Return to the ASTR330 main page
MESSAGE #75. Sat May 20 13:33:07 2006 . Roman Steichen wrote:
MESSAGE #74. Fri May 19 9:33:43 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
MESSAGE #73. Thu May 18 11:18:25 2006 . Stephen Kolostyak wrote:
Why not 330?!?!?
WHY NOT 330?!?!?!?!
WHYY!!! WHYY!!!!! WHYY!!!!!!!!
MESSAGE #72. Thu May 18 10:11:48 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
MESSAGE #71. Thu May 18 9:49:14 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
P.S. I'm almost done with our 202-point final! :)
MESSAGE #70. Wed May 17 21:33:34 2006 . Stephen Kolostyak wrote:
That ASTR is RATS!!???! TARS????! ... or could it be...
STAR????
STAR330??!?!
HM!?!??!....
...
Finals.
MESSAGE #69. Wed May 17 21:26:37 2006 . Stephen Kolostyak wrote:
.....
AW#NERWPINEAWOIENAWOEINFAW
MESSAGE #68. Wed May 17 18:44:07 2006 . Hava Bresler wrote:
MESSAGE #67. Wed May 17 15:35:08 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
Observatory Trip
It's a go! It is cloudy now as it was yesterday, but the weather report says that it should clear up tonight (as it did last night). We'll meet up at the observatory at
9pm. If if is totally cloudy, we'll just do a short observatory tour.
Directions.
MESSAGE #66. Wed May 17 9:58:58 2006 . Mohammed Aijaz wrote:
MESSAGE #65. Tue May 16 17:35:01 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
We will make one more attempt tomorrow night. Watch this space around 5pm!
MESSAGE #64. Tue May 16 13:37:54 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
Tonight's Observatory Trip:
So far so good on the weather - patchy clouds we can handle! I'll post the final go/no-go decision by 5pm tonight. This is meant to be a fun activity that you can attend if you wish, but you should feel no obligation to do so. Attending or not attending will not affect your grade in any way (sorry Joon!).
MESSAGE #63. Tue May 16 11:47:26 2006 . Joon Hong wrote:
MESSAGE #62. Fri May 12 23:01:37 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
Thanks Hasan, for noticing the BBC news story and posting it here!
Good Luck on all of your finals everyone, and thanks for taking ASTR330.
MESSAGE #61. Fri May 12 1:55:32 2006 . Mohammed Aijaz wrote:
The professor getting some facetime [no pic tho] on BBC, good stuff. article about neptune capturing triton
MESSAGE #60. Thu May 11 16:51:17 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
We'll retry for next Tuesday night. I'll post another decision around 4pm Tuesday based on the weather.
Check for your participation grade later today ... I will update these to 100 points max, which is what is said in the syllabus. The in-class excercises will count for most of these points, but your in-class questions and comments will also play a role.
Please fill out an online evaluation form for this class if you can - it is always good to get feedback, I will only see overall statistics and a list of comments, and only after all of my grading is done!
MESSAGE #59. Wed May 10 0:23:15 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
Astronomy Observatory - Thursday May 11 @9:30
Six votes for Thursday, and one vote for Friday, unfortunately with some people who can't make either day. Check the observatory webpage http://www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse/obs_info/index.html for directions to to site (just off campus on Metzerott Road).
Also check back here Thursday after 5pm - I'll call it off and reschedule for Tuesday or Wednesday next week if it is cloudy!
Should be fun!
MESSAGE #58. Tue May 9 20:42:48 2006 . Max Nickey wrote:
MESSAGE #57. Tue May 9 20:37:22 2006 . Mohammed Aijaz wrote:
http://www.nasa.gov/mov/148112main_pia08118-320-cc.mov
this is a movie of one of Huygen's probe's descent into Titan's atmosphere. You can find all sorts of pictures/videos if you look around.
MESSAGE #56. Mon May 8 2:15:32 2006 . Roman Steichen wrote:
MESSAGE #55. Sat May 6 10:26:58 2006 . Mohammed Aijaz wrote:
MESSAGE #54. Fri Apr 28 14:10:05 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
To: All CMPS Faculty, Students and Staff
You saw Deep Impact; now hear about it from it's mission coordinator.
DEEP IMPACT: WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT COMETS
On July 4, 2005 Comet Tempel 1 overtook the impactor released from the Deep Impact spacecraft. The resulting collision at a relative velocity of 10 km/sec created an explosion equivalent to the detonation of 5 tons of TNT. The aim of the mission was to learn about the composition and structure of comets with provide important clues to the understanding of the formation of the solar system. Equipped with nearly a year of data analysis, Dr. Michael A'Hearn, the Principal Investigator on the mission, will describe what has been learned to date.
Time: May 3, 2006 at 4PM
Place: Physics Lecture Hall, Physics 1410
MESSAGE #53. Fri Apr 21 11:43:30 2006 . Mohammed Aijaz wrote:
http://www.missouriskies.org/rainbow/february_rainbow_2006.html
To relate it to what we learned, this is an elegant example of how different wavelengths are reflected by different, but consistent, amounts.
