Astronomy 161 Introduction to Solar System Astronomy Prof. Paul Martini

Unit 4: The Physics of Astronomy

Lecture 16: Gravity [Jan 27] Section 3.4

Lecture 17: Orbits [Jan 28] Section 3.5

Lecture 18: Resonances [Feb 1] Section 10.4, Animation of the Middle Solar System from the Minor Planet Center

Lecture 19: Tides [Feb 2] Sections 10.1,10.2,10.3, Animation of Tides

Lecture 20: Light [Feb 3] Sections 4.1,4.2,4.6, Animation: Light as Wave, Light as Photon

Lecture 21: Matter [Feb 4] Section 4.5

Lecture 22: Light and Matter [Feb 5] Section 4.5, Animation of the Emission and Absorption of Light

Lecture 23: Spectroscopy [Feb 8] Section 4.4, Animation of Energy Levels in the Atom

Lecture 24: Telescopes [Feb 9] Section 5.1, Animation of Geometric Optics and Lenses

Related Readings:

Readings from 21st Century Astronomy as noted above

Web links for Further Exploration in Unit 4

Animations from the Minor Planet Center

Mercury MESSENGER

The Large Binocular Telescope Project

MODS: A Multi-Object Double Spectrograph for the Large Binocular Telescope

The links to the lectures reproduce the electronic overheads shown in class for each of the lectures. In some cases they have additional text and links covering supplemental material or graphics. Online lecture notes are made available starting the week in which the lectures occur, but some notes may not be accessible until later in the week if I am having problems translating them into a web-accessible form.

Please feel free to print out copies of these lecture outlines in advance of class, so you can follow along with the lecture. Many students find this helps them listen without the pressure of taking down detailed notes of their own, but while still making additional notes in the margins to highlight particularly emphasized points.

See A Note about Graphics to learn why some of the graphics shown in the lectures are not reproduced with these notes.

Students looking to explore these topics further using the Internet might want to look at Prof. Richard Pogge's Selected Astronomical Internet Links for this unit.

[ Return to the Astronomy 161 Main Page | Go back to Unit 3 | Go forward to Unit 5 ]

Updated: 2010 February 2
Copyright © Paul Martini All Rights Reserved.