Classes - Archive

AAA Winter Astronomy Class 2013 - The Solar System - Feb-Mar 2013

Class Schedule:

February 6 - Week 1
Orientation to the Solar System

• Definitions
• How it formed
• Discovery and historical figures
• Orbital motion and laws of motion

*For weeks 2-6, when talking about various solar system bodies, we will cover their formation, atmosphere, surface, interior, moons, and interesting features/backstories.

February 13 - Week 2
The Rocky Planets

• Mercury
• Venus
• Mars
• Mars rovers

February 20 - Week 3
Jovian System

• Jupiter
• Galilean moons
• Voyager and Galileo missions

February 27 - Week 4
Saturnian System

• Saturn
• Saturn’s rings
• Saturnian moons
• Cassini mission

March 6 - Week 5
Remaining Outer Planets and Dwarf Planets

• Uranus
• Neptune
• Dwarf Planets
• Pluto
• New Horizons mission to Pluto
• Oort Cloud

March 13 - Week 6
Other Solar System Bodies

• Asteroid Belt/asteroids
• Comets
• Meteors/meteorites

March 20 - Week 7
Questions/Related Topics/Observing

• A class devoted to related topics students are particularly curious about
• Observing

About the Instructor:

Jaclyn Avidon graduated with honors from Lafayette College with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics and a minor in Mathematics. She spent over two years researching the subsurface conditions of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, including a summer spent at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Jaclyn was also an Astronomy teaching assistant for three years and the President of her college’s Physics Club.
 

AAA Spring/Summer Astronomy Class 2012
 

Class Schedule:

Wednesday, June 13 AAA Premiere Class - Dr. Denton S. Ebel
“Meteorites, Solar System Chemistry, and MESSENGER at Mercury: An Extended Discussion”
Join Dr. Denton S. Ebel, Curator of Meteorites from the AMNH Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,  as he takes  us through a fascinating inside look at how his research reveals new information about the countless  meteorites that  travel around the universe and strike Earth on a daily basis. This presentation will give us firsthand insight into the  composition of our universe.  We are all made of these  elements, so feel  right at home!
 

Wednesday, June 20 Class 2 - Peter Tagatac
“Tales and Techniques of an Urban Astronomer”
Sidewalk astronomy is a challenging endeavor. Stargazing from New York City is a wonderful recreational activity,  guaranteed to enchant anyone with a curiosity to experience the night sky. Peter Tagatac has mastered this process,  developing skills to maximize visibility while sharing his love of astronomy with others. Learn how to become an urban  astronomer and hear about Peter’s unique experiences.
 

Monday, June 25 Class 3 - Marc Horowitz
“An Evening at the Edward R. Murrow Hubble Planetarium”
Our universe in just over the Brooklyn Bridge. Travel with us to the Edwin P. Hubble Planetarium in Brooklyn to visit  the cosmos with EP Hubble Planetarium Director Marc Horowitz. Explore the night sky through the digital universe  on our first class “away mission.”
 

Wednesday, July 11  Class 4 - Stan Honda
“Focus on Night Sky Photography”
From the launch pad of 13 NASA shuttle missions to the remote areas of the Grand Canyon and the Petrified  Forest,  professional photographer Stan Honda has perfected his skills shooting the night sky.  In this session,  bring your camera if  you would like some pointers as Stan discusses his adventures and challenges in the dark, capturing exquisite photographs of  the stars above us. Stan will also join us on August 1 to guide class members during our observing session in Ward Pound  Ridge Reservation in Westchester.
 

Wednesday, July 18 Class 5 - Andrew Kessler
“In The Room” for the First Mars Rover Mission and Author of “Martian Summer”
“Martian Summer” is an up close and personal non-fiction account of author Andrew Kessler’s time spent as the  inside  observer for the NASA Phoenix Mars mission. Join us as we relive his three months of unfettered access to mission control,   a journalistic first and often NASA “no-no.” Capturing the story of 130 of the world’s best planetary scientists exploring the  north pole of Mars was a trip in itself.
 

Wednesday, July 25    Class 6 - Jason Kendall
“The Universe Is 13.67 Billion Years Old”
How do we know how old the universe is? What was it like at the beginning? What was before the Big Bang?  NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Jason Kendall will show us how to understand these concepts using images  from the Hubble Space Telescope, WMAP, COBE, BLAST, ALMA and other major space telescopes. We'll also  learn how the future James Webb Space Telescope will bring scientists new knowledge of our vast universe.
 

