Phys 104

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Phys 104 Astronomy Summer-1
Who can name this artist?
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A little about me...
Physics and Astronomy Prof at GWU Director of the
Williams Observatory GWU 3 years, Teaching
overall...14.
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This is Going to be Totally Sweet!!!!
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The Montillation of Traxoline

• It is very important that you learn about
  traxoline. Traxoline is a new form of zionter. It
  is montilled in Ceristanna. The Ceristannians
  gristerlate large amounts of fevon and then
  brachter it to quasel traxoline. Traxoline may
  well be one of our most lukized snezlaus in the
  future because of our zionter lescelidge.
• (attributed to the insight of Judy Lanier)

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The Montillation of Traxoline

• It is very important that you learn about
  traxoline. Traxoline is a new form of zionter. It
  is montilled in Ceristanna. The Ceristannians
  gristerlate large amounts of fevon and then
  brachter it to quasel traxoline. Traxoline may
  well be one of our most lukized snezlaus in the
  future because of our zionter lescelidge.
• Directions Answer the following questions in
  complete sentences.

1. What is traxoline? 2. Where is traxoline
montilled? 3. How is traxoline quaselled? 4.
Why is it important to know about traxoline?
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A Commonly Held Incorrect Model of Teaching and
Learning
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A Commonly Held Incorrect Model of a Students
Conceptual Framework
Tabula rasa
Traxoline is a form of zionter...
But the human intellect, which is the lowest in
the order of intellects and the most removed from
the perfection of the Divine intellect, is in
potency with regard to things intelligible, and
is at first "like a clean tablet on which nothing
is written", as the Philosopher Aristotle says.
(Aquinas, Summa Theologica 1.79.2).
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From How People Learn
Students enter your lecture hall with
preconceptions about how the world works. If
their initial understanding is not engaged, they
may fail to grasp the new concepts and
information that are taught, or they may learn
them for the purposes of a test, but revert to
their preconceptions outside the classroom.
HOW PEOPLE LEARN, National Research Council,
National Academy Press, 2000.
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Key Results from Cognitive Science and Education
Research
1. Learning is productive / constructive --
learning requires mental effort. 2. Knowledge is
associative / linked to prior mental models and
formal structures. 3. The cognitive response is
context dependent --what and how you learn
depends on the educational setting. 4. Most
people require some social interactions in order
to learn effectively.
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Learning is an Activity

• I intend to be a guide by your side,
• not a sage on a stage.

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What Students Retain

• 10 of what you read
• 20 of what you hear
• 30 of what you see
• 50 of what you see and hear
• 70 of what you discuss
• 80 of what you personally experience
• 95 of what you teach someone

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Can Lecture Tutorials intellectually engage
students at a level that is more effective than
traditional lecture at promoting deep conceptual
change?

• Pre-Course Students take a 68 question survey
• Post-Lecture Questions administered in subsets
• Post-Lecture Tutorial Questions administered in
  subsets

• Pre-Course mean 30 (nA39,nB42)?
• Post-Lecture mean 52 (n 100)?
• Post-Lecture Tutorial 72 (n 100)?

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Former Students Speak OUT(focus group)?

• I liked the Tutorials -- they were very helpful.
  I am not a science person, but feel that I
  learned a lot from them.
• Why dont all professors use tutorials during
  class?
• The student interaction and tutorials are a very
  effective approach to both teaching and learning.
  I guarantee most students will retain most of
  this course.

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Former Students Speak OUT(focus group)?

• And then the tutorials? I dont know who ever
  thought of that. But its really how classes
  should be taught.The tutorials review concepts
  because they break it down. You start with
  something so simpleand then it slowly gets to
  more complicated.

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WHO ARE YOU??!!?!?!?
Are you a professional student or are you an
amateur? You are responsible for your own
education.
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My wish is that this experience will make you a
better human!!
Breathe!!! Life is a journey not a
destination! The journey in this course, will
bring forth a new understanding of your place in
the universe.
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Clever or Cute is not Science

• http//www.milaadesign.com/wizardy.html
• Dont let Cute be confused with REALITY!!
• Creating a website that shows that you know the
  numerical sequence that produces the number 9
  Cute but not Clairvoyant!!
• NOT ALL THINGS ARE REAL OR EVEN CLEVER, BUT
  SCIENCE IS BOTH OF THESE EVEN WHEN IT LATER TURNS
  OUT TO BE INCOMPLETE OR WRONG!!!!

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Science is not

• A list of previously known facts about nature.
• A list of names or terms.
• A list of equations handed down from ancient
  times.
• A set of laws that were discovered by Dead White
  Guys a long time ago and are kept from the
  general public.

