICY: YOU ARE ALLOWED 15% CUTS (LECTURE: WE MEET 14 WEEKS FOR 3 HOURS OR I PERMIT 7 HOURS OF UNEXCUSED ABSENCE)
TWO CUTS OR 4 HRS MISSING LAB IS PERMISSIBLE. IF YOU MISS A LABORATORY EXERCISE YOU ARE STILL RESPONSIBLE TO DO IT. IE. MOST EXERCISES CAN BE DONE AT HOME EXCEPT FOR "CUPS" ONES. YOU CAN WORK ON MISSED EXERCISES IN THE LABORATORY DURING ASTRONOMY TUTORING HOURS WHICH WILL BE POSTED IN THE LAB.
On EXAMS YOU ARE PERMITTED 4 PAGES (8X11) OF NOTES (FRONT AND BACK). BE SURE TO BRING A CALCULATOR
Most software in our laboratory is web based. Some laboratory exercises require you to finish them at home!
GENERAL LINK TO ALL CLEA EXERCISES (some of which we use):Gettysburg College Project CLEA
LECTURE REVIEW:
LECTURE PRESENTATION will be AVAILABLE IN PDF FORMAT: FOLLOW THE NEXT LINK (ADOBE READER NEEDED)
HOME WORK SOLUTIONS:
SOLUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE IN PDF FORMAT: FOLLOW THE NEXT LINK (ADOBE READER NEEDED)
ASSIGNMENT POLICY!
When you instructed to finish the laboratory exercises hand them in for grading within one week you have an additional week grace until graded labs are returned. after that late exercises will be penalized significantly.
Written HW assignments below are due the week or session after they are given with no grace period. Due dates will be given and once answer are posted on this website, assignments are not acceptable. Please note, if you do not do them you lose from the grade formula above 25%. Even if you answers are wrong and your attempt is serious you can get good grades on a HW assignment. Trying in this class is very important, not doing is foolish!
Homework assignments
Assignment #1:The Nature of Space and Time= Special Relativity
(Was Einstein an alien?)
READ: Chapter 7
Chapter 7: "Questions" 1 (HW#1), Problems 1 (HW#2), 3 (HW#3), 4 (HW#4), 6 (HW#5), 7(HW#6),
"Computer problem" 7.1(HW#7)
(HW#8) Substitute the Lorentz equations 7.10 into R.2 (see lecture notes) to see if you Get R.1 which would demonstrate the transformation is the proper one for c to be constant in all frames moving at v!
Assignment #2: The Nature of Space and Time and Gravity = General Relativity Black Holes
READ: Chapter 8 and Section 12.4 (Binaries with Black Holes)
HW #2 Chapter 8: "Questions" 1 (HW#9) , 3 (HW#10)
Problems 2 (HW#11) , 3 (HW#12) , 6 (HW#13) , 7 (HW#14) , 8 (HW#15) , 10 (HW#16)
Chapter 12 (HW#17)Problem 12.9(note, inclination is the angle between the plane of the orbit of the two objects and a perpendicular plane to our line of sight ..see Fig 5.7)
Assignment #3: Stellar Evolution-The Main Sequence
Stellar Evolution-The Main Sequence
READ: Chapter 9 hw in two parts as follows
II: read 9.4-end
Questions
9.9(HW#22), 9.14(HW#23),
9.9(HW#24), 9.11(HW#25)
Assignment #4 ::Stellar Evolution-Stellar Old Age, Cepheids, Planetary Nebula,White Dwarf
READ:
Sections 10.1,10.2 and 10.3 and
10.4.1 ONLY
Questions 2 (HW#26),3 (HW#27),
Problems 1 (HW#28),2 (HW#29),6 (HW#30),9 (HW#31)
Assignment #5 :The Death of High Mass Stars-> Supernovae>Neutron stars> Pulsars and a word about stellar black holes
READ: Chapter 11.1, 11.2 (11.2.1,11.2.2 only), 11.3( 11.3.1,11.3.2 only), 11.4,11.5
Question 11.2(HW#32)
Problems 1(HW#33) (part a: recall: basic KE=1/2mv2,Part b: recall momentum conservation Mfvf=Mivi),
2(HW#34)( use equation 1.2b)
7(HW#35). (hint: if KE =GPE then the V is the escape velocity..eq 1/2 mv2 =GMm/R) M=neutron star mass m=particle mass
computer problem 1(HW#36)(see example 11.3 for g at surface and page 198 for dg/dr set up a spread sheet with formulas hand in and also show formulas used!)
