Basic Astronomy

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Basic Astronomy

• Instructor Lifan Wang

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What is Astronomy?
L.1

• The study of stars
• The study of planets
• The study of the Sun
• The study of the Universe
• The study that makes us rich
• The study that get me an A
• The study of things that do not matter to us

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What is Astronomy?

• The study of things that are far far away from us
• The study of objects that are very very big
• The study of objects that we can not touch
• The study of space
• The study of time
• The study of matter
• The study of energy
• The study of tiny particles
• The study of extraterrestrial life

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What Do You Want to Know?

• Is the Universe finite?
• How old is the Universe?
• Will the Universe ever die?
• How old is the Sun?
• Is the Earth Unique?
• Are we alone?
• Where is everyone else?
• Can we travel into deep space one day?
• ???

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What is Astronomy?

• Space - the final frontier
• Time - does it have meaning without space?

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Space - how do we measure it?

• Miles? No, in science we want to be cool, we do
  not use that unit
• Kilometers? Well, thats better, but astronomers
  dont usually use it
• Light Year? Sounds good, use time to measure
  space? Funny.
• Astronomical Unit? Whats that?
• Parsec? Wow! How about Mega Parsecs?
• Nanometer? Has that anything to do with Nano
  technology?

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• Euglenas have spindle-shaped bodies, and range in
  size from 1/1000 to 1/100 of an inch (0.025 to
  0.254 millimeter) long. Most species are green
  because they contain chlorophyll which allows
  them to produce food through photosynthesis for
  themselves, as well as serve as primary producers
  for aquatic ecosystems. Some species also eat
  tiny particles of living matter.

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Space - How big is big?
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