MESSAGE #52. Thu Apr 13 13:34:03 2006 . Michael Wilson wrote:
http://www.physics.montana.edu/faculty/cornish/lagrange.html
MESSAGE #51. Wed Apr 12 23:17:44 2006 . John Lee wrote:
Maybe this will help us find em...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/science_aliens_dc;_ylt=AvxLoimLAzNB_7PdGkwLEfNrr7sF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
MESSAGE #50. Mon Apr 10 11:21:34 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
But on to another topic: I have updated the Book Typos link from the class webpage. It might be worth looking over before the test tomorrow!
MESSAGE #49. Sun Apr 9 14:50:06 2006 . Roman Steichen wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4883848.stm
MESSAGE #48. Sat Apr 8 20:28:55 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
The HW#3 solutions are now available from the "assignments" link from the ASTR330 webpage.
MESSAGE #47. Fri Apr 7 17:34:45 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
I'll assume that we are talking gases and planetary atmospheres here! I'm not an expert on this, but here is a partial list, most of which we have talked about in class.
Clear or invisible: Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Helium
A little bluish: All weak greenhouse gases like Carbon Dioxide
More blue: Most excellent greenhouse gases, Methane in particular.
Brown, red, orange and yellow: Many sulfur componds (see page 222), Trace elements at Jupiter like phosphorus and germanium. All of these chemicals combine with Hydrogen in different ways and can produce a variety of colors.
MESSAGE #46. Fri Apr 7 17:00:39 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
Simply spinning a solid metal object will not create a magnetic field. What you need are electric currents. The simplest example that I can think of is an electromagnet that you can make from a battery, a nail, and a coil of wire. Wrap the wire round and round the nail, always in the same direction and attach both ends to the battery. The battery forces an electric current to flow in the wire, which induces a magnetic field that is amplified by the nail. The nail can then be used to pick up other nails magnetically.
Planetary magnetic fields are produced similarly. Physical currents in the molten metal cores (from convection) lead to electric currents. And the electric currents produce magnetic fields just as above. The key property that is necessary to create magnetic fields is: fluid motions in an electically conducting material.
MESSAGE #45. Fri Apr 7 16:46:33 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
See homework solution set #3 which I will post soon! :)
Question #4. If Earth's rotation were faster, how would it affect the weather?
Good Question! First, it would be harder for air to move north and south, so there would be more Hadley cells like on Jupiter. Hurricanes would be more confined in latitude, and wind speeds would be faster. The locations of the world's deserts would be different, as these are determined by the latitudes where dry air descends. It might be more difficult to transfer heat North and South, so the poles might be colder. Beyond that, it is difficult to predict!
Question #5. Do you believe in aliens?
Yes! I think that simple alien life like bacteria might be found in the Solar System (Mars, Europa, and Titan are possibilities), and is almost certainly present elsewhere in all of the star systems that make up the universe. Intelligent life? Not in the Solar System, but probably elsewhere in the universe. Have the visited us? Probably not.
MESSAGE #44. Fri Apr 7 10:01:42 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
Question 1: What is between the cloud layers on Jupiter?
Just clear "air" composed mainly of Hydrogen and Helium. Hydrogen and Helium, like Oxygen and Nitrogen in our atmosphere, don't interact much with visible light so these gases are invisible to the eye. As on Earth, clouds on Jupiter appear to float on nothing! This is true between any of Jupiter's cloud decks.
Question 2: Should we memorize specifics about cloud deck formation, temperature, pressure, and how they relate to their specific planets?
You definitely do not need to know specific numbers like "What is the coldest temperature on Jupiter?". You should know things like "Why don't methane clouds form on Jupiter?" though. The answer is that it is not cold enough on Jupiter for methane to become a liquid. You should also know how cloud decks form, why separate cloud decks have different chemical compositions, and a little about why Jupiter has vibrantly colored stripes while Saturn doesn't.
MESSAGE #43. Thu Apr 6 9:49:09 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
MESSAGE #42. Wed Apr 5 12:19:38 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
So I am about one lecture behind where I thought I would be at this point (probably because I added in a "Review for Exam I" class). What I would like to do before the test is finish up the giant planets (we'll cover interiors and cloud layers). Then we should have a review session, since I don't expect you to be responsible for all of the material in Chapters 5 and 6. Ideally, this should probably take 1.5 class periods. But I will try to squeeze it all into Thursday's class.
We could delay the exam by one class period, if absolutely necessary, but I'd rather just descope the test to cover the material that I have had time to present in class. Please post other questions or concerns about the test as John did so that I can respond in class tomorrow.
MESSAGE #41. Wed Apr 5 12:00:31 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
This is a message about HW#2. There was a grading error on question #3 that I'd like to correct. If you lost points for not tabulating results for Mars, you are entitled to a full refund! Just bring your homework papers to class on Tuesday. I've adjusted 10 papers already, so the problem seems pretty wide spread.
MESSAGE #40. Wed Apr 5 8:59:05 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
The "error" is in Figure 5.4. Things to think about: 1) at a given Temperature, heavier gas molecules move more slowly than light ones. 2) more massive planets should have larger escape speeds than lighter ones. 3) Typical temperatures should decrease with distance from the Sun. Find something that looks "unusual" and pursue it by checking elsewhere in the book, e.g. other figures and/or the tables at the back. Write up your conclusions. What is "unusual"? Is this actually an "error" or can you think of a possible way in which the figure is actually correct?
