ASTRO 006 Lecture Notes - Nuclear Fusion, Human Events, Photosphere
20 Feb 2014
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Big ideas core concepts: science, light, look-back time, gravity, star stuff, the universe is dynamic, space is big. Distance = 3 x 105 km/sec x 3. 1 x 107 sec. Constellations: arbitrary patterns of stars that have a historical reference to mythological figures: stars are nowhere near each other in space; just appear to be from our perspective. What is the relationship between the altitude angle that the north star appears in the sky and the observer"s latitude angle on earth: direct relationship as one increases, the other does too. What is science: on going process of, making testable predictions, gathering evidence, testing ideas repeatedly with experiments, a list of facts, equations, and numbers. Astrology (not the same as astronomy): the belief that the positions of the planets and sun as seen from earth determine human events, astronomy = science, astrology = bull shit. Astronauts in the space station feel weightless because: they are falling.
