Office: Dearborn Observatory #3
Phone: 491-5633
Email: m-ulmer2@northwestern.edu
Office
Hours: by appointment, usually open most of (but not all) 9-5 M-F
TA Pat Stollenwerk
Office: FB 36 Tech
e-mail patrickstollenwerk2018@u.northwestern.edu
Office Hours:
Tuesday 11:00 a.m.-12:00 noon
Thursday 11:00 a.m.-12:00 noon
Review sessions will be held in Tech (Map of 3rd
floor of Tech) M345
(go to the link and type in M345 in the Tech room finder search box)
8:00-9:30 April
17, May 7 and May 31
Observing at
Dearborn
All observing
sessions are on Tuesday nights 9:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. starting the week of April
6. Last session June 2
No Final Exam: (3 “Mid terms” and quizzes instead)
We'll have four, 5 minute quizzes on
Fridays. See below for the dates. You
can replace one quiz with a paper. If
your paper does not receive a grade higher than you lowest quiz grade, I’ll
keep the quiz grade.
The paper is no more than one
page (12 pt, 1 inch margins, single spaced) , and it is to be a critical analysis of an
astronomy article from any magazine or newspaper in the past 1 year. By critical analysis, I mean did the article
convince you the discovery was both interesting and valid. On the first point, I don’t mean: “Gosh, I found it so
fascinating to learn that there is really and truly a black hole in the center
of our galaxy. “ Rather, I mean is how does
the discovery fits into a broader context? e.g., the
discovery of a black hole in the center of our galaxy gives proof both that
Einstein’s Theory of General relativity is valid and that this gives us
insights (OK no direct knowledge of) that perhaps galaxies are all formed about
large (a million times the mass of the Sun of more) black holes On the second point, somebody will say they
have proved there is a black hole in the center of our galaxy. What proof do they offer? And, why or why not do you find the presented
evidence compelling (or not)? I
recommend the NY Times Science Times, but Astronomy Magazine and Sky and Telescope will work as well. Scientific American, Nature , or Science Magazine
are not for the faint at heart. You must
submit a copy of the article along with you paper.
The
course grade will be on 3 "mid-term exam" (25%, 25%, and 30%; 80%
total) and
quizzes (20%). The exams will consist of multiple choice, short answer, and
essay questions. In the case of missed exams, make-ups will only be considered
under the direst of circumstances and will consist of an oral test. Quizzes
will consist of a short essay questions.
Nearly
Required: Attendance for at least one observing session.
Dearborn
Observatory has an 18.5 inch refractor that allows
spectacular viewing of the planets, the moon and other objects. Observing
sessions will probably be held on Tuesday evenings, but check on Wednesday
(here or in class), 30 March for the day of the week for the observing
sessions. There will be two sessions. Each will be one hour long and will be
limited to 10 students. The first session will be held the second week of
class. The times of the sessions will be announced at the end of the preceding
week and the beginning of the week of the sessions. Sign up sheets will be made
available in class and attendance will be taken at the sessions. You are allowed
to attend more than one session. You should attend at least one session. The session will he held regardless of whether it is cloudy or
not. A tour will be given in any event. Repeat attendance to achieve actual
viewing is encouraged, but not required. If you are on the border line, i.e within 1-2 percentage points of the next grade level
down, and you have not gone to an observing session I’ll move you down ½ a
grade, e.g.,
from B to B-
Introduction, Read Chapters 3
o NASA Office of Space Science - the US space facilities
o The Naval Observatory Web Page - "the web site for those who really want to know what time it is"
o Sky Online - courtesy of Sky and Telescope magazine
Week 2 (April
6-April 10)
Read
Chapters 3, 4, 5(part)
Quiz on Friday April 10
o
Optics Simulators for the
experts
Week
3 (April 13-17) Special Lecture on
13 April by Former Astronaut
Jeff
Hoffman
Read chapters 5(part), 16 (will emphasize part 16.6 and 16.7)
First
Mid-Term April 17 3,4,5, and 16; Review session 16 April M345 Tech 8:00-9:30 p.m.
Week 4 (April 20 -24)
Read Chapters 17
Quiz April 24
o
Move
your star on the HR diagram
Week 5 (April 27- May 1)
Quiz May 1
Read Chapters 17, 18, 19 (part)
o
More about the ISM than you care
for
o
Triggered
Star formation, chicken and egg
Week 6 (May 4 May 8)
Second Exam 2
May 8 Chapters 17,18,19 20, (part)21 ; Review
session May 7 April M345 Tech 8:00-9:30 p.m.
Read Chapters 19(part) 20, 21 (part)
Week 7 (May 11-15)
o
Neil de
Grasse Tyson on falling into a black hole
o
Weird
stuff inside a black hole
Quiz May 15
Read Chapter 22 (part)
Week 8 (May 18-21)
Quiz May 22
o Lecture
(> 1 hr) Black hole at the Galactic Center
Read Chapters 22, 23, 24 (part)
Week 9 (May 24-29)
o
Observable Universe with
Sloan Galaxy Images
o
Observable Universe to its
edge
o
Planck Satellite
First Light
French film that has nor much do with the class, but is amusingRead Chapters
24(part), 25,
Third Exam Covering 21 (part) 22, 23,24, 25; Review session Sunday Night May 31, 8:00-9:30 p.m.
Happy
summer vacation
As a way of introduction, I would like to begin by making some general comments.
