Course Overview
The course will
give an introductory
tour of the known Universe and I will be your tour guide. We will have
the longest, farthest journey
possible: through the Universe, and back in time 14 billion
years to the Big Bang. I will do my best to let you enjoy the tour and
have a
rewarding time.
We will
focus on modern astronomy and the physics that describes the universe.
(I am not going to talk much about planets, which
are covered extensively by courses
on the solar system.) You'll learn about physics laws that describe
virtually everything in the physical Universe, and
you'll also come to appreciate the almost overwhelming beauty of the
natural world. Two major goals will be addressed:
- Becoming familiar with the
fundamental contents of the Universe (galaxies, stars,
gas, radiation, and possibly dark matter/energy); and
- Understanding how we know what we know,
or how science works.
The course is organized into two sections:
- Observing the Universe
and Tools of Astronomy: things you may already know
- Observing the Universe: the birth, life,
and death of stars; the origin, evolution, and fate of the Universe
For more details, look at the course schedule.
Format
Course material will be explored in lectures every
week,
in-class quizzes, readings from the text, homework, and exams (see Requirements for more details). You
are
encouraged to ask questions in class and during office hours and in
general to let only your
imagination be the limit.
The
Home Page for
the course is at URL http://www.astro.umass.edu/~wqd/a100.
You
are encouraged to review Lecture notes ,
which may be updated from time to
time though. Various online
resources are listed for you to explore.
Observing Opportunities:
- Thursday evenings (typically 7:30-9:30) at
the Orchard
Hill Observatory, courtesy of
UMass graduate students in astronomy.
- The Amherst Area Amateur Astronomy
Association runs observatory and planetarium sessions on a regular
schedule. Check the AAAAA
website for more details.
Why Should I Care?
As much as this is a course on
Astronomy, this is a course on how
scientists think; how they make measurements, how they solve
problems, and how they come to grips with the truly exotic. This is
your opportunity to learn some of the techniques of scientific
reasoning. Remember, this
course will cover larger topics -- measured by mass, size, age --
you name it! -- than any other class you will ever take. This is
good. The concepts are actually not hard to grasp.
Even if understanding how to think like a
scientist doesn't interest
you, you can not escape science in today's world. Like it or not, you
are now living in a complex, modern society where
science plays an ever-increasing role. It is crucial that
you understand how science and scientists actually work, since you
will find yourself voting on, reading newspaper articles about, and
probably using the products of scientific research every day for the
rest of your life. Perhaps this course will spark a life-long
interest in science; perhaps not. In any event, the thought processes
and reasoning skills you develop this semester should stand you in
good stead in situations far surpassing this single undergraduate
3-credit course.
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