The Solar System: Planets, Satellites and Rings ASTRONOMY 2212 The Solar System: Planets, Satellites and Rings Spring 2011 Class Meeting Tuesday & Thursday 11:40 – 12:55 Class Location: Space Sciences Building Room 105 Instructors: Donald Campbell and Peter Gierasch General: The course is intended primarily for science and engineering students who would like to obtain knowledge of our solar system and an understanding of how it works based on the application of simple physical principles. Prerequisites: The course assumes that every student has some knowledge of basic physics and mathematics including calculus at the level of Math 111 or at least co-registration in Math 111. Text: No required text. Lecture notes will be posted on the course web site. Supplementary reading may be recommended at times. Problem sets: Will be assigned approximately every two weeks.

WEB site: The course WEB site can be found at: http://www. astro The site is password protected and can be accessed by: user name: student; password: orbit PDF versions of lecture notes and visuals will be available on this site. Additional material may also be discussed in class. Course requirements: Mid-term prelim 20% Final 30% Problem sets 30% Project 20% Office hours: Peter Gierasch Don Campbell Rm 318 Space Sciences Rm 504 Space Sciences gierasch@astro.cornell.edu campbell@astro.cornell.edu Tel: ext 5-8544 Tel: ext 5-9580 Office hours: TBD Office hours: TBD

SCHEDULE OF LECTURES Date Day of Week Topic (reading Lecturer Jan 25 Tuesday Intro – Geography of Solar system PG Jan 27 Thursday History, telescopes and spectra PG Feb 01 Tuesday Orbits DC Feb 03 Thursday Tides and resonances DC Feb 08 Tuesday Tides and resonances DC Feb 10 Thursday Sun as a star PG Feb 15 Tuesday Sun and Earth PG Feb 17 Thursday Terrestrial planets- properties DC Feb 22 Tuesday Moon&Mercury, impacts and dating DC Feb 24 Thursday Mineralogy & interior structure DC Mar 01 Tuesday Venus&Earth, atmospheres PG Mar 03 Thursday Surfaces and interior structures PG Mar 08 Tuesday Comparative climates PG Mar 10 Thursday Mars, Interior, surface and atmos. DC Mar 15 Tuesday Mars, History of water DC Mar 17 Thursday Prelim Mar 22 Tuesday SPRING BREAK

Mar 24 Thursday SPRING BREAK Mar 29 Tuesday Outer planets, interior structures PG Mar 31 Thursday Outer planets, atmospheres PG Apr 05 Tuesday Outer planet rings PG Apr 07 Thursday Outer planet satellites PG Apr 12 Tuesday Small bodies, asteroids & comets PG Apr 14 Thursday Small bodies, KBOs DC Apr 19 Tuesday Extra solar planets DC Apr 21 Thursday Extra solar planets DC Apr 26 Tuesday Formation of solar systems PG Apr 28 Thursday Evolution of planetary systems PG May 03 Tuesday Project reports May 05 Thursday Project reports USEFUL WEB SITE www.jpl.nasa.gov – lots of recent spacecraft and ground-based results. Click on “missions” to get information about past, current and future missions.