Introduction to the Solar System. AST2003 Section Spring 2012

Transcription

1 Introduction to the Solar System AST2003 Section Spring 2012

2 Instructor: Professor Stanley F. Dermott Office: 216 Bryant Space Science Center Phone:

3 Lecture time and place: Tuesdays (4th period: 10:40 am 11:30 am) Thursdays (4th and 5th period) (10:40 am 12:35 pm), FLG 210 Office hours: Tuesdays 11:45 12:45 pm, Thursdays 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm or by appointment

4 Teacher Assistant: Dr Naibi Marinas (Help with Mastering Astronomy and Exam Reviews) Office: 312 Bryant Space Science Center Phone: Class Website:

5 Class Expectations and Obligations: I do not take class attendance; however, attendance to the lectures is required. You are expected to arrive on time and remain until the lecture is finished. Arriving late or leaving early disturbs your classmates and instructor. The content described in class might not be always in your textbook, so you will need to take notes in class. You are encouraged to ask questions in class and during office hours. Do not wait until you are failing the class to come to see me. You can also ask questions by . Reading assignments for each class will be given and must be completed before next lecture. It is the best way for you to understand the lecture.

6 NO TEXT MESSAGING OR ANY OTHER ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION DURING CLASS NO LAPTOPS MAY BE USED DURING CLASS, EXCEPT BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH THE INSTRUCTOR. Honor Code: Everyone in this class has to follow the University of Florida Honor Code: We, the members of the University of Florida community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest standards of honesty and integrity.

7 Required Text: Astronomy Today Volume 1: The Solar System, Chaisson and McMillan (7th Edition) Course Contents: Introduction to the Solar System is a General Education physical science (P) course. There are no prerequisites for this class; however, a basic knowledge of grade school level mathematics is sometimes needed.

8 The goals I would like you to achieve throughout this semester are: Become familiar with the nature, origin and evolution of our solar system Understand that many aspects of our solar system are changing with time Understand how science works and build scientific reasoning skills

9 The course is organized into three sections: The view of the universe as seen from the Earth and the tools that we use to observe and understand what we see. The structure of the solar system and the natures of the terrestrial and jovian planets Small bodies in the solar system and the clues that they offer to the formation and evolution of the planets

10 Grading Examinations (75% of grade): Three examinations will be given during the semester. All exams are worth the same, so the average of your 3 exams will be 75% of your grade. Makeup exams will be given ONLY for documented medical or family emergencies. The tentative dates for exams are: Exam 1 (Chapters 1-5) Thursday, February 9th Exam 2 (Chapters 6-13) Thursday, March 22nd Exam 3 (Chapters 14, 15, 16 and 28) Tuesday, April 24th There will also be an optional final given on May 2 nd. If this final is taken, your score could be used to replace the lowest of the above 3 exams. Topics in the final exam will span the whole course.

11 These are in-class exams and the dates could change. Remember to arrive on time and to bring #2 pencils, an eraser and your UF ID card. Each exam will focus on the set of chapters listed, but may also incorporate material from previous units. The exams will not be curved.

12 Project and Homework (graded) (15 % of grade) Different projects will be assigned during the semester and they will be posted in the Projects page of this website. Your first projects are listed below and two additional projects will be assigned later on during the semester.

13 Project 1: Mastering Astronomy Website Register in the Mastering Astronomy website. Once registered, go to our class website, the class code is PLANETS. Complete Assignment 1, Introduction to Mastering Astronomy. This assignment will familiarize you with the website so that it will be easier to study for exams later.

14 Project 2: Observing Project Project 1: Observing Project (Due on Thursday, February 16th - in class) Sending in a pdf version by is preferable. One of the most enjoyable aspects of astronomy is the opportunity to do actual observations of the sky with your eyes, binoculars or a telescope. Each student will watch the sky over the course of 4 weeks to see how the location of stars changes in the sky.

15 Quizzes (10 % of grade): There will be short quizzes online for each chapter beginning in chapter 1. The quizzes assess knowledge and comprehension of the reading assignments. These problems will be very similar but not identical to questions that will appear on the exams and are excellent preparation for exams. The best way to do well in the exams is to come to class, read the book, study the lecture notes and work on the website.

16 Homework (non graded) Your major homework responsibility will be to complete the reading assignments given in class, so you can fully participate in the next class. Your full attention and participation is expected during class time.

17 If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course let me know as soon as possible, and request that the Counselor for Students with Disabilities send a letter verifying your disability.

