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As a testament to the value of this material,
numerous copies of this material (in various
stages of revision) are found all over the web.
Entering ``strobel astronomy'' in any of the
internet search engines will bring up a lengthy
list of ‘
 of the copies out there. If you find
an old copy, please let the website manager
know of the official Astronomy Notes website
at $

$.

These documents were created by Nick Strobel

View animation of cover
for the introductory astronomy courses he
teaches. They are copyrighted by Nick Strobel.
This website is offered to the net as a resource
in astronomy education. See my copyright
notice for fair use practices. You can now
purchase a hardcopy version of this website
(2010 edition coming this fall)! Select the
Purchase Book link for ordering information.

Currently these notes cover: a brief overview of astronomy's place in the scientific endeavor, the
philosophy of science and the scientific method, astronomy that can be done without a telescope,
a history of astronomy and science, Newton's law of gravity and applications to orbits, Einstein's
Relativity theories, electromagnetic radiation, telescopes, all the objects of the solar system, solar
system formation, determining properties of the stars, the Sun, fusion reactions, stellar structure,
stellar evolution, the interstellar medium, the structure of the Milky Way galaxy, extra-galactic
astronomy including active galaxies and quasars, cosmology, and extra-terrestrial life. This site
also has pages giving angular momentum examples, a quick mathematics review, improving
study skills, astronomy tables, and astronomy terms.
All of the line drawings were done with Create on my old NeXT machine or with Freehand on a
wintel laptop and Macintosh at home. The line art images on the screen are GIF and PNG
images. If you have comments about these notes, please email me.

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1. Astronomy as a Science and a Sense of Scale. I introduce astronomy's place in science,
and give a sense of the size and time scales involved.

A separate section about the Science-Religion interface and interaction is available on

this site. It is |  part of the regular textbook. I take a middle road between the
fundamentalists on both sides of the "debate"/dialogue.

2. Method for Finding Scientific Truth. Borrowing from Pine's book ``Science and the
Human Prospect'' I discuss the scientific method, correlations, problem of induction,
positivism, levels of testimony, empiricism, models correspondence with reality.

      $   
 $ Borrowing from Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted

World", I take up the subject of UFOs as alien spacecraft. This article is |  part of the
regular textbook.

3. Astronomy Without a Telescope. I discuss the celestial sphere, motions of the Sun (solar
and sidereal days, time zones, equation of time, and seasons), motions of the Moon
(phases and eclipses), and planetary motions.
4. History of Astronomy. I focus on the rise of modern science in Europe, from the ancient
Greeks to Kepler.
5. Newton's Law of Gravity. Newton's laws of motion and his law of gravity are discussed.
Applications of those laws (esp. gravity) are covered (e.g., measuring the masses of
planets and stars, orbital motion, interplanetary trips, tides, etc.).
6. Einstein's Relativity. I discuss Einstein's Special Relativity and General Relativity
theories. The concepts of spacetime and gravity as a warping of spacetime are introduced
along with observational proofs of his theories.
7. Electromagnetic Radiation (Light). General properties of light, definition of frequency,
spectrum, temperature. Light production: Continuous (thermal) spectra, emission lines,
absorption lines and the Bohr model for the atom. Doppler Effect and why spectral lines
must be used to measure the doppler shifts.
8. Telescopes. Covers refractors, reflectors, radio telescopes, light-gathering power,
resolving power, interferometers, magnification, and atmospheric distortion such as
seeing, reddening, and extinction.
9. Planetary Science. This chapter is an introduction to planetary science. 0 
 
 
 & )*
 
  
 
  
 
 ! $I discuss the techniques astronomers use to find out about the planets, their
atmospheres (what determines if an atmosphere sticks around; behavior of gases; what
 determines the surface temperature; atmosphere layers; the transport of energy; effects of
clouds, mountains, and oceans; weather vs. climate and climate change agents with
feedbacks; and appearance), their magnetic fields (the magnetic dynamo theory), and
their interiors including the geological forces at work reshaping their surfaces. In a
separate section I focus on a comparison between the atmospheres of Earth, Venus, and
Mars and why they are now so radically different from each other (greenhouse effect,
carbon cycle, runaway refrigerator, runaway greenhouse, etc.) Mars discussion now
includes proofs for liquid water in past and sub-surface water ice. The Earth discussion
now includes the role of plate tectonics in the carbon cycle, evidence for human
contribution to the atmospheric carbon dioxide and to the observed global temperature
rise. There are links to two flowcharts: a Earth-Venus-Mars comparison and a flowchart
of the calculations involved in determining if an atmosphere sticks around for billions of
years. I end the chapter with a discussion of the major moons in the solar system and ring
systems. 0 
  