Assignment #6 :Galaxies: Types, Star Formation in galaxies, why are there spiral structures?, Why we believe there is the mysterious Dark Matter in galaxies.
READ: all of Chapter 17
Questions 1 (HW#37),4 (HW#38),10
(HW#39)
Problems 1 (HW#40),2 (HW#41),6 (HW#42),9 (HW#43)
stop
Assignment
#?: Clusters of
galaxies READ:
Chapter 18 HW#5 Questions 5,11 Problems 2,3,8,11
Assignment
#:?
The Universe at large-Cosmology (the
origin of the universe) READ:
Chapter 20
Questions: 5,7, 8, 9 10,18, 19 Problems: working!!!!
Assignment
#?: THE
BIG BANG READ
Chapter 21 21.4,6,8 Assignment
#?: The Origin of Life-Evolution READ:
Chapter 27 HW
DUE: 27.6,7
laboratory exercises
In General: Manual data pages and related material should be printed before class and
introductory material should be read as preparation and any preparation
questions should be done and handed in when you arrive at the lab.
Lab 1 How to find stars and planets with a
star/planet finder
Lab 2 Some properties of the nearest star to
earth= the sun
PREPARATION: READ 6.1 and the begginnig of the lab
exercise link below
hand IN THE Answers TO THE Following QUESTIONS on
the day of the exercise only!
1. What is the mass of the Sun
2. Where is the source of the Sun's energy ie.
What part of the sun?
3. Where does the light we see come from, ie.
what part of the sun?
4: What is the stream of particles from the sun
into interplanetary space called? 5. Express the amount of rotation of a spherical body
in terms of an observed angular movement..show a formula in addition to defining
this concept.
What
is happening on the sun today click this-> to find out. SUN
TODAY Study
the lab exercise at Properties
of the Sun lab Do
all the measurements and calculations and fill out the worksheet to hand in. Add
a summary of what the exercise was all about to the worksheet for your lab
report.
Lab 3 The speed of light is a constant PREPARATION: READ 7.1.1 At the link BELOW read over the idea of the exercise, study the two student manuals
for this exercise Manual 1(all) and
Manual 2 (carefully to page 13) and print pages
needed for calculations and data entry before class. If you must please
print the manuals at home (not in class).
hand IN THE Answers TO THE Following QUESTIONS on
the day of the exercise only!
1. wHAT IS SO SPECIAL
ABOUT THE SPEED OF LIGHT?
2. "I eat green carrots" refers to?
3. why did ancient folks look to the heavens for
clocks?
4: Summarize how roemer discovered the speed of
light in a paragraph or two?
The Moons of Jupiter software link is found at the Ast 101 directory (follow
the yellow star!) on our system look for this image
Software for home installation found at-> JupLab.EXE
Lab 4 sTELLAR SPECTRA THE FAMILY OF STARS. PREPARATION: READ:?????? hand IN THE Answers TO THE Following QUESTIONS on
the day of the exercise only!
??????
The software link for our lab is found at the Ast 103 directory (follow
the yellow star!) on our system look for the image below Print pages
needed for calculations and data entry FROM THE STUDENT MANUAL BELOW before class. If you must please
print the manuals at home (not in class). Student manual at the link in this image->
Software for home installation found at-> SpecLab.EXE
Lab 5 rELATIVISTIC jETS OF SS433 PREPARATION: READ
ALL OF SECTION 12.5 hand IN THE Answers TO THE Following QUESTIONS on
the day of the exercise only!
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR THE EXERCISE
The Relativistic Jets of SS433
Lab 6 using cepheid's(variable stars) to find the distance
to a galaxy: distance to galaxy m81 PREPARATION: READ all of 10.2 in your text At the link BELOW read over the idea of the exercise,
follow every link to understand where it goes. Print the
worksheet
. If you must please print other links at home (not in class).
hand IN THE Answers TO THE Following QUESTIONS on
the day of the exercise only!
1. What is a variable star?
2. What are the characteristics of "mira", "cepheid"
and rr lyrae variables.?
3. what is a period -Luminosity (P-L) relation ?
4. How is a p-l relation used to find distance to
a celestial object?
NOTE: pay attention to the hints in the following
link.
on the spread sheet that contains the data from
the article
after you get your distance answers compare these to the
current research
answer of about 12,000,000 light years OR ABOUT 3.33 Mpc
(recall 1pc-3.26 ly)
From the article quoted and data given the best answer is
3.63 +/-
0.34Mpc
express the % difference of your values and this latter value and
add the % difference to your worksheet ie (measured
value-known)/known x 100 %
Lab 7 Pulsars
PREPARATION: READ SECTIONS 11.3.2 AND ESPECIALLY
11.4 in your textbook NEEDED FOR THE DISPERSION PART OF THE EXERCISE. go
to to the picture link below and read up to page 6 of the manual.
hand IN THE Answers TO THE Following QUESTIONS on
the day of the exercise only!
1.what is a pulsar?
2.What is meant by dispersion?
3. who was the first to discover pulsars?
4.what is a neutron star?
5. how do we observer pulsars?
The software link for our lab is found at the Ast 103 directory (follow
the yellow star!) on our system look for the image below Print pages
needed for calculations and data entry FROM THE STUDENT MANUAL BELOW before class. If you must please
print the manuals at home (not in class).
Student manual at the link in this image->
Software for home installation found at->
Radio
Astronomy of Pulsars
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OTHER
POSSIBILITIES
Lab using rr Lyrae period-luminosity(magnitude) law to determine distance to a globular
cluster( M4)
PREPARATION: REview all of 10.2 in your text especially
10.2.3 At the link BELOW read over the idea of the exercise, follow
every link to understand where it goes. Print the
data
sheet "calculations" and "questions" PDF file. If you must please
print other links at home (not in class).
hand IN THE Answer TO THE Following QUESTION on
the day of the exercise only!
1. From yoUR READING HOW ARE RR LYRAE STARS
IN THIS EXERCISE GOING TO BE USED FIND DISTANCE TO THE gLOBULAR cLUSTER? (SHOW
EQUATIONS ALSO).
EXERCISE BEGINS AT THE FOLLOWING LINK:
RR Lyrae Stars and the Distance to M4
Lab
properties of a planetary nebula (dying star) PREPARATION: READ 10.3 and begining of the exercise
found at the link below print pages
needed for calculations and data entry before class. If you must please
print the manuals at home (not in class).
hand IN THE Answers TO THE Following QUESTIONS on
the day of the exercise only!
1. What is a planetary nebula?
2.How do we examine PN and what do we measure
give at least two ways we do this?
Lab Dying stars and the birth of the elements
PREPARATION: READ 11.1 At the picture link BELOW read over the idea of the exercise
starting on page 13 to page 17 to answer questions below, then study software
guide starting on page 18 to be ready for the lab exercise.Print pages
needed for calculations and data entry before class. If you must please
print the manuals at home (not in class).
hand IN THE Answers TO THE Following QUESTIONS on
the day of the exercise only!
1. Define a supernova?
2. What is interesting about the light produced
in a supernova event?
3.Discuss the supernova remnant?
4. What is synchrotron radiation?
5. what is the XMM-Newton Observatory?
6. discuss x-ray spectroscopy?
The software link for our lab is found at the Ast 103 directory (follow
the yellow star!) on our system look for the image below Print pages
needed for calculations and data entry FROM THE STUDENT MANUAL BELOW before class. If you must please
print the manuals at home (not in class).
Student manual at the link in this image->
Software for home installation found at->
Dying
Stars and the Birth of the Elements
Lab ? Galaxy Identification PREPARATION: READ:?????? hand IN THE Answers TO THE Following QUESTIONS on
the day of the exercise only!
??????
FOLLOW THESE LINKS FOR THE EXERCISE Part A:
Classification
of Galaxies by Hubble
Part B: add the following galaxies (only images of single
galaxies in the list to follow) to your worksheet and only classify the type:
More Galaxy Classifications only
NOTE: one can add a "r" for ring and "p" for peculiar to the classification
scheme
Lab ? hubbles law : The expansion of the universe PREPARATION: READ:?????? hand IN THE Answers TO THE Following QUESTIONS on
the day of the exercise only!
??????
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR THE EXERCISE
Lab ? dark matter... from galaxy observations PREPARATION: READ:?????? hand IN THE Answers TO THE Following QUESTIONS on
the day of the exercise only!
??????
FOLLOW THESE LINKS FOR THE EXERCISE
