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

2. 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!

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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!

6. 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

7. Wikipedia entries of today
Universe
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Light Year

8. 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:

9. Cosmic Answers: There are many definitions to “universe”
Earth, visible universe, causally connected brane, etc.
Wikipedia entry: Universe
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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

21. 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

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

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

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

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

26. 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