READING: Sections 1.1 - 1.2; Appendix 1.
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Powers of 10 Notation
• 3. Astronomical Distances
• 4. Angular Measurement
• 5. Slide Show

August 30:

READING: Sections 1.3 - 1.4
• 1. The Celestial Sphere
• 2. Some Definitions
• 3. Celestial Coordinates
• 4. Solar Day vs. Sidereal Day
• 5. Constellations

September 4:

• 1. Seasons
• 2. The Sun's Coordinates
• 3. Precession
• 4. Phases of the Moon
• 5. Moonrise
• 6. Eclipses
• 7. Pictures of Eclipses

September 6:

READING: Sections 1.5 - 1.6; Section 2.2 (p. 36-37), Table 3A in Appendix
• 1. Synchronous Rotation
• 2. Lunar Month vs. Sidereal Month
• 3. Finding Planets on the Sky
• 4. General Rules of Planetary Motion
• 5. Sidereal vs. Synodic Period
• 6. Retrograde Motion of the Planets

Sept 11:

READING: Rest of Chapter 1
• 1. Relative Size of Earth and Moon
• 2. Relative Size of Earth and Sun
• 3. Quiz #1

Sept 13:

READING: Sections 2.1 and 2.3
• 1. Review of Quiz #1
• 2. Evidence for a Spherical Earth
• 3. Parallax
• 4. The Diameter of the Earth
• 5. Epicycles
• 6. Magnitudes
• 7. The Almagest
• 8. The Babylonian Calendar
• 9. Ancient Astronomy in Other Lands

Sept 18:

READING: Sections 2.4 - 2.6
• 1. Nicolaus Copernicus
• 2. Tycho Brahe
• 3. Kepler's Three Laws of Planetary Motion
• 4. Inertia
• 5. Galileo's Astronomical Observations

Sept 20:

READING: Rest of Chapter 2
• 1. Newton's First Law: Inertia Revisited
• 2. Mass vs. Weight
• 3. Newton's Second Law
• 4. Newton's Third Law
• 5. Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation
• 6. Newton's Revision of Kepler's Third Law
• 7. The Mass of Saturn

Sept 25:

• 1. Orbital Motion
• 2. Weightlessness
• 3. Escape Velocity
• 4. Quiz #2

Sept 27:

READING: Sections 3.1 and 3.2
• 1. Review of Quiz #2
• 2. Temperature Scales
• 3. Units of Energy
• 4. Energy Conservation
• 5. Kepler's Second Law Revised
• 6. Center of Mass
• 7. The Wave Nature of Light
• 8. The Wave-Particle Duality of Light
• 9. Radiative Energy
• 10. The Frequency of Light

Oct 2:

READING: Sections 3.3 and 4.1
• 1. Some Frequency/Wavelength Examples
• 2. Thermal Radiation
• 3. Wien's Law
• 4. Some Mathematical Examples
• 5. Stefan's Law
• 6. Luminosity vs. Brightness
• 7. Doppler Shift
• 8. Emission-Line Spectra
• 9. Absorption-Line Spectra
• 10. Kirchoff's Laws

Oct 4:

READING: Sections 4.2 - 5.1
• 1. Energy Levels in Atoms
• 2. Ions and Isotopes
• 3. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
• 4. Spectral Line Broadening
• 5. The Hydrogen Atom

Oct 9:

READING: Sections 5.2 - 5.4
• 1. Refraction
• 2. Mirages
• 3. Refracting Telescopes
• 4. Chromatic Aberration
• 5. Reflection
• 6. Reflecting Telescopes

Oct 11:

• 1. Diffraction
• 2. Diffraction Gratings
• 3. Resolution
• 4. Seeing
• 5. Light Gathering Power
• 6. Quiz #3

READING: Rest of Chapter 5
• 1. Review of Quiz #3
• 2. Pictures of Telescopes
• 3. Telescopes at Different Wavelengths

READING: Sections 6.1 - 6.6
• 1. Inventory of the Solar System
• 2. The Definition of a Planet
• 3. Motions in the Solar System
• 4. The Classification of Planets
• 5. Spacecraft to the Planets

READING: Rest of Chapter 6; Chapter 15
• 1. The Formation of the Solar System
• 2. Conservation of Angular Momentum
• 3. Differentiation
• 4. Evidence for the Solar System Formation Model

READING: Pages 174-175.
• 1. Extrasolar Planets
• 2. Selection Effects in the Search for Extrasolar Planets
• 3. The Atmospheres of Planets and Moons
• 4. The Origin and Evolution of Planetary Atmospheres
• 5. Why is the Sky Blue?

November 1:

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

READING: Sections 7.1 - 7.3
• 1. Review of Quiz #4
• 2. The Ozone Layer and the Ionosphere
• 3. The Greenhouse Effect
• 4. Convection
• 5. The Coriolis Effect

READING: Sections 7.4 - 7.5
• 1. The Interiors of Planets
• 2. Heat Flow out of Planets
• 3. Magnetic Dynamos
• 4. Aurora

• 1. Plate Tectonics
• 2. Hot Spot Volcanism
• 3. Radioactive Dating

READING: Section 7.6
• 1. Tidal Forces
• 2. The Earth's Changing Sidereal Day
• 3. The Spin-Orbit Resonance of Mercury
• 4. Quiz #5

READING: Chapters 8 and 9
• 1. Review of Quiz #5
• 2. The Surface of the Moon
• 3. The Formation of the Moon
• 4. The Surface of Mercury
• 5. The Surface of Venus

READING: Reading: Sections 11.1 - 11.4, 12.1 - 12.4, 13.1 - 13.5
• 1. The Surface of Mars
• 2. The Atmospheres of the Jovian Planets
• 3. The Interiors of the Jovian Planets

READING:
• 1. Overview of the Galilean Moons
• 2. Io
• 3. Europa
• 4. Callisto
• 5. Ganymede
• 6. The Moons of Saturn

READING: Rest of Chapter 13
• 1. The Moons of Uranus
• 2. Triton
• 3. Pluto and Charon
• 4. Planetary Rings
• 5. Quiz #6

READING: Chapter 14
• 1. Asteroids
• 2. Comets