Aberdeen University Astronomy

Astronomy

This page is here to help those who are taking or revising our introductory Astronomy course intended for anyone with an interest in the subject. You can read an earlier version of the introductory course handout (pdf file) that includes the course contents. The 'overhead summaries' referred to in the list below are .pdf files each containing 6 overheads per page. They can be viewed using Acrobat equivalent software and printed on a postscript printer. The slides are also in pdf files and can be printed in colour, if required, but see further comments on printing slides. The blue panel contains a wide range of supplementary pieces that you can dip into.

Our essential guidance is a 'must read' for all who want to score well in their courses.

Supplementary pieces

by John S, Reid

Course intro (.pdf)

Printing chapter slides

Course text

Assignments

Multiple choice questions

Why study astronomy? (.pdf)

What's wrong with astrology? (.pdf)

A rant on ID (.pdf)

btton Why do we seem alone? (.pdf)

Our place in the Universe (.pdf)

Where am I? (.pdf)

button Are we lucky to be alive? (.pdf)

Seeing gravity (.pdf)

Past times, future places? (.pdf)

Is religion necessary? (.pdf)

On Comets (.pdf)

Planetarium notes (.pdf)

Meandering among the stars Meandering among the stars (.pdf)

I'd like to own a telescope I'd like to own a telescope (.pdf)
Midwinter days and other stories Midwinter days and other stories (.pdf)
Visibility of constellations Visibility of constellations (.pdf)
Planetary ballooning (.pdf)

Asteroid mining (.pdf)

Mars Colony? (.pdf)

What was that bright glow in the sky? (.pdf)

Some odd questions (.pdf)

Windows of Astronomy (.html)

Rockets of the future? Rockets of the future? (.pdf)

Images of space science from the 1960s (html)

Orbits of satellites and planets Orbits of satellites and planets (.pdf)

Musings on space elevators Musings on space elevators (.pdf)

Astronavigation � finding our way by Sun, Moon and Stars Astronavigation - finding our way by Sun, Moon and Stars (.pdf)

Aberdeen�s Local Astronomical History Aberdeen's Local Astronomical History (.htm)

University of Aberdeen Astronomers University of Aberdeen Astronomers (.html)

Astronomers from NE Scotland (.pdf - a talk)

Eclipsed (.pdf)

button The grammar of science (.pdf)

Musings for the maths averse (.pdf)

Brainoil (.pdf)
SF Books (.pdf)

Transit of Venus

Astronomy links

400 years of the telescope, part 1 (.pdf)

400 years of the telescope, part 2 (.pdf)

Our observatory

Meteorology course

Interesting sites

The Geddes Prize
xkcd astronomy

Disclaimer

The theme of the course is based on 10 chapters of Theo Koupelis and Karl Kuhn's In Quest of the Universe but the course does not track the textbook in detail. For the convenience of students, overheads and notes can be read here, or copied as a revision aid. These aids weren't intended to be explanatory by themselves, only helpful in conjunction with the lectures and the diagrams in the course text.

***** All lecture files are translated into pdf format. To see the animations in the embedded 'movies', you need to come to the lectures, or run them from a CD or the publisher's web page.

Students wishing to print these files, including the 6-to-a-page summaries, must first click on the link and open the underlying pdf file with the Acrobat reader. Print from within the reader. The summary files are in black & white for greater clarity and cheapness of printing.

The notes represent the author's personal views and are his guide as to what can be said in the lectures. They are not read out verbatim.

Introduction plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes
The Earth-centred Universe plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes
The Sun-centred Universe plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes
Galileo, Newton & Einstein plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes
Earth - Moon System plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes
Stellar properties for planetarium plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes
Sun plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes
Planetary Overview plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes
Terrestrial Planets plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes
Jovian Planets + Pluto & the TNOs plus overhead summary plus lecturer's notes
Asteroids, Comets & Meteors plus overhead summary plus brief notes
Measuring the Stars plus overhead summary plus final comment

What's in the sky?

Identifying constellations and individual stars in the sky is a real problem, not only for beginners but even for some of the more experienced, especially if there is cloud around. I should say 'used to be a real problem' for now all you have to do is download the free app 'Google sky map' into your Android smart-phone and hold the phone up in the direction you are looking in. The constellations in front of you are shown on the phone and the brighter stars identified. The app even identifies the planets. I use an old smart-phone that hasn't a sim card in it just for this. I believe there is an equivalent 'StarMap' application for the iPhone: see the '15 Best Astronomy Applications for the iPhone', but I haven't any experience of them.

If you're wondering what to look at in the night sky, there are lots of books listing interesting objects. However, the Loughton Astronomical Society have produced a list of objects that can be seen in suburban skies with the naked eye or a pair of binoculars. Each object gets a page describing where to find it and what it's about. You can download this list as a pdf. Which of their objects are visible at the moment can be seen on the star chart on their list web-page.

If you fancy taking part in some real modern astronomy (I'm not kidding) then login to the Zooniverse web site. They have projects in astronomy, climate science, natural history, health science and the humanities. Zooniverse isn't your only chance. Try Solarstormwatch to help locate coronal mass ejections from the Sun among 6 solar related activities based on images from the Stereo spacecrafts. Over 16,000 people have assisted.

Astronomy Links

Astronomy as a discipline has embraced the World Wide Web. A list of useful links is given here. These quickly lead to a great many more sites that will keep you in touch with astronomy NOW.

Astronomy Applets

In general the applets are not intended to teach the underlying science but to illustrate through animation and model calculation what is taught in the course. In addition, the course contains a good number of animated diagrams that are not java applets. These animations are NOT included in the notes on this web-page. Applets have tended to fall foul over the years of Java security issues and, in addition, having been developed by individuals they don't have the longevity on the web of institutional pages. More than half of the ones below were not working when last checked but I have left them there for the moment as a clue should any one wish to see if alternatives can be found. E-mail me if you have been successful.

Kepler's laws of motion(1) (2)	Kepler's 2nd law(1) (2)	Haley's comet	Stellar parallax(1)	Stellar parallax (2)	Proper motion
Explore the fixed stars	Altitude of celestial pole	Celestial coordinates and motion	Current phase of Moon	Lunar phases (1) Lunar phases (2)	Inverse square law
Solar system today	Solar system live	Sky view cafe	Rotation of solar system moons	Mars retrograde motion	Epicycles
Simulation of eclipsing binary Algol	Doppler effect	Spectroscopic binaries	Eclipsing binaries	Binary star orbits	Orbit simulations
Blackbody radiation	Spectra of elements	Observing stellar spectra	Jupiter's moons now	Cepheid variables	Sun and Earth
The proton-proton chain	HR diagram stellar evolution	Influence of a moon on Saturn's rings	Redshift	Expanding universe	Colliding galaxies
Phase of the Moon prediction	Planet finder	Planetary orrery	Jupiter's satellites

Page constructed by John S. Reid j.s.reid@abdn.ac.uk
Last updated Jun 2020