Astronomy

This page is here to help those who are taking or revising the astronomy component of courses PX1511 & PX1512, our introductory Astronomy course intended for anyone with an interest in the subject. You can read the current version of the introductory course handout (pdf file) that includes the course contents. The 'overhead summaries' referred to in the list below are .pdf files each containing 6 overheads per page. They can be viewed using Acrobat 7.0 or equivalent software (on class-room PCs) and printed on a postscript printer. The slides are also in pdf files and can be printed in colour, if required, but see further comments on printing slides. Our On-line Numerical Assistant designed to help you with numerical problems. Do try it once the course has been running for a few weeks.          Our essential guidance is a 'must read' for all who want to score well in their courses.

Information Course intro (.pdf) Printing chapter slides Course text Assignments Numerical Assistant Multiple choice questions Why study astronomy? (.pdf) What's wrong with astrology? (.pdf) A rant on ID (.pdf) Why do we seem alone? (.pdf) Our place in the Universe (.pdf) Where am I? (.pdf) Are we lucky to be alive ? (.pdf) Seeing gravity (.pdf) Past times, future places? (.pdf) Is religion necessary? (.pdf) Planetarium notes (.pdf) Meandering among the stars (.pdf) Planetary ballooning (.pdf) Some odd questions (.pdf) Rockets of the future? (.pdf) Orbits of satellites and planets (.pdf) Midwinter days and other stories(.pdf) Astronomers from NE Scotland (.pdf - a talk) Eclipsed (.pdf) The grammar of science (.pdf) SF Books Transit of Venus 2004 Astronomy links 400 years of the telescope, part 1 400 years of the telescope, part 2 Our observatory Meteorology course Interesting sites The Geddes Prize Disclaimer

The theme of the course is based on 10 chapters of Theo Koupelis and Karl Kuhn's In Quest of the Universe but the course does not track the textbook in detail. For the convenience of students, the lecturer's overheads can be read here, or copied as a revision aid. These overheads aren't intended to be explanatory by themselves, only helpful in conjunction with the lectures and the diagrams in the course text. ***** All 2010 lecture files are translated into pdf format. To see the animations in the embedded 'movies', you need to come to the lectures, or run them from a CD or the publisher's web page. Students wishing to print these files, including the 6-to-a-page summaries, must first click on the link and open the underlying pdf file with the Acrobat reader (version 7 or later recommended). Print from within the reader. The summary files are in black & white for greater clarity and cheapness of printing. The lecturer's notes represent the lecture's personal views and are his guide as to what is said in the lectures. They are not read out. Introduction plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes The Earth-centred Universe plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes The Sun-centred Universe plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes Galileo, Newton & Einstein plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes Earth - Moon System plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes Stellar properties for planetarium plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes Sun plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes Planetary Overview plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes Terrestrial Planets plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes Jovian Planets + Pluto & the TNOs plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes Asteroids, Comets & Meteors plus overhead summary plus brief notes Measuring the Stars plus overhead summary plus final comment Astronomy Links Astronomy as a discipline has embraced the World Wide Web. A list of useful links is given here. These quickly lead to a great many more sites that will keep you in touch with astronomy NOW.

Astronomy Applets
The course contains a good number of animated diagrams that are not java applets. These animations are NOT included in the notes on this web-page. This applet section will be expanded as the course runs. The applets below may not all run on the browser you are using. In general the applets are not intended to teach the underlying science but to illustrate what is mainly taught in the course.

Page constructed by John S. Reid j.s.reid@abdn.ac.uk
Last updated Jan 2012