Professor: Michael Skrutskie
Room 262 -- Astronomy Building
Phone 924-4328
Office Hours - Mon Tue 2:00 - 3:00; Thu 10:00 - 11:00
email: mfs4n
website: http://www.astro.virginia.edu/class/skrutski/astr121/
W Aug 29 - Course Introduction; The Contents of the Universe
F Aug 31 - Human Biases and Astronomy
M Sep 03 - The Solar System in Perspective; Scientific Notation
W Sep 05 - Science and the Scientific Method
F Sep 07 - The Celestial Sphere - the rest of the Universe as seen from Earth
M Sep 10 - The Sun's Path on the Celestial Sphere
W Sep 12 - Stars, Star Names, and Constellations; The Calendar and Leap Years
F Sep 14 - Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and How to View Them
M Sep 17 - The Motion of Planets in the Night Sky
W Sep 19 - Newton's Laws and Gravity
F Sep 21 - Gravity and Orbits
M Sep 24 - Exam 1
W Sep 26 - Tides and the Changing Length of the Day
F Sep 28 - The Nature of Light - Electromagnetic Radiation
M Oct 01 - Producing Light - Blackbody Radiation
W Oct 03 - Producing Light - Spectral Line Radiation
F Oct 05 - The Doppler Shift; Telescopes
M Oct 08 - No Class
W Oct 10 - An Inventory of the Solar System
F Oct 12 - The Formation of the Solar System
M Oct 15 - The Search for Other Earths
W Oct 17 - Radioactive Dating and the Age of the Solar System
F Oct 19 - The Moon as a Typical (Atypical?) Object in the Solar System
M Oct 22 - Planetary Density and Planetary Interiors; The Formation of the Moon
W Oct 24 - The Earth as a Planet; The Earth's Surface
F Oct 26 - Exam 2
M Oct 29 - The Origin and Evolution of the Earth's Atmosphere
W Oct 31 - The Threat from Catastrophic Impacts
F Nov 02 - Venus and the Greenhouse Effect
M Nov 05 - The Exploration of Mars; The Martian Surface
W Nov 07 - Water on Mars
F Nov 09 - The Exploration of Mars; Life on Mars?
M Nov 12 - The Jovian Planets and their Atmospheres
W Nov 14 - The Distinction between Stars and Jovian Planets; Brown Dwarfs
F Nov 16 - The Discovery of Neptune and the Scientific Method
M Nov 19 - Exam 3
W Nov 21 - Thanksgiving Break
F Nov 23 - Thanksgiving Break
M Nov 26 - The Galilean Satellites of Jupiter
W Nov 28 - Europa and Extremophilic Life
F Nov 30 - Saturn's Moon Titan; Planetary Rings
M Dec 03 - Pluto's Planetary Status
W Dec 05 - Asteroids and Meteorites
F Dec 07 - Comets and Meteor Showers
Final Exam: Monday Dec. 10, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. in Clark 107
In-Class exam dates are subject to change.