ASTR116: Introduction to Astronomy, with Lab

Dr. Phil Segre

Catalog Description

Taught fall and spring. Credit, four hours. Prerequisites: high school chemistry and Math 100C or placement in a higher numbered mathematics course. Fundamental concepts and principles of astronomy. Laboratory weekly; observing sessions as weather permits.


ASTR116 Course Description:

Modern Astronomy concerns itself with the universe, its origin, its structure, its contents, its processes, its evolution and its ultimate fate. While modern Astronomy attempts to explain the Universe in terms of physical principles, the ordered study of the heavens for the purpose of making predictions is as old as human civilization. Astronomy can thus claim to be the oldest of the natural sciences. This enterprise continues because humanity continues to believe that the Universe is comprehensible.

Course Objectives: This course is an introductory survey of the science of Astronomy. Students completing ASTR116 are expected to have an ordered understanding of the development of the human quest for knowledge of the heavens, of the ways in which modern astronomers know the Universe and of the important current questions and issues in Astronomy. They are expected to learn basic information about the Sun, the solar system, stars, galaxies and modern cosmology, as well as to develop a basic understanding of physical principles underlying astronomical research. They should be able to identify objects in the night sky and develop the foundation for a lifetime of appreciation and enjoyment of the heavens.

Textbook and Readings: The textbook for the course is Discovering the Universe, 9'th edition, by Neil F. Comins and William J. Kaufmann, published by W.H. Freeman and co, 2012. Additional readings from other sources will be assigned from time to time, and some videos will be shown that supplement the readings and lectures.You are asked to bring your textbook to every class.

Laboratory: Laboratory activities are designed to give the student opportunities for investigating nature with scientific methodology. The regular lab schedule will begin in the second week of classes.





ASTR116 Labs   

    


For the weekly in class labs, we will be using the following software programs.
  1. CLEA telescope and spectrometer simulators.
  2. Voyager4.5 Planetarium Software.
  3. NAAP, the Nebraska Astronomy Applet Project, astrophysical software.
Click HERE for the complete ASTR116 Astronomy Lab Manual (13MB) which includes the following 11 Labs...





1. The Night Sky

In this lab, you will learn the basics of Stellar and Planetary positions in the Voyager 4.5 software program

 

2. The Equatorial System and Planetary Motion.

In this experiment, you will learn about the equatorial system and the orbits of the Planets using Voyager 4.5.


 


3. The Moon

In this lab, you will learn about different features on the Moon and measure shadows lengths to determine the heights of mountains on the Moon.

 


4. Kepler's Laws and Jupiter's Mass.

In this experiment you will study the orbits of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter using the CLEA software program. You will make detailed measurements of the lunar motions in order to determine their orbital periods and radii about Jupiter. From this data, and Kepler’s third law, you will obtain a good estimate of the mass of Jupiter.





5. Extra-solar Planets

You will use the NAAP Extrasolar Planets simulator to search for planets outside of our solar system using the Doppler and transit methods. It includes simulations of the observed radial velocities of singular planetary systems and introduces the concept of noise and detection.

 

6. Hertzsprung Russel (HR) Diagrams

In this experiment, you will learn about the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram. You will use Voyager 4.5 to construct an HR diagram from data for 50 stars within 60 light years of the Sun.





 7. Atmospheric Retention

The NAAP Atmospheric Retention Lab explores some of the elements that go into the retention or loss of an atmosphere by a planet. The Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution and escape velocity are introduced.






8.Clasification of Stellar Spectra

In this experiment, you will use the CLEA software to learn to recognize the distinguishing characteristics of different spectral types of main-sequence stars. You will learn how stellar spectra are obtained, and understand how the spectral classification is related to stellar distance.




 



9. Variable Stars

In this lab you will study the variable light curves from several variable stars. You will then use the relationship that Henrietta Leavitt discovered to find out how far away four Cepheid variable stars are from us.



10. The Color Index of Stars

In this experiment, you will use the CLEA software to simulate the measurement of stellar light intensity. You will learn how stellar magnitudes are obtained, and how the use of 2 different light filters can lead to a determination of the spectral classification of Stars.


 

11. Hubble's Law

In this experiment, you will use the CLEA software to measure the redshifts from the spectrum of many galaxies. You will then test Hubble’s law, given by V = H0 · D where V is the galaxy’s radial outward velocity, D is the galaxy’s distance from earth, and H0 is the current value of the Hubble constant.



 




 

External Astronomy Links

 

 The Nebraska Astronomy Applet Projec (NAAP) 


The Nebraska Astronomy Applet Project provides online labs targeting the undergraduate introductory astronomy audience. Each lab consists of background materials and one or more simulators that students use as they work.


 NAAP Simulation Labs:


Solar System Models

Basic Coordinates and Seasons

The Rotating Sky

Motions of the Sun

Planetary Orbit Simulator

Lunar Phase Simulator

Blackbody Curves & UBV Filters

Hydrogen Energy Levels

Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

Eclipsing Binary Stars

Atmospheric Retention

Extrasolar Planets

Variable Star Photometry

Cosmic Distance Ladder