If you'd like information on the course or teaching materials
beyond what's listed below, feel free to email me at john.whelan@astro.rit.edu.
Lecture Topics
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Tuesday, January 11: Introduction and Overview
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Thursday, January 13: Tour of the Universe and Making Math
Work for You
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Tuesday, January 18: Motions on the Sky
(and Models to Explain Them)
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Thursday, January 20: Heliocentric Model:
Galileo's Observations and Kepler's Calculations
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Tuesday, January 25: Galileo, Newton, and the Birth of
Classical Physics
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Thursday, January 27: Orbits and Gravity:
Kepler and Galileo from a Newtonian Perspective
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Tuesday, February 1: Coördinates on the Earth and the
Sky
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Thursday, February 3: Calendars, tides, and eclipses
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Tuesday, February 15: Overview of the Solar System
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Thursday, February 17: Temperatures and Ages of Planets
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Thursday, February 24: A Crash Course in Geology
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Tuesday, March 1: Earth: Atmosphere and Environment
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Thursday, March 3: Venus plus DEATH
FROM THE SKIES!
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Tuesday, March 8: Mars
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Thursday, March 10: The Mars Exploration Rover Mission
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Tuesday, March 15: Exploring the Giant Planets
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Thursday, March 17: Atmospheres and Rings of the Giant Planets
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Tuesday, March 29: The Galilean Satellites
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Thursday, March 31: Titan, Triton, and the Pluto-Charon System
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Tuesday, April 5: Planetary Science Review
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Tuesday, April 12: Asteroids
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Thursday, April 14: Comets and Their Kin
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Tuesday, April 19: Meteors, Meteorites, and the Origin of
the Solar System
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Thursday, April 21: Extrasolar Planets
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Tuesday, April 26: The Recipe for Life
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Thursday, April 28: The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
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Tuesday, May 3: Course Wrapup
Lecture notes from previous Astronomy courses
Homeworks
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Chapter One -- Assigned January 18, Due January 25
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Chapter Two -- Assigned January 25, Due February 1
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Chapter Three -- Assigned February 1, Due February 15
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Chapter Six -- Assigned February 22, Due March 1
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Chapter Seven -- Assigned March 1, Due March 8
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Chapter Nine -- Assigned March 8, Due March 15
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Chapter Ten -- Assigned March 15, Due March 29
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Chapter Eleven -- Assigned April 5, Due April 14
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Chapter Twelve -- Assigned April 14, Due April 21
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Chapter Thirteen -- Assigned April 21, Due April 28
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Chapter Fifteen -- Assigned April 28, Due May 5