This is a course intended to enrich your knowledge of, and tools to use, in Astronomy. The target student is a present or future teacher of Earth Science, Physics, or something else. "Something else" is truly undefined. One legendary Astronomy teacher in WNY was primarily an English teacher.

The "Topics" designation allows a desirable flexibility, so we agreed on part of the Syllabus at our first meeting. This means that you are reading a second draft of the Syllabus. These topics agreed upon will take about half the semester. The rest of the Syllabus will be on the topics of The Astronomy Teacher's Toolkit, Bad Astronomy, and The Sun.
Texts: "Astronomy For Dummies" (Maran, recommended) Well structured and indexed, straightforward and correct explanations.
"Bad Astronomy" (Plait, required) An insightful and thorough introduction to (and answers to) alien beliefs among us.
"The Sun, A Biography" (Whitehouse, required) Not a textbook, not a biography either. A great read, historical and scientific.

Grades will be based on two exams, assignments, and a presentation.

Sept.10:  Class Choice Topic#1: Special Relativity
                    
                    1. It is a testable theory about how the express physical laws in moving coordinate systems.
                    2. Galilean relativity: If an observation is made in a lab moving with velocity v, a velocity v1 in the lab will move at v+v1 in the original reference frame. Accelerations will be equal in both frames. The laws of physics should be the same in both. Common sense rules.
                    3. The laws of electromagnetic theory, Maxwell's equations, pose a dilemma. The speed of radiation is a calculated constant, independent of the lab velocity!
                    4. In 1905, Einstein published a very different relativity than Galileo's. The need was to be able to calculate the value of c in any frame, moving or not. It certainly was not consistent with common sense.
                    5. Speeds: In a lab of speed v, a velocity v₁ would be (v+v₁)/(1 + vv₁/c²)
                    6. Accelerations: Accelerations are lower in the moving system. The speed of light can not be reached by acceleration at all!
                    7. Maxwell's equations are the same in the moving system, as was required.
                    8. Other observations, e.g. of distance, inertial mass, time intervals, are different in the moving system. Lorentz factor = 1/(1- v²/c²)^1/2 affects these properties.
                    9. Tests: Constancy of c in moving system. Lifetime of muons at reletivistic speeds. Thickness of atmosphere to a cosmic muon. Acceleration of particles in clyclotrons. Necessity of synchrotrons.
                   10. The Doppler effect is a consequence of relativity. Wavelength of EM radiation depends on the velocity of the emitter:
                            wavelength/(rest wavelength) = ((1+v/c)/(1-v/c))^1/2, where positive velocity means velocity away from the observer.
                            The astronomical redshift z = (wavelength - rest wavelength)/(rest wavelength), = the above expression - 1.
                   11. Low velocity limit: For v << c,  wavelength = (rest wavelength) x (1+v/c). (Same sign convention)
                   12. Mass-energy equivalence: The total energy of an object depends on the classical energy (chemical + gravitational + kinetic) = E_Classical, but is greater. It can be written as E = (E²_Classical + m²c⁴)^1/2  (m = classical mass), or E = mc² (m is the relativistic mass). At low v, E= E_Classical + mc², (m is classical).
                    13. Tests: Nuclear fission, binding energy of nucleii appears as mass deficit, annhilation energy, inertial mass depends on velocity (see above). Neutron decay. Cosmic air showers.
                    14. Twin paradox discussion.