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  ! $

+ 
!

 now has many more photos from Zion Nat'l Park, Grand
Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Grand Teton Nat'l Park, Yellowstone, and Devils Tower. This
photo album of nature photography has imagery of mountains, lakes, streams, waterfalls,
large trees, flowers, aurorae, other landscape images and some images of insects and
frogs. Most images are from the western United States but some are also from eastern
Australia and the aurorae are from Fairbanks, Alaska.

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 is a new separate section about the climate

change debate going on among the general public. It is |  part of the regular textbook.

10.Solar System Fluff. The basics of meteorites, asteroids, and comets are introduced and
how they can tell us the ``when'' and the ``how'' of the formation of the solar system. At
the end is an exploration of the other planetary systems. Some new material was added in
the solar system formation section in November 2009.
11.Determining Star Properties. Notes for the properties of stars and how we determine
them. Things like distances to stars, their masses, radii, composition and speeds. Also HR
diagram, spectral types, and spectroscopic parallax. The dangers of selection effects and
biased samples are also discussed with the application of finding what a typical star is
like.
12.The Sun and Stellar Structure. This chapter covers: The Sun, interiors of stars, and
nuclear fusion, neutrinos, the solar neutrino problem, and helioseismology. The concept
of hydrostatic equilibrium is used to explain the mass-luminosity relation and the reason
for the mass cut-off at the high and low ends.
13.Lives and Deaths of Stars. This chapter covers: stellar evolution (all nine stages) and
stellar remnants (white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes).
14.The Interstellar Medium and the Milky Way. This chapter covers: the dust and gas
between the stars and how we use the 21-cm line radiation to map the Galaxy. Also, the
structure of the Milky Way Galaxy, our place in it, and how we determine these things.
The rotation curve and the existence of the dark matter halo, stellar populations, and the
galactic center are also discussed.
 15.Other Galaxies and Active Galaxies. This chapter covers: the characteristics of other
normal galaxies, active galaxies, and finding distances to other galaxies (this includes the
distance-scale ladder). Also, large-scale structure is covered (galaxy clusters and
collisions and superclusters).
16.Cosmology. This chapter covers cosmology: the study of the nature, origin, and evolution
of the universe as a whole. The distance-scale ladder topic is dealt with in the Steps to the
Hubble Constant document. I discuss Olbers' Paradox, the cosmic microwave
background radiation, the fate of the universe (open or closed), dark matter, dark energy,
inflation, and the cosmological constant.
17.Life Beyond the Earth. This chapter covers: life zones (habitable zones), types of stars to
focus on in the search for suitable planets, basic definitions of life, the kind of planet
where we think life would likely arise, and finally the frequencies we use in the Search
for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (S.E.T.I.). Some new material was added to the
habitable planets section and a new section on ``bio-markers'' to look for in exoplanet
spectra was added November 2009.

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A. Angular Momentum in Astronomy. I define angular momentum and give several
examples of angular momentum in astronomy: Kepler's second law of orbital motion,
Earth-Moon system, rapidly spinning neutron stars, accretion disk in a binary system, and
a collapsing galactic cloud.
B. Quick Mathematics Review. Here's a quick run through of some basic mathematics:
working with fractions and percentages, exponents, roots, powers of ten, working with
really BIG or really small numbers---scientific notation and the metric system. I assume
that the reader has had this stuff before, so the quick run through will be sufficient to jog
the dormant memory.
C. Tables. Astronomy constants, physical constants, planets (orbital properties, physical
characteristics, atmospheres), 100 nearest stars, and 100 brightest stars as seen from the
Earth.
D. Glossary. Definitions of astronomy terms used in this website.

From the Student Guide:

1. Study Skills: Great Expectations, Textbook ``study reading'', homework and exams.
College is not high school---greater expectations of the student! Also, some tips to
improve your study skills so that you study more efficiently and take exams with better
results. c  

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2. Astronomy Careers
3. Why College? Education Pays!

Astronomy beyond this website:

 p Astronomy on the Web. Links to more astronomy information on the web. There is a lot
of good quality stuff out there!
p Astronomy class site.

This page last updated: August 22, 2010

(note individual pages in this website may have been updated after this date)

 
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