Astronomy 104: Stellar Astronomyastronomy.mnstate.edu/craig/astro_slides/01_15_2013_course_intro.pdf•Textbook: Investigating Astronomy by Slater and Freedman ($98.70 new, $74.05

Astronomy 104: Stellar Astronomy

Lecture 1: Introductory Stuff

Spring Semester 2013

Dr. Matt Craig

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1Tuesday, January 15, 13

Who am I?•Dr. Matt Craig Ph.D. (Astrophysics)

•b.k.a. (better known as)•"Professor (Cabanela)"•"Juan"•"Hey You"

•Office: Hagen 307•Phone: 218-477-2439•Email: [email protected]

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Before next time:•Read this:

• Slater & Freedman Sections 1-1 through 1-2 • Slater & Freedman Section 2-1

•If you haven’t done it yet, purchase a Course Activity Manual.

• $10 in Hagen 302 (available 15 minutes before each lab this week)

•Get on Moodle! The following are due next Wednesday, January 23!!!

• Sign up for Field Trip Lab• Sign up for Observing Project• Do the Syllabus Homework

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Organizational Stuffa.k.a. “What Do I Need To Do To Pass?”

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Buy these things:•Available from Bookstore

•Textbook: Investigating Astronomy by Slater and Freedman ($98.70 new, $74.05 used)

• iClicker is available at the Bookstore for $39.95 New ($30 used [but not many used ones are available]).

•Astronomy 104 Lecture Tutorials for Spring Semester 2013. This is a custom printed book available through the bookstore. Bookstore price: $23

•Course Activity Manual (aka "Lab Manual") is available for $10 from Physics Club on the Third Floor of Hagen Hall during first week of classes.

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Bookmark Moodle!•Moodle (https://teach.mnstate.edu/)

•WARNING: Class emails to students are sent to @mnstate.edu addresses only.

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Three steps to Moodle

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Go to http://teach.mnstate.edu/, select "Spring 2013" and click "go". Then....



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Sign up for these things:

•Sign ups open 4pm Tuesday, January 15

•Field Trip (due Wednesday, January 23)•This counts as a lab!•Sign up on Moodle!

•Observing Project (due Wednesday, January 23)

•Sign up on Moodle!

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Observing Projects•Expected to take 4-6 hours outside of class.

•You need to sign up for ONE of the following options:

•Planetarium•Citizen Science Project

•GalaxyZoo OR •PlanetHunter

•Design Your Own (with instructor approval)

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How to Pass This Course!

•Right now you should be able to do the following:

•Find the assignments with due dates on Moodle!•Make sure you are registered for and Attend the

Labs!

•Labs Do Meet This Week!

•As of 4pm on Tuesday, you will be able to

•Sign up for Field Trip on Moodle!•Sign up for Observing Project on Moodle!•Do the Syllabus Homework.

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Teaching as opposed to Lecturing

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Actively Participate•I require active engagement in almost every class period. Why?

A Commonly Held Model of Teaching and Learning is the Tabula Rasa ...

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Lecture Doesn't Work•Clear experimental evidence from a variety of studies show that lecture doesn't work... especially for teaching science!

•You are not a "blank slate" at this stage in life.

•Science is NOT about facts, science is about building conceptual frameworks.

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Lecture Tutorials and Active Learning

•My goal is to provide you with active learning opportunities in class.

•Opportunities to wrestle with and reason out challenging concepts.

•I will usually give you the "answer"...

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Think. Pair. Share.•The Voyager 1 spacecraft,

launched in 1977, is the 2nd fastest space probe ever built. It is currently 124 times farther from the Sun than the Earth.

•How long until Voyager 1 reaches the nearest stars?

•Can't answer that? Say what you need to know in order to solve this.

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"Clicker" Question•What do you need to know have in order to predict when Voyager 1 will reach the nearest stars?

(A) Its speed.(B) The distance to nearest stars.(C) An understanding between the

relationship between speed and distance travelled.

(D) Both (A) and (B)(E)All of the Above.

38250 miles per hour or 3.6 AU/year

about 3 light years or 190000 AU

speed is distance travelled per time interval

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But I Need All the Answers!

•See me during Office Hours!•My hours are at

http://physics.mnstate.edu/craig

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Goals of the course•Help you develop:

•a basic understanding of the central ideas of astronomy

•an appreciation for the role astronomy and other sciences played in shaping the consciousness of the world in the past, at present and what the future holds.

•an understanding of how science works and why it is successful as a tool for understanding this universe (and why a "theory" is not just an idea).

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Our Plan for the Course

•We'll work through astronomy from near to far

•What is science?• A really brief history of the solar system.

•Our sun (the closest star)• How do we study it?

•Other stars• Similarities and differences with our sun• How are they formed? How do they “die”?

•Galaxies• Types, properties, clustering, ages

•The Universe• Past, future, evolution

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Before next time:•Read this:

• Slater & Freedman Sections 1-1 through 1-2 • Slater & Freedman Section 2-1

•If you haven’t done it yet, purchase a Course Activity Manual.

• $10 in Hagen 302 (available 15 minutes before each lab this week)

•Get on Moodle! The following are due on Friday!!!

• Sign up for Field Trip Lab• Sign up for Observing Project• Do the Syllabus Homework

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Astronomy 104: Stellar Astronomyastronomy.mnstate.edu/craig/astro_slides/01_15_2013_course_intro.pdf•Textbook: Investigating Astronomy by Slater and Freedman ($98.70 new, $74.05

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