ASTR 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Scientific Notation, The Exponents, Decimal Mark
Document Summary
History of the universe: how we fit into the larger picture. Maori (native new zealanders) creation myth---separation of earth and heaven. Some others: the big bang theory, the mythology of p(cid:28660)n"(cid:28666)u. Astrobiologists: the study of whether there is life elsewhere in the universe or not. Telescopes: radio (alma, mwa), infrared (jwst, tmt), optical (tmt), gamma-ray (fermi), microwave (alma, planck). Microwave is on the edge of radio: microwave heats up water molecules. To observe microwave: must be in somewhere with little water, space or desert. Ppt6. 1: the sun is 100 times bigger than the earth across. Goal of scientific notation: one digit to the left of the decimal point. Tool for the scientific notation version: powers of 10. By order of magnitude, we are referring to the exponent of the number 10: multiplication: 1000*1000=1 million=106. The exponents add up when we multiply two numbers: division: 1000/10=100=102. The exponents subtract when we divide two numbers: addtion/subtraction: 1000+1,000,000=1,001,000=1. 001*106.