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Science Is

• A continuing process that
• seeks to understand the rules and laws of nature
• uses systematic observations
• uses mathematical models
• experimentally tests ideas
• Subject to independent verification
• These are the components of the scientific method
  (observe, theorize, predict, test, and modify)
  used to comprehend the universe.

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A scientific theory is a collection of ideas that
explain a phenomenon in a way that is consistent
with observations and experiments.
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For Something to Be Science

• It must be quantifiable (measurable)
• It must be testable
• It must be falsifiable

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What do Astronomers do?

• Make observations using telescopes.
• Analyze data/results of observations.
• Create theories about what is seen and what might
  exist yet unseen.
• Create computer models that simulate what occurs
  in the universe.
• Invent, design, and build instruments that let us
  see beyond the Earth!
• BUT, most astronomers do NOT spend much time
  looking through telescopes.

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Understanding the Universe!!
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Viking I Lander Picture from 1976
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1999 Picture from the Mars Pathfinder Lander
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2004 Opportunity Landing Site and tracks
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We did it!! Huygens takes first images of Titan
(a moon of Saturn) and survives the crash
landing!!
http//www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.
html
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GO CONFIDENTLY IN THE DIRECTION OF YOUR DREAMS!!
LIVE THE LIFE YOUVE IMAGINED.
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AstronomyWeek 1

• No Lab This WeekWe'll start lab on Sep. 3
• Constellation Cards Get Started
• Mastering Astronomy Assignment
• ABCD Cards

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Example Tutorial Question

• You observe a star rising due east. When this
  star reaches its highest position above the
  horizon, where will it be?

A) high in the northern sky B) high in the
eastern sky C) high in the southern sky D) high
in the western sky E) directly overhead
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Two of the most fundamental questions of all time
Where are we? How did we get here?
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The Local Supercluster
The Local Group
The Milky Way
Earth
The Solar System
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The numbers in astronomy are so large, and small,
that astronomers use scientific notation.
100 1 101 10 102 100 103 1000
5.3 x 103 5,300 104 10,000 8.9 x 104
89,000 and, for small numbers 10-1 0.1 10-2
0.01 2.1 x 10-2 0.021 10-3 0.001 6.6 x
10-3 0.0066
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Astronomical distances and sizes are very very,
very, very large. So, astronomers use different
units.

• One Astronomical Unit (AU)?
• average distance between Sun and Earth
• 93,000,000 miles
• 150,000,000 km
• 1.5 x 108 km
• Distance Light Travels in One Year
• is a Light-year (LY)?
• 9.46 x 1012 km
• 63,000 AU or 6.3x 104 AU
• 0.307 parsecs (pc)?

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At the scale of the size of a planet or moon we
describe things in terms of kilometers (km).
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At the scale of the Solar System, distances are
described in terms of the Astronomical Unit or AU
(avg. distance from Earth to the Sun).
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Mercury is 0.387 AU and r2,440 km
Venus is 0.723 AU and r6,051 km
Mercury is 1.0 AU and r6,378 km
Mars is 1.52 AU and r3,397 km
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At the scale of the Milky Way Galaxy, distances
are described in terms of Light-years, which is
the distance light travels in one year.
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Thousands of km
Astronomical Unit
A few to about 1,000 Light-years
10,000 to 100,000 Light-years
Millions of Light-years
Billions of Light-years
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What do you think?

• Do the stars stay in the same position in the sky
  all day/night long?

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What do you think?

• Do we see the same stars all year round every
  night?

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What do you think?

• What causes the stars to move?
• Do the stars actually move in the way they appear
  to be moving from Earth?
• Is the daily motion of the Sun different from the
  stars?

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Consider the dome of the sky over our heads.
mixing bowl
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Consider the dome of the sky over our heads.
inverted mixing bowl .
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Imagining a spinning Celestial Sphere surrounding
Earth aids in thinking about the position and
motion of the sky.
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Imagining a spinning Celestial Sphere surrounding
Earth aids in thinking about the position and
motion of the sky.
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Tutorial Position p.1

• Work with a partner.
• Read the instructions and questions carefully.
• Talk to each other and discuss your answers with
  each another, but BOTH write in your own book.
• Come to a consensus answer you both agree on.
• If you get stuck or are not sure of your answer,
  ask another group.
• If you get really stuck or dont understand what
  the Lecture Tutorial is asking, ask me for help.

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Is the horizon shown a real physical horizon, or
an imaginary plane that extends from the observer
and Earth out to the stars? Can the observer
shown see an object located below the
horizon? Is there a star that is in an
unobservable position? When a star travels from
being below the observers horizon to being above
the observers horizon, is that star rising or
setting?
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GO CONFIDENTLY IN THE DIRECTION OF YOUR DREAMS!!
LIVE THE LIFE YOUVE IMAGINED.