18 spring 2012 calendar This is a tentative schedule and it will change!! January 10 - Introduction and course Overview 12 - course overview 17 - charting the heavens (chapter 1) 19 - charting the heavens (Chapter 1) 24 - the copernican revolution (Chapter 2) 26 - the copernican revolution (Chapter 2) 31 - radiation (Chapter 3) February 02 - spectroscopy and telescopes (Chapters 4 & 5) 07 - review exam exam 1 (Chapters 1-5)

19 14 - the solar system: comparative planetology (chapter 6) 16 - the solar system: comparative planetology (chapter 6) 21 - The earth (chapter 7) 23 - the moon and mercury (chapter 8) 28 - venus and mars (chapters 9 and 10) March 01 - jupiter and saturn (Chapters 11 and 12) 6 /8 - No Class / Spring Break 13 - Jupiter and saturn (Chapters 11 and 12) 15 - uranus and neptune (chapter 13) 20 - review exam Exam 2 (chapters 6-13)

20 27 - solar system debris (chapter 14) 29 - solar system debris (chapter 14) April 03 - the formation of planetary systems (Chapter 15) 05 - the formation of planetary systems (chapter 15) 10 - the sun (Chapter 16) 12 - life in the universe (chapter 28) 17 - life in the universe (chapter 28) 19 - review exam Exam 3 (chapters 14-16, 28) May 02 - optional final (flg 210 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm)

21 Summary of Contribution of the various requirements to the final Grade: 3 Exams: 75 % Quizzes: 10 % Project and Homework: 15 %

22 ! Approximate Grading Scale: A >90 B B C C D D E < 50

23 9 January 2012 Last updated at 01:20 ET Carbon emissions 'will defer Ice Age' By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News species, of an Ice Age "ought" to return within 1,500 years Continue reading the main story The climate,

24 The last Ice Age ended about 11,500 years ago, and when the next one should begin has not been entirely clear. Researchers used data on the Earth's orbit and other things to find the historical warm interglacial period that looks most like the current one. In the journal Nature Geoscience, they write that the next Ice Age would begin within 1,500 years - but emissions have been so high that it will not.

25 "At current levels of CO2, even if emissions stopped now we'd probably have a long interglacial duration determined by whatever long-term processes could kick in and bring [atmospheric] CO2 down," said Luke Skinner from Cambridge University. Dr Skinner's group - which also included scientists from University College London, the University of Florida and Norway's Bergen University - calculates that the atmospheric concentration of CO2 would have to fall below about 240 parts per million (ppm) before the glaciation could begin. The current level is around 390ppm.

26 The root causes of the transitions from Ice Age to interglacial and back again are the subtle variations in the Earth's orbit known as the Milankovitch cycles, after the Serbian scientist Milutin Milankovic who described the effect nearly 100 years ago. Glaciation and its reverse are related to cycles discovered by Milutin Milankovic The variations include the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, the degree to which its axis is inclined, and the slow rotation of its axis.

27 8 January 2012 Last updated at 19:31 ET Alien hunters: An array of hope DNA message But it gets even more intriguing. Paul Davies of the Beyond Center at Arizona State University has proposed looking not for aliens but for footprints of alien technology, such as waste from their nuclear energy technology. And he has other ideas. "The one that most intrigues me is the possibility that the aliens may have engaged in some kind of biotechnology - if they had come to Earth and tinkered with terrestrial micro-organisms, or even made their own from scratch, the products of that could still be around." In other words, if aliens came through our neck of the woods long before we were here to see them, they may have left deliberate clues tucked in the DNA of microbes that have faithfully copied the message for millions of years. Prof Davies reckons that, since we're sequencing the DNA of life of all sorts anyway, we should keep an eye out for this kind of "message in a bottle".

28 5 February 2011 Last updated at 08:33 ET The moment Britain became an island By Megan Lane BBC News Magazine Ancient Britain was a peninsula until a tsunami flooded its land-links to Europe some 8,000 years ago. Did that wave help shape the national character?

29 The coastline and landscape of what would become modern Britain began to emerge at the end of the last Ice Age around 10,000 years ago. What had been a cold, dry tundra on the north-western edge of Europe grew warmer and wetter as the ice caps melted. The Irish Sea, North Sea and the Channel were all dry land, albeit land slowly being submerged as sea levels rose. But it wasn't until 6,100BC that Britain broke free of mainland Europe for good, during the Mesolithic period - the Middle Stone Age.