August 27:

READING: Section 1.1; Appendix 1.
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Powers of 10
• 3. Astronomical Distances
• 4. Slide Show

August 29:

READING: Sections 1.2 and 1.3.
• 1. The CAPA Homework
• 2. Angular Measurement
• 3. The Celestial Sphere
• 4. Some Definitions
• 5. Solar Day vs. Sidereal Day
• 6. Constellations

September 3:

READING: Sections 1.4.
• 1. Seasons
• 2. Celestial Coordinates
• 3. Precession
• 4. Phases of the Moon
• 5. Eclipses
• 6. Moonrise

September 5:

• 1. Slides of Eclipses
• 2. Synchronous Rotation
• 3. Lunar Month vs. Sidereal Month
• 4. Finding Planets on the Sky
• 5. Retrograde Motion of the Planets
• 6. Sideral Period vs. Synodic Period

September 10:

• 1. Measuring the Size of the Earth
• 2. Quiz #1

September 12:

READING: Rest of Chapter 1; Section 2.2.
• 1. Review of Quiz #1
• 2. Evidence for a Round Earth
• 3. Parallax
• 4. Relative Size of Earth and Moon
• 5. Relative Size of Sun and Earth
• 6. Magnitudes
• 7. Epicycles
• 8. The Almagest

September 17:

READING: Sections 2.1, 2.3, 2.5.
• 1. The Babylonian Calendar
• 2. Ancient Astronomy in Other Cultures
• 3. Nicolaus Copernicus
• 4. Tycho Brahe
• 5. Johannes Kepler

September 19:

READING: Sections 2.4, 2.6, 2.7, through page 51.
• 1. Inertia
• 2. Falling Objects
• 3. Galileo's Astronomical Observations
• 4. Newton's First Law
• 5. Newton's Second Law
• 6. Newton's Third Law
• 6. Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation

September 24:

• 1. Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation (Continued)
• 2. Orbital Motion
• 3. Weightlessness
• 4. Quiz #2

September 26:

READING: Rest of Chapter 2
• 1. Review of Quiz #2
• 2. Energy
• 3. Newton's Revision of Kepler's Third Law
• 4. Escape Velocity
• 5. Center of Mass

October 1:

READING: Sections 3.1 - 3.4
• 1. The Wave Nature of Light
• 2. The Electromagnetic Spectrum
• 3. Radiative Energy
• 4. The Frequency of Light
• 5. Thermal Radiation
• 6. Wien's Law

October 3:

READING: Sections 3.5 - 4.1
• 1. Wien's Law (Continued)
• 2. Stefan's Law
• 3. Emission Line Spectra
• 4. Doppler Shift
• 5. Absorption Line Spectra
• 6. Energy Levels in Atoms

October 8:

READING: Rest of Chapter 4; Chapter 5, p. 108-110.
• 1. The Hydrogen Atom
• 2. Refraction
• 3. Refracting Telescopes
• 4. Reflection
• 5. Reflecting Telescopes

October 10:

• 1. Diffraction
• 2. Resolution
• 3. Seeing
• 4. Quiz #3

October 15:

READING: Rest of Chapter 5.
• 1. Review of Quiz #3
• 2. Light Gathering Power
• 3. Non-Optical Telescopes
• 4. Inventory of the Solar System

October 17:

READING: Chapter 6; Sections 15.1 - 15.4
• 1. Motions in the Solar System
• 2. The Classification of Planets
• 3. The Formation of the Solar System

October 22:

READING: Rest of Chapter 15.
• 1. Evidence for the Standard Theory for the Formation of the Solar System
• 2. Extrasolar Planets
• 3. Spacecraft to the Planets

October 25:

• 1. Tidal Forces
• 2. Scale Model of the Solar System
• 3. Quiz #4

October 29:

READING: Sections 7.1 - 7.2
• 1. Review of Quiz #4
• 2. Atmospheres of Planets and Moons
• 3. The Origins and Evolution of Atmospheres
• 4. The Greenhouse Effect

October 31:

• 1. Convection
• 2. The Coriolis Effect
• 3. Why the Sky is Blue
• 4. The Interiors of Planets
• 5. Magnetic Dynamos

November 5:

• 1. Aurora
• 2. Continental Drift (Plate Tectonics)

November 7:

READING: Rest of Chapter 7; Sections 8.1 - 8.6.
• 1. Radioactive Dating
• 2. The Surface of the Moon

November 12:

• 1. The Surface of Mercury
• 2. The Surface of Venus
• 3. Quiz #5

November 14:

READING: Rest of Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10
• 1. Review of Quiz #5
• 2. War of the Worlds
• 3. The Surface of Mars

November 19:

READING: Chapter 11; Sections 12.1-12.3; 12.5.
• 1. Evidence for Life in Martian Meteorite?
• 2. The Jovian Planets
• 3. The Galilean Moons

November 21:

• 1. The Galilean Moons (Continued)
• 2. Other Moons of Jupiter
• 3. Titan
• 4. Other Moons of Saturn
• 5. Planetary Rings

November 26:

• 1. The Moons of Uranus
• 2. Triton
• 3. Pluton and Charon
• 4. Quiz #6

December 2:

READING: Section 12.4; Chapter 13; Chapter 14.
• 1. Review of Quiz #6
• 2. Is There Life Elsewhere in the Universe?

December 4:

• 1. Asteroids
• 2. Comets
• 3. Video on Time Travel