First, Astronomy is probably the oldest science. Anybody who has looked up at the sky has gazed in wonderment. Driven both by curiosity and religion, man continued to study the sky. There were some pretty important religious based questions that were addressed, such as exactly where did man and the earth stand compared to the universe. On the curiosity side, we are simply driven on and to learn more even as we learn more. For, as we delve in to the limitless universe it seems we often uncover new questions as we answer old ones. The growth in our knowledge of physics in the past 100 years has allowed us to understand a great deal about the stars, planets, galaxies and the universe at large. In the distant past when this knowledge wasn't available, astronomers had more use as astrologers. They told people the location of the planets etc. The concept of a supernatural being and how the being's existence explains the existence and characteristics of Earth has affected people's connection with organized religion and vice versa. The knowledge of astronomy was useful for debates in this area. The Copernican Revolution was a classic example. Now we enter a new era of astronomy and astrophysics where billions of dollars are spent every year on astrophysics research, and society as a whole is starting to ask tough questions such as why is this research necessary? What's in it for me? Or why do I find it interesting? And is it worth that much money? This has placed a requirement on the professional astrophysicist to emphasize research that connects directly to the interests of the layman rather than, perhaps, the esoteric interests of the peer group of astronomers and astrophysicists who know enough to ask detailed questions. You, as future leaders and taxpayers will have to answer the question of how much funding to give to astronomy and astrophysics and why. Two of my goals in this course are to motivate you to want to learn this material and to teach you enough so that you will be able to make educated choices about future funding as well as to appreciate future press releases and discoveries.
There is another reason for you to take this course, however, and that is to learn how to think like a scientist. So stop to think a minute now, what does it mean to you when the TV reporter says "today scientists have announced the discovery of..." The use of the word scientist had a certain implied reliability, right? Why is that? And why do most universities require that you take an science class? This is because you are supposed to receive some training to behave like a scientist, right? Yet mostly the astronomy, biology and geology courses that are offered are descriptive courses where the main goal is to teach jargon and facts. The facts will be useful as noted above, but beyond that this new knowledge will make you more conversant, and if your child asks you something about the sky someday you'll be able to give a concrete answer. But is this motivation enough to require that you take a science class? Probably not. It is better for you to get some training at acting scientifically. We won't be able to do this rigorously, but I hope you will actually benefit from this class.
Here are some of the things that I hope will stick with you:
(1) Be methodical and take careful notes: since this is the is the art of making reproducible results, e.g., if you tell somebody exactly how you did something, they should be able to repeat it and get the same result. As an aside here, there is implied a certain level of competency in being able to reproduce the results. I could get a very precise ski lesson and still not be able to make it down a snow covered slope in one piece. Nevertheless, detailed recording of how the measurements were done, the material was made, etc is what is needed. One of the things that makes most of us disbelieve in UFOs, leprechauns, Big Foot etc, is that the supposed observations are not reproducible in any controlled fashion. (Sure people continue to report UFOs, Big Foot etc, but there is no concrete, reproducible evidence of these things.)
2) Think deductively and critically. For example, if a marketing person calls you and tells you that if you follow their advice, you will become rich... Think about it...Why doesn't the person on the end of the line just follow their own advice? OR thinking critically: a football player a few years ago had a sore back and the team had him take 40 Advils a day. What was he thinking? Didn't the read the bottle for directions? Also when somebody provides you with a fact that is important to you, how do they know? What is their reference, or how did they make the measurement? This will even allow you to pick out exaggerated claims such as "Scientists discover Black Hole....''. How did they know?
(3) Avoid as often as you can qualitative thinking and descriptions versus quantitative descriptions, e.g. it's a long way to Tipperary..what does "long way" mean?
(4) Always have an idea
of where you are going, why are you going there and a schedule for achieving
those goals. No scientific project that takes more than a few hours or days can
be done on time and within budget without systematic planning, project justification,
budgets etc.
As we learn about the
Milk Way Galaxy we will find it is huge. And thus unlike the solar system where
we can send satellites (or even people) to explore the planets, moons asteroid
and comets, we can at the very best only hope to reach the nearest stars. For,
at 1/10 the speed of light, about as fast as we can ever imagine achieving with
a rocket, it
would take 40 years to reach the closet star.
To get a picture of our galaxy then would take us about 10,000-100,000
years! Clearly this in not feasible, so
an interesting questions for our class are: how do we know what our galaxy
looks like and what is it made up of?
Imagine, then, for a moment that we are
intelligent amoebae living ½ way up a 20 year old oak tree trunk. We only live for a second to two, but we live
fast so we’ve developed a technology to look through the tree and well as
outward. We have no hope to traveling proportionally far in the tree trunk nor
do we have much motivation given our life spans. For, even if we could achieve high
velocities (for us), it would take tens to hundreds of millions of lifetime so
go around the trunk once. We have
figured out via remote sensing that we are on a thing that has leaves,, and bark and branches. Then we have to look out and see
if we could find
something that looks like what we think we live in. We see grass
and conclude, nope, not grass. Then we see bushes, rocks and maybe even a
house. Nope, not
those. either,
we conclude Then we see a red bud tree. Note not that either,
but closer. Our habitant is related at
least. Then finally we find a 20 year old oak tree and
we by virtue of establishing the distance to the oak tree, determine that its
size and shape meets the description of our own tree. How we figured out distance
in our own tree and then to the next trees was tricky, but we did it.
Thus for example about in
the early 1800’s when astronomers still didn’t know what we lived in.. Then, the Messier
catalog was made (by M. Charles Messier)
to list objects that looked fuzzy and didn’t move with respect to the “fixed”
stars. At that time, by the way, these fuzzy objects
were judged uninteresting, and the
catalog was judged useful so you didn’t mistake theses boring objects for
something that looks and fuzzy and moves in the sky with respect to the
background stars , ie. comets. Ironically, now those fuzzy things have
turned out to be more interesting than comets;
galaxies. One of the most famous in Messier’s catalog
is M31, also called Andromeda. Probing
our own galaxy and then looking at Andromeda we have concluded that our galaxy
would look a lot like Andromeda is we could fly fay enough away to take a
picture.
