What is this? PH1600: Lecture 1 A Grand Tour of the Universe

PH1600: Introductory Astronomy Lecture 1: A Grand Tour of the Heavens School: Michigan Technological University Professor: Robert Nemiroff TAs: Ashley Ames & Martin Boluyt Term: Fall Semester 2008 No formal book: Only lectures, Wikipedia pages, & APOD pages Good background reading book: The Cosmos by Pasachoff & Filippenko Online Course WebCT pages: courses.mtu.edu Physical Class Time: Monday & Wed 10:05 – 10:55 am Physical Class Location: Rekhi G005 (Basement) This class can be taken online ONLY, class attendance is not required!

Goal: A Beautiful & Free Astronomy Course Beautiful space pictures are used to liberally illustrate space themes All course material is freely available over the Internet Still, this course is rigorous, college-level, accurate and up-to-date

Beautiful Space Pictures Usually chosen from the daily updated Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD: apod.nasa.gov) Includes the most recent astronomy images, not yet available in printed text books Includes the most beautiful astronomy images, which help define our time

Free Astronomy Course Text taken from freely available wikipedia.org In astronomy, wikipedia is often more up-to-date than textbooks Information is free, but diplomas cost money to receive college credit, you need to register at a university and pay money!

You are responsible for… Lecture material Wikipedia pages (cited in lectures) Anything on those pages can appear on quizzes or tests, even if I never mention them during my lecture(s) Use only wikipedia.org pages as they appeared on September 1, 2008 APODs posted during the semester September 1 – December 15 inclusive APOD review every week during lecture Completing the Quizzes Chapter 1 quiz now online

Wikipedia entries of today Universe Electromagnetic Spectrum Light Year

Cosmic Questions What does “universe” mean? How big is the universe? What is the largest thing in the universe? What is the smallest thing in the universe? How old is the universe? These will all be addressed during this course! Here, though, are some quick answers:

Cosmic Answers: There are many definitions to “universe” Earth, visible universe, causally connected brane, etc. Wikipedia entry: Universe http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Universe&oldid=235892226 Size of visible universe: 13.7 billion light years in radius Largest thing: Superclusters (100 million light years across Smallest thing: electron, photon, neutrino, other fundamental particles Universe Age: 13.7 Billion light years

Light Year: Slow Light is a Time Machine “Light year” is a unit of distance The distance light travels in one year An object one light year away is seen as it was one year ago. Etc! You can only see the past We can almost see back to the beginning of the universe Light could circle the Earth about 7.5 times in one second Wikipedia entry: light year

Speed of light: example calculation c = speed of light = 3 x 108 meters/sec Q: The sun is (about) 8 light minutes away – how far is that in meters? A: distance = velocity x time d = c t = (3 x 108 m/sec)x(8 min)x(60 sec/min) = 1.44 x 1011 meters

Light is more colorful than we can see. Visible light: red to blue ROY G BIV Almost visible light: infrared to ultraviolet Entire Electromagnetic Spectrum: Radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible (red, blue), ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma-rays Different animals perceive light differently The Sun is green Wikipedia entry: Electromagnetic Spectrum

The Very Large Array of Radio Telescopes Credit: Dave Finley, AUI, NRAO, NSF APOD: 2006 May 14

Jets from Radio Galaxy 3C296 Credit & Copyright: AUI, NRAO APOD: 2002 February 26

A Year of Resolving Cosmology Credit: WMAP Science Team, NASA APOD: 2003 December 31

The Galactic Center in Infrared Credit: 2MASS Project, UMass, IPAC/Caltech, NSF, NASA APOD: 2006 July 16

The Coma Cluster of Galaxies Credit & Copyright: Jim Misti (Misti Mountain Observatory) APOD: 2006 March 21

Dark Sun Sizzling Credit: TRACE Project, Stanford-Lockheed Inst., NASA APOD: 2006 July 12

SN 1006: Supernova Remnant in X-Rays Credit: J. Hughes (Rutgers) et al., CXC, NASA APOD: 2005 December 26

Fermi's First Light Credit: NASA, DOE, International LAT Team APOD: 2008 August 28

The Sky at Night All stars seen are in our Milky Way Galaxy, most are near our Sun Stars Sirius, Polaris, etc. Constellations Orion, Ursa Major (Big Bear), etc. Asterisms Big Dipper, Little Dipper, etc. Planets Venus, Jupiter, etc. Central Plane of our Galaxy

Sirius: The Brightest Star in the Night Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado APOD: 2000 June 11

Ceci n'est pas un Meteore Credit & Copyright: Laurent Laveder (PhotoAstronomique.net) APOD: 2006 August 19

Dusk of the Planets Credit & Copyright: Jerry Lodriguss APOD: 2002 April 29

Raining Perseids Credit & Copyright: Fred Bruenjes APOD: 2007 August 12

Astronomy Pictures of the Day (APODs) from the past week… APODs reviewed today: Monday, 2008 September 1 through Wednesday, 2008 September 3 Web site: apod.nasa.gov