Astro 11 -- Elementary Astronomy Laboratory

Astronomy experiments for non-science majors. Exercises include telescope observations of planets and stars, spectroscopy of light, and the analysis of data from Hubble Space Telescope

SYLABUS
Students will be required to prepare a written report for each lab, based upon answering specific exercises or questions in the Astro 11 lab notebook. It is recommended that as much of this write-up as possible be done during the lab meeting time, while instructors are available to answer questions.
Students must be prepared to go onto the roof of Davey Lab for observing with telescopes on any evening. Every lab will be expected to attempt observing until all of the objects in the observing notebook are seen and described! This is an ongoing assignment and takes precedence over any other exercise in the lab until the observing is completed. Observing is not optional; it is required. If the night is clear, it usually will be cold. Always bring adequate warm clothes for going outside during the lab.

Laboratory activities this semester will include the following:

The Semester Observing Project: Observations of the Moon, planets, stars, and galaxies to be collected at the end of the semester.
Constellations and Changes in the Sky: Demonstrations of seasonal and nightly changes in the sky, using the planetarium and the celestial sphere.
The Scale of Things: An exercise to discover how big things are, from the solar system to the universe, using scale models and analogies.
Angles, Navigation, and Data Analysis: The principles of celestial navigation and data analysis, using the observations on the roof and the planetarium.
Planetary Orbits and Kepler's Laws: An examination of Kepler's three laws which describe the motions of the planets.
Parallax and the Distances to Stars: The principles of parallax, and how it is used to measure the distances to stars.
Spectroscopy of Stars and Galaxies: How spectroscopy is used to measure the chemical content, velocity, and physical properties of distant objects.
The Nature of Light: The inverse square law of light from light meters.
Understanding the Stars: An analysis of the luminosity-temperature diagram for the nearest and brightest stars.
The Seven Sisters and the Lives of Stars: What images of the Pleiades star cluster tells us about stellar evolution.
The Structure of the Milky Way: An exercise to determine the structure of our Galaxy, using the planetarium and information about globular clusters.
The Local Group and the Hubble Deep Field: Galaxy locations, distance measurements, and a look into the past using images from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Distant Galaxies and the Expanding Universe: Measurements of distant galaxies and the determination of the age of the universe.
The Search of Extraterrestial Intelligence: How the Drake equation can be used to estimate the number of civilizations in the Galaxy.

Each write-up will be due at the start of next week's class. Late reports will be assessed a penalty: 10% for labs which are 1 week late, and up to 50% for tardier labs. The ENTIRE grad for the class is based on these write-ups.