1. What is the course about?
1.1. What is the goal of the course?
1.2. What is the course about?
1.2.1. Scientific Method
1.2.1.1 Collection of facts or process of inquiry?
1.2.1.2 Essential three steps
1.2.1.3 What is the key aspect of science that distinguishes it from some other activities we do?
1.3. What do we see if we watch the sky?
1.3.1. Scales in the Universe
1.3.1.1 Scientific notation - how does it work
1.3.1.2 Place of the earth relative to the Milky Way and of the Milky Way relative to other galaxies
2. How did astronomy get started?
2.1. Appearance of the sky
2.1.1 Importance of astronomy to historical (and prehistorical) societies
2.1.2 Astronomy and time intervals/day, month, year definitions
2.1.3 Cause of seasons
2.1.4 Cause of phases of moon
2.1.5 Eclipses: what causes them and when they occur
2.1.5.1 Solar
2.1.5.2 Lunar
2.1.5.3 Why eclipses do not happen every month
2.2 Beginnings of astronomy
2.2.1 Reasons for elaborate prehistoric observatories
2.2.2 Examples of prehistoric observatories
2.2.3 Ancient navigation - what could and could not be determined from stars
2.2.4 Naked eye planets (list), motions of the planets, what "retrograde motion" means
2.2.5 Differences between scientific method and the astronomy of the Mayas
2.2.6 What are myths and how do they differ from science?
2.3. Greek Astronomy
2.3.1 Prior to the Greeks, what did astronomers concentrate on?
2.3.2 Contributions of the Greeks - philosophers or first scientists?
2.3.3 Reasons the Greeks and others argued the earth stands still
2.3.4 The work of Aristarchus, and why it was rejected
3. The story of our gaining an understanding of the planetary motions
3.1 Ptolemy
3.1.1 Assumptions in Ptolemy's theory
3.1.2 Weaknesses it developed as it was refined
3.1.3 Was it a good theory?
3.1.4 Who preserved Ptolemy's work during the Medieval period in Europe?
3.1.5 Why was there so little scientific progress in Medieval Europe?
3.2 Copernicus
3.2.1 Assumptions in Copernicus' theory
3.2.2 Was Copernicus' theory better than Ptolemy's? Why or why not?
3.3 Tycho Brahe
3.3.1 Contributions to solar system studies
3.3.2 Proposed explanation of planet motions, compared with Copernicus
3.4 Kepler
3.4.1 Three laws of planetary motion
3.4.2 Why were these laws such a big advance?
3.4.3 Kepler and scientific "laws"; why we do not give him credit for solving the whole planetary motion problem
3.5 Galileo
3.5.1 General contributions to physics and astronomy
3.5.2 Advances in our understanding of the solar system and astronomy in general
3.5.3 Why Galileo's observations of Jupiter and Venus supported the Keplerian proposal for the motions of the planets
3.5.4 Historical context of Tycho/Kepler/Galileo and how it affected their work
3.6 Newton
3.6.1 Newton's Laws (motion plus gravity)
3.6.2 Why Newton is credited with "solving" the riddle of the planet motions
3.7 Scientific method
3.7.1 Basic steps in the scientific approach
3.7.2 What is a scientific paradigm?
4. Science has built an understanding of nature and, along with it, the tools to observe the Universe.
4.1 Physical Laws
4.1.1 Applications of Newton's Laws
4.1.1.1 Law of gravity and the concept of "weight"
4.1.1.2 Gravity and tides
4.1.1.3 Energy
4.1.1.3.1 Potential energy
4.1.1.3.2 Kinetic energy
4.1.1.3.3 Escape velocity
4.1.1.3.4 Significance of Einstein's modifications
4.2 Light
4.2.1 Wave-Particle duality
4.2.1.1 Wave properties
4.2.1.2 Particle properties
4.2.2 Electromagnetic spectrum - what is it, and what are the names for "light" as we go from short to long wavelengths?
4.2.3 Radiation Laws -
4.2.3.1 Stefan-Boltzmann Law
4.2.3.2 Wien Law
4.2.4 Inverse r squared behavior - what is it and why does it apply?
4.2.5 How does gravity affect light?
4.3 Spectroscopy
4.3.1 What are atomic energy levels?
4.3.2 How are continuous, absorption-line, and emission-line spectra?
4.3.3 Connection between wave/particle duality and determinism in philosophy
4.3.4 Significance of spectra - what we can tell from them