Serious Time

One class, one field trip, one short discussion...and then vacation.  Hope it was fun.  I brushed up on the theory of relativity...and it's starting to make sense.  Well, not really.

Exciting news on the planet--a meteor explodes over Russia, and all those dash cams take the scene: Watch This: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130218.html
 

But that wasn't the only thing happening in the skies. Check this out: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/11/asteroid_2012_da14_space_rock_will_miss_the_earth_by_17_000_miles.html?wpisrc=obinsite

On Feb. 15, the small asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass the Earth, similar to this artwork (which uses a real image of both Earth and the asteroid Matilde).
Image credits: Earth: ESA/Rosetta; asteroid Mathilde: NASA/NEAR

And since we missed Valentine's day, here is a picture (on the left) of an astro-valentine from space, taken on Feb. 14th, 2000, of the asteroid named 433 Eros. This spud-shaped rock is 34 x 11 x 11 kilometers (21 x 7 x 7 miles) in size, and sometimes approaches near the Earth (though we’re in no danger of it hitting us).



Back to our suject, LIGHT- The Whole Spectrum
Bad Astronomer blog http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/22/infrared_time_lapse_video_of_trees_in_the_infrared_is_eerie_and_beautiful.html

Video 56 minutes:

Light Fantastic 3 - The Stuff of Light 

Reading: 

1. Textbook - finish chapter 1: A Brief Introduction to the Universe

2. Handout - Asteroids AND/OR chapter 2 of God's Undertaker

3. I will post some short videos on FB periodically, as well as short thoughts.  Please also post your comments; I have set up an astronomy group, and I would love you to share stuff as well.

Welcome to the Homework.

First of all, acquaint yourselves with the tabs above: Picture of the Day, Universe Today, and Bad Astronomy.
These sites post new pictures and blog about various spacey subjects, so check them out at least once a week. (Bad Astronomy has the most reading, but is also the most interesting, imo, and occassionally the most opinionated, which do not necessarily reflect my views.)  Click here for cool photograph of moon rising.

also see here
Reading from Textbook (binder):
Notice the different way the book is organized into chapter, section and sub-sections.
Chapter 1.1.1 and 1.1.2
 What is astronomy?  & Science, art, religion and other ways of knowing  (pages 1-3)
Chapter 3.5.1  -3.5.2
 The nature of light  & What is light? An unanswered question ( pages 49-51)
 then skip to 3.5.7
 What is light? Light as a wave (pages 59-61)

Video: 58 minutes
Light Fantastic: Let There Be Light
A historical journey through the discovery of the properties of light.  Jot down the names of the scientist and their insights.
[Empedocles, Euclid, Al Hazen, Roger Bacon, Descartes and Isaac Newton]


And one more picture from Bad Astronomy:

Geronimo! Allons-y! Fantastic!