Astronomy                 Natural Science 1001

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Astronomy
Meteorology
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Astronomy
Meteorology
Geology

Primary goals

• Describe characteristics of light
• Describe light that we receive from objects in space
• Describe the Doppler effect and its applications

Basic characteristics of light   [sections 5.1 and 5.2  p. 138-143]

• Why is the study of light so important to Astronomy?
• Wave properties 
  --Describe wavelength
• Particle properties 
  --Describe photons
• Energy of light
• Electromagnetic spectrum 
  --What are the regions of the electromagnetic spectrum?
  --How do they vary in wavelength and energy?
  --Links
     --How a spectrometer works (2nd bullet on right)
     --IR video
      --The Milky Way in different wavelengths
• How do light and matter interact?
• How can light tell us what stuff is made of?
• Videos
  --research video  2 min What are gamma rays?

What do we see when we look in space?

For the next three headings [Section 5.4   p. 150-155]
Explanation D2L

Emission line spectrum   

• What would we look at in space to see an emission line spectrum?
• What does an emission line spectrum look like?

Continuous spectrum

• What would we look at in space to see a continuous spectrum?
• Describe the shape of the spectrum.
• What is the relationship between total amount of light emitted by an object and the surface temperature of the object?
• What is the relationship between the average energy of photons emitted by an object and the surface temperature of the object?

Absorption line spectrum

• What would we look at in space to see an absorption line spectrum?
• What does an absorption line spectrum look like?
• Links
  --Some star spectra

Revisit Chemical Fingerprints

• Videos
  --research video  3 min  how spectra are used to learn more about exoplanets (so-so)

Telescopes and the Electromagnetic Spectrum

Doppler Effect      [Section 5.5  p. 156-160]     Explanation D2L

• Definitions
  --Red-shifting and blue-shifting
  --What happens to the light emitted by objects that are traveling away from each other? What does that light look like?
  --What happens to the light emitted by objects that are traveling toward from each other? What does that light look like?
  --Link
    --interactive of Doppler spectral shift of a star
• Applications
   --Explain how the Doppler effect can help us determine the relative speed of two objects toward or away from each other
  --Explain how the Doppler effect can help us determine the rotation speed of an object
  
  For the rest of the topic see: [p. 368-371, 376]
  --We look into the sky and see one point of light. Explain how the Doppler effect can help us determine that there are actually two objects orbiting each other.
   --Explain how the Doppler effect can help us find planets around other stars.     Explanation D2L
  
  --Link
    --Radial velocity simulator from U Nebraska
    --YouTube

Other

• Exoplanet transit simulator