Monday, August 13 Class 7 - Michael O’Gara and Stan Honda 
“Observing Session at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation”
Amateur astronomy is still all about observing.  Join veteran observer Mike O’Gara, professional photographer Stan  Honda and other volunteer AAA observers as we travel to Westchester for darker skies and an evening of pure  observing  fun to complete our Spring/Summer session. Note: date changed to Monday August 13 with rain date of Wednesday August 15.
 

EVOLUTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM/BIRTH AND DEATH IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM (Fall 2011)

Dates: Six Wednesdays, Nov 2, 9, 16, 30; Dec 7, 14 (no class on Nov 23)

COURSE OUTLINE (SO FAR)
Giant Molecular Cloud Nursery
Accretion of Planetesimals
Creation of the Giant Planets and Asteroid Belt
Creation of the Terrestrial Planets
What Is a Planet?
Guided Tour of the Solar System with Pretty Pictures
The Creation of the Moon
Planetary Migration
Late Heavy Bombardment
Formation of the Kuiper Belt Objects
Long-Term Stability
Aging Sun
Collision with the Andromeda Galaxy
Red Giant Stage
Planetary Nebula Events
White Dwarf Stage

Laird’s internal notes from which topics will be chosen:

The Solar System Part I (up to Earth/Moon)

The Solar System Part II (the Inner Solar System)

The Solar System Part III (the Rest of the Solar System)

The class will be a reading class of the entire text "Astrophysics is Easy!: An Introduction for the Amateur Astronomer" by Mike Inglis. This class is a offering of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York.

Overview

Astrophysics means the physics of astronomy. The text will cover many areas, starting with measurements in astronomy (distance, brightness, color, velocity, temperature, size, and mass) and how they are done. We will discuss classification of stars and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of stellar evolution (birth, life, aging, death, and remnants). We will then cover the interstellar medium and its contents (such as bright and dark nebulae and their constituents). We'll learn about Red Giants, Supenovae, Neutron Stars and Black Holes. The links above and below show the book's reviews and have its table of contents as a free preview. The text is designed with amateurs in mind, giving the essential ideas about physical processes without sifting through heavy mathematics. As such, it is a survey course of the standard, well-established processes of astrophysics. I wil be supplementing the text with lectures and internet resources.

Class Structure

The structure of the class will follow the text, with students expected to do extensive at-home reading. The class time will be dominated by discussions on the reading for the week, with me leading the discussion and providing guidance and giving probing questions. Don.t be surprised if I randomly ask people to explain a whole section. In other words, don.t just read. Study it, and be ready with questions and be ready to talk about it. Answering questions about the week.s reading is a more important use of the class.s time than any lecture I might give, so I will de-emphasize lecture in order to answer all questions and to moderate discussion of the topics in the reading. This discussion is critical to a reading course and builds new intellectual relationships. We will always start with a recap of the reading, highlighting the salient points. Students will have required reading prior to the first class. So please see the links above and below to the textbook and get it now. The text is just under 200 pages, so finishing the text in six weeks will be easy. Class size is limited to 26 students.

How Much Work Is the Class?

As this is a reading course, there will be no grading or tests. The homework will be about 30 pages of the text per week, which will require at least six to eight hours each week. Each student is also expected to use the Internet to look up unfamiliar topics and words. It.ll take work and dedication to read this entire book in six weeks. It is good to know how to skim past certain sections and know how to find things on Google. Students will be expected to actively engage each other during the course outside of the class environment. Attendees are not required to have a physics background nor an extensive mathematics background. The course is geared for both adults and advanced high school or precocious middle-school students.

Schedule:

• January 25, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
• February 1, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
• February 8, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
• February 15, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
• February 22, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
• March 1, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

On all evenings, we will treat 6:00 to 6:30 as "Home Room", where you can mingle prior to the formal start of the class. Also, we will never formally go past 8:30, unless our discussions lead us that way. This setup is required because the studio has multiple uses, and we'll be walking in after a different class, and there may be uses of the studio after we are done. We don't want to get rushed on either side.

Spring 2010
AAA Astronomy Course
Wednesdays 6:30-8:30 pm
April 7, 14, 21, 28, May 5, 12 

Autumn 2009
Descriptive Astronomy
Instructor:  Shana Tribiano
Course Syllabus
Wednesdays 6:30-8:30 pm
October 21, 28, November 4, 11, 18, December 2