Course Content in Outline Form.
Text: M.J. Crowe, "Theories of the World from Antiquity to the
Copernican
Revolution", Ch 1-9
Week -1- Description of Celestial Motion; key ideas from
Aristotle's "Physics" pertaining to motion; Greek Astronomy before
Ptolemy;Some
mathematical techniques used by the ancient astronomers;sources of
ancient
Chinese astronomy (Zhou bi suan jing document)
Week -2 - The Ptolemaic system; discussion of a philosophical position called "Save the Phenomena"; The Copernican system;
Week -3- The Tychonic system;Johannes Kepler and the value of accurate measurements; Galileo Galilei exemplary experimentalist and precursor to Isaac Newton;Week - 5- Success of Newtonian mechanics in describing celestial mechanics; the importance of telescopes in the history of astronomy; Edmond Halley's contributions; determination of astronomical distances; significance of the Milky Way to understanding the galactic structure
Week - 6 - Mid term exam, second meeting of week 6 ;Thomas Wright , Immanuel Kant, and the disk theory of the galaxy; William Herschel's discoveries; Olber's paradox; cataloging nebulous objects.
Week - 7 - stellar parallax and the distance to stars; identification of chemical composition of distant bodies and the use of spectroscopy in astronomy; discovery of radiation outside the visible spectrum; William Huggins, pioneer of astronomical spectroscopy; Doppler shift.
Week - 8 - expanding the distance scale ,Henrietta Leavitt and the Cepheid Variables; the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram; the size of the Milky Way galaxy; Hubble and the extra-galactic nebulae; formal discussion group presentation and second written report(3-4 pages) due.Week - 10 - Discovery of cosmic infra-red background radiation; successes of the Big Bang theory; paradoxes of the Big Bang theory and their resolution by the Inflationary Universe theory; dark matter or a failure of Newtonian gravity?; possible final states of the Universe
Grading
The course grade will be determined by two written reports(3-4 pages)
on the discussion group topics; on the term paper which will be on a
subject
chosen from a list of possible topics given by the instructor (6-8
pages);
on the field report describing the results of the determination of the
earth's radius; and on a final exam. All written papers must include a bibliography whose entries are cited in the paper. At least one reference must be a book. Web references are not refereed, so you can never be sure that what is written on a web page is not just some individual's point of view.
The papers are to be factual reports and not personnal essays. You can use the citation scheme that is standard for your
major field of study.
1) two papers on the discussion group
topics
(3-4 pages), due in Weeks 4 and 8
OR 1 paper on the determination
of the distance to the moon http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/kaniol/a360/a360_dist_to_moon1.htm
and one paper on the discussion groups topics.
2) term paper(6-8 pages), due in week
9
3) field exercise report on radius of
the earth due in Week 9
4) midterm exam and final exam
A sampling of discussion group topics or term paper subjects is, for example,
- Discussion of the "Save the Phenomena " position in ancient and
modern
science
- How do the notions of a finite sized Universe and a beginning and
end of time fit in with our every day experience of space and time?
- Discussion of the axiom that " nothing can be created from nothing"
and the Inflationary Universe Theory
- What are the limits of scientific knowledge? Will we every come to
a final theory?
- Compare the concepts of dark matter and celestial matter.
- Biographical account of a significant figure in astronomy with
special
emphasis on his/her scientific contributions
- Discussion of techniques in astronomy, e.g., spectroscopy,
telescopes,
methods of determining distances
- Discussion of the impact of revolutionary astronomical ideas on areas
of human interest outside of the field of astronomy itself
-Report on the mathematical/scientific development of Astronomy in
countries outside the Mediterranean basin. This should include as
little
mythology as possible, although some may be unavoidable.
- If you have a different topic in mind for the term paper or a short
discussion group topic, please clear it with the instructor before you
start.
A List of some useful web sites
Useful web sites
Lectures on Modern Cosmology by Stephen Hawking http://www.hawking.org.uk/.
"The Once and Future Cosmos" : Scientific American Special Edition
Web site for the Rise of Natural Law, http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/kaniol/a360/natural_law.htm
U.S. Naval Observatory home
page http://www.usno.navy.mil//
applications ,
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/
Find your latitude & longitude, http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer
Astrometry, finding the precise locations and distances to the stars
Hipparcos
satellite,
results
plans for future astrometry missions GAIA
satellite
Handbook of Aerospace and Astronomy http://adsbit.harvard.edu/books/hsaa/toc.html
Aerospace
Dictionary
http://ctd.lerc.nasa.gov/dictionary/content.html
List of Deep Sky Objects http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/history/deepskyd.html
William Herschel's nebulae catalogue
http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/similar/herschel.html
William Herschel Biography http://www.plicht.de/chris/06hersch.htm
Stunning photographs from NASA's photo archive
NASA photo archive