Week 1

4/4/2019 | A tour of the Universe and a bit on how we know what we know

Slides

PowerPoint slides from week 1 available here. If the link opens powerpoint online, you may click “File” on the top left, and “save a copy” to download it for yourself. Please see the notes for links to the images.

Readings

1. This article is a nice introduction that takes on the question “why study astronomy”: “Cosmic Perspective” Neil deGrasse Tyson, Natural History Magazine, April 2007 (This essay and others have recently been re-released in Tyson’s book “Astrophysics for Those in a Hurry”).
2. For next week’s topic on the life cycle of stars, why not start close to home: “From Here to Eternity: The Fate of the Sun and Earth” Gregory P. Laughlin, Sky and Telescope, June 2007

Class notes

Scaled solar system on google maps: https://umanitoba.ca/observatory/outreach/solarsystem/

If you want to recreate what I showed, use latitude 42.41769 and longitude -71.1618, set the sun diameter to 380mm (about 15 in), then click “calculate”, and then click “draw orbits”

Other Resources

“365 Starry Nights” By Chet Raymo. This book taught me the night sky. (You can find it like I did, used for a few dollars.) I like how it’s not glossy with eye-popping visuals that of course disappoint when you look up from a city. It’s a simple, open-the-book-to-any-page, and learn a mix of constellations and astronomy tidbits. I’ll bring a copy or two next week. (Some may recognize the author because he wrote “Science Musings” in the Globe until ~2003)

Week 2

4/11/2019 | The Life Cycle of Stars

A link to my slides: ACE Lecture 2 Suggested Readings

1. This is a black hole physicist’s take on the discovery if you are looking for a nice follow up on the recent super massive black hole image: What the Sight of a Black Hole Means to a Black Hole Physicist
2. From this Scientific American compilation issue, I suggest reading “How the Milky Way Formed” which starts on page 2 (of the issue, not the pdf). This article connects our understanding of stars to how we study galaxies, which is the track I’ll be taking us in class. It also introduces three terms that describe structures that make up galaxies: a disk (think of a pancake, made of gas, dust, and stars); a bulge (made of stars and in some cases, very hot dust, and a super massive black hole, all concentrated in the center of the galaxy); and a halo (a distribution of ancient stars that extend quite far from the disk, they probably make the shape of a sphere around the galaxy).
   I will also (and have also) touch(ed) on other articles in this issue, so feel free to read on and ask questions in class or by email. My feeling is each article is quite dense so I’m only “assigning” one. Mysteries of the Milky Way
3. This is a nice piece on recent results but it lacks broader context. It might be better to read after #2 and next lecture. The Galactic Collision that Reshaped our Milky Way
4. This article touches on the observational techniques used to study distant galaxies. I won’t be able to go over them all due to time limits, but for those interested in the “how do we know” this has some nice figures to go along with explanations. New Powerful Telescopes Allow Direct Imaging of Nascent Galaxies 12 Billion Light Years Away

Week 3

4/18/2019 | [No class]

Week 4

4/25/2019 | Galaxies & Cosmology A link to my slides: ACE Lecture 3

Here is a link to a bit of a dated (2002) SciAm on the search for life in the universe. Huge progress has been made in the last 17 years, but the concepts are solid. The Search For Alien Life

An excellent source for more information on relating to life in the universe is NASA’s Astrobiology website: https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/. For a complete, deep dive into the topic, including much of what was covered in our course, you can read their Astrobiology Primer.

Week 5

5/2/2019 | Life in the Universe

A link to my slides: ACE Lecture 4