For the record, I think that the figure may actually be correct and the "error" is just an "error of omission" in which the authors neglected to tell us something very important!
MESSAGE #39. Tue Apr 4 20:38:42 2006 . John Cueto wrote:
Specifically, I feel very unsure of what to expect and plan for on our test Tuesday for Chapters 5 and 6. I think it has a lot to do with us being told in class that they were poorly-written chapters and that we should skip the small details and focus on concepts. Chapter 6 seems especially daunting to me because it is literally LOADED with information but, from what I can tell, we started covering it later than expected and will be spending less time on it than expected. Chapter 6 also brings up what counts as a small detail and what doesn't; things like interior structure, interior temperatures, magnetic fields, chemical composition, and even wind patterns are covered in great detail and with it appearing like we're going to cover that much information for four planets in less than the time we spent learning just about Earth, pulling out the important details seems like an impossible task.
I could suggest giving us a list of terms or a study guide or putting the lectures online since we don't have access to our primary source for this material, but in a way those go against the focus on critical thinking that this class encourages and I doubt those suggestions would be taken. I would appreciate any input on this, both from our instructor and any students that feel like they have a good grasp on the information.
Thanks,
John
MESSAGE #38. Tue Apr 4 17:18:24 2006 . Max Nickey wrote:
MESSAGE #37. Fri Mar 31 14:57:15 2006 . Roman Steichen wrote:
http://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeography/a/tradewinds.htm
MESSAGE #36. Tue Mar 28 13:27:38 2006 . Michael Wilson wrote:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/venus_oceans_020516.html
MESSAGE #35. Tue Mar 14 10:08:09 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
MESSAGE #34. Fri Mar 10 19:17:56 2006 . Vaidehi Thakore wrote:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/03/10/mars.orbiter/index.html
MESSAGE #33. Fri Mar 10 12:23:07 2006 . Kathleen Whelan wrote:
MESSAGE #32. Thu Mar 9 16:16:49 2006 . Roman Steichen wrote:
MESSAGE #31. Thu Mar 9 8:50:33 2006 . Sandra Grabowski wrote:
MESSAGE #30. Sun Mar 5 17:58:12 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
Also, this site is excellent: Earth Impact Database. There are 174 impact craters known on Earth. Can someone find the one nearest to us? How big is it?
MESSAGE #29. Tue Feb 28 8:31:06 2006 . Martin Katz wrote:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11547425/
sorry for all the ads
MESSAGE #28. Mon Feb 27 11:51:21 2006 . Maria Castro wrote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/25/AR2006022501030.html?sub=AR
If successful, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter could give us a wealth of information about Mars' environment.
MESSAGE #27. Sat Feb 25 18:17:47 2006 . Adam Boorstein wrote:
http://volcano.und.edu/volcanoes.html
MESSAGE #26. Tue Feb 21 17:31:26 2006 . Stephen Kolostyak wrote:
http://www.shannontech.com/parkvision/HawaiiVolcanoes/HawaiiVolcanoes.html
()_()
MESSAGE #25. Tue Feb 21 16:25:16 2006 . Vaidehi Thakore wrote:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/02/20/space.life.reut/index.html
MESSAGE #24. Tue Feb 21 16:19:59 2006 . Vaidehi Thakore wrote:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/02/20/comet.return.ap/index.html
MESSAGE #23. Tue Feb 21 16:14:14 2006 . Vaidehi Thakore wrote:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/02/21/giant.telescope.ap/index.html
It's about a joint effort between Mexico and the U.S. to build the a telescope on top of Sierra Negra, a volcano located in Puebla, Mexico, which has an altitude of 15,000 feet (Higher than any mountain tops in the U.S.). From this height, scientists would be able to pick up radio waves as old as 13 billion years that have been bouncing around in space. Scientists hope to gain more information about how the solar system may have look after the Big Bang.
Enjoy!
MESSAGE #22. Mon Feb 20 22:07:14 2006 . John Cueto wrote:
I'm taking a physics class on elementary particles and we spent last Thursday talking about neutrinos. In every Astro class I've had so far we are told that there are three types of neutrinos. Apparently, since 2001, scientists have been working hard trying to determine if there is a fourth type out there. This new type is needed to explain the results of the LSND experiment and is called a "sterile" neutrino. We already know neutrinos rarely interact with matter and apparently this one is even less interacting than normal, which is why it might not have shown up until now.
Here's one of many links we were given: http://www.lanl.gov/news/releases/archive/01-122.shtml
John
MESSAGE #21. Thu Feb 16 9:30:27 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
MESSAGE #20. Mon Feb 13 19:59:01 2006 . John Cueto wrote:
MESSAGE #19. Mon Feb 13 16:40:04 2006 . Kellie Gilbert wrote:
MESSAGE #18. Sun Feb 12 13:48:47 2006 . Kathleen Roche wrote:
MESSAