Astronomy Bizarre (Astro 250):
Spring 2014

	"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened." -- Douglas Adams

The course meets on MWF at 2:10 in Physics 58, and is taught by Steve Kawaler.

Announcements

• Final grades have been posted to Blackboard.

• Thanks for a great semester, and have a terrific summer!

Current / Recent Items

• Exam 3 (Final): Monday, May 5, 12-2
  • The exam is cumulative; here are the topic lists from the course:
    • Stars and Relativity
    • Cosmology
    • Life
  • Sample exam
    • and here are the multiple choice answers - corrected 5:30PM Sunday
• Notes on the End of the Earth from April 30 and May 2.
• Live HD view of the Earth from the International Space Station
• (for fun but recommended) Radiolab: Apocalyptical. The video of this clever take on the K-T extinction is also available in Section 4 of Blackboard
• Notes on SETI from April 21, 23, and 28
• Notes on Life from April 14
• Notes on Life from April 7, 9
• Readings for the week of April 28 (SETI and the End of the World)
  • Chelyabinsk: Article 9 on Blackboard
  • The Fate of the Earth: S&T Article number 10 on Blackboard
  • The Fate of the Sun and the Earth: S&T Article number 11 on Blackboard
  • The Future of the Universe: S&T Article number 12 on Blackboard
• Project ideas were cleared with me by Monday, April 21; due in class by Friday, May 2.
• Habitable Worlds Across Space and Time: a workshop at the Space Telescope Science Institute was going on the last week fo class - talks were webcast and then archived
• Excellent (and brief) overview/introduction by Matt Mountain, STScI Director.
• Habitable zones around white dwarfs - a talk by my PhD advisor, Don Winget. This is what we watched 'live.'
• See if you can't decode this message... Solution presented in class on April 23 April 28.
• On Friday, April 25, you should have watched Episode 12 of Cosmos (the original series) entitled Encyclopedia Galactica.
  • The video is available on Blacboard, in the Learning Modules Section 4 (Life). The video may play direction on the Learning Modules/Section 4 page. If not, you can use the dropdown menu to watch it in a new browser window or to download it.
  • Please let me know if you have any problem viewing it.
  • Be sure to answer the Survey questions that have been posted in the same section on Blackborad
• Neil deGrasse Tyson speculates about alien life forms
• EXAM 2 was in classs on Wednesday, April 16
  • Sample questions for Exam 2
    • and here are the answers
  • Topic list for Cosmology
  • Topic list for Life (up to horizontal line)
• Homework 4 was due on Monday, April 14
• On Friday, April 11 you should have viewed the following lecture video:
  • Lecture by Prof. Natalie Batalha on A Planet for Goldilocks. Dr. Batalha is a lead scientist with the Kepler mission, and in this lecture she clearly describes what the mission has found and what our thinking is about habitability.
  • After you've watched the videos you should have answered the survey questions that are posted on Blackboard.
  • In addition, I strongly recommend watching this video of a lecture and discussion with Frank Drake that I hosted back in October at the Kepler Science Conference, where he discusses the Drake Equation in the Kepler era.
• Extended interview with Frank Drake
• Skydiver's narrow miss with a falling meteorite (?!)
  • Followup - it was just a rock.
• Cosmologist on a tire swing
• Notes from class on 3/31/14 on Inflation and cosmic struture formation.
  • Here is a link to the 'Universe in a box' simulation videos shown in class
• Notes from class on 4/2/14 and 4/4/14 on the accelerating universe, and CBR polariztion.
• Notes from class on 3/28/14 on the CBR, flatness problem, and inflation
• Here are notes shown in class on 3/24 and 3/26 about Big Bang Nucleosytheisis, and Dark Matter
• Homework 3 is here: it was due on Monday, March 31, in class.
• A spectacular discovery of fundamental importance to cosmology announced on Monday, March 17. We will talk about this after Spring Break.
  • Listen here to a very well-done audio segment from Science Friday from March 21 about this amazing discovery
• Reading for the week of March 31 (Cosmology)
  • Sizing up Inflation: S&T Article #4 available on Blackboard
  • Universe in a Box: Article #2 on Blackboard, Cosmology section
  • Supernovae, Cosmic Yardsticks: S&T Article #5
  • Dark Energy and the Preposterous Universe: S&T Article #6
• Useful cosmology tutorials
  • An excellent online cosmology tutorial - we'll use material from this throughout the Cosmology section, so start working through it.
  • The ideas behind "freeze-out", from Davison Soper at the University of Oregon.
  • A concise review of Big Bang nucleosynthesis, from Ned Wright at UCLA
• A fun exercise . . .
• Exam 1: was in class on Friday, March 7
  • Here are some practice questions.
    • and here are the MC answers
  • Here is a brief list of topics to review
• Notes on General Relativity and Black Holes as shown in class on 2/21, 2/24, and 2/26.
• Notes on Time Travel as shown in class on 2/26 and 3/3.
• Homework 2 was due in class on Monday, Feb. 24
  
  • Here are the answers to question 5
• Instead of the regular class meeting on 2/28, you were to to view the video Time Travel which is available for download on Blackboard. Note that the download is about 1.1Gb so be sure to do it over wifi and not on your cell plan! You should be able to view the file with Quicktime, VLC, or your favorite digital content viewer. After watching the video, be you were to fill out a short question sheet that I will post on Blackboard as an assignment, before class on Monday, 3/3.
• Reading week of February 17, general relativity and black holes. Resources for GR:
  • The main reading is this book excerpt from Jose Wudka on general relativity and black holes
  but see also
  • the Equivalence Principle,
  • curved spacetime
  • and black holes and curved spacetime
  • and evidence of warped space
• A video lecture on the Michaelson-Morley experiment
• Review reading from the week of Feb. 10 (Relativity):
  • Is it true?
  • Time Dilation
  • Here is another nice tutorial on the basics of relativity: in particular the Preface, Primeval Relativity, through Special Relativity
• Time dilation experiment: video of the Haefele & Keating experiment.
• Special Lecture: : "Understanding Black Holes and Active Galaxies"
  • Monday, Feb. 10, at 8PM in Curtiss Hall
  • Prof. Urry visited with our class during the regular class time that Monday.
  • She recommended the book "Einstein for Beginners" as a good source for relativity.
  • Here is a short bio/interview
• Notes on neutron stars and pulsars shown in class on 2/3 and 2/5
• Notes on Type Ia and Type II supernovae shown in class on 1/29 and 1/31
• Homework #1 was due in class on Wednesday, January 29.
• Here is the Iben model of binary white dwarfs turning into Type Ia supernovae.
• The animation of an exploding white dwarf shown in class on January 29 is along the top row of this page. It was made at the University of Chicago and is described here
• A more down to Earth simulation of a supernova explosion that we saw in class and as described in Andy Howell's article on supernovae, is here.
• Nearby Supernova in Galaxy M82!
  • successfully viewed at our January 28 observing session
  • Our guest on February 10, Prof. Meg Urry, has reported on this on CNN
  • Here's a kicker - it was discovered by undergraduate students in an astronomy class during an observing session!
• For those of you who haven't had Astro 150, there are some lecture notes on the Sun and stellar evolution on my archived Astro 150 website:
  • The Inside of the Sun
  • Main sequence stars (last part of that lecture)
• You'll want to register for an account with Zooniverse as we'll be actively discussing several subjects where hands-on "citizen science" activities will be required.
• One thing that you can count on - we'll spend some time following this Spring's reboot of the classic television series Cosmos - A Spacetime Odyssey!
  For a taste, here is a preview. Episodes begin on March 9, 2014.
• scale model of the solar system for a billion-mile walk
• Another way to look at the scales of the Universe
• A Scale Model of Time
• Very neat representation of the scales of the Universe
• Powers of 10 website - have fun!
  • for an interactive "Powers of Ten" exercise click here.
• A famous exam question

General Course Info

• Reading/Listening assignments

• Course Outline
• Course Info

• Zooniverse provides opportunities to contribute to an ongoing science investigation. We'll be looking at several of these projects in class.

• Useful Course Links

• Some of the background work you will do will not be reading, but will be listening to (and occasionally watching) programs that are either streamed on the internet or available as downloads or podcasts. You'll need a way to listen to mp3 files... an iPod/iPad/iPhone perhaps?

• Here are a few of the sites / radio / podcast sources we'll be using:
  • The BBC radio show In Our Time has had a number of excellent discussions of astronomical topics. Their science archive includes several shows that we will be using.

  • The radio show Big Picture Science has shows on extraterrestrial life, cosmology, and other topics. Also available as a podcast.

  • Science Friday is a weekly show on all topics in science that has had some terrific guests in astronomy. Available streamed or as downloadable podcasts.

  • The science blog Universe Today has a number of audio programs with interviews of scientists working on exciting topics related to Astronomy Bizarrre.

  • Radiolab is a weekly radio show (and podcast) that often features very imaginative ways of visualizing science results. One of my favorite journalists, Robert Krulwich, co-hosts.

Past items

• There is no past!

Other items

• The Ames Area Amateur Astronomers (AAAA) has an observing session on the third or fourth Saturday of each month at McFarland Park in Ames. They are a terrific group of enthusiastic and knowledgable folks - go and enjoy. The link has access to a map and info on their observatory and programs.

• Astro 150 Review Sheet

• The grandfather of Astronomy Bizarre was/is Astro 309N by Craig Wheeler at the University of Texas... which Prof. Kawaler TAed way back in grad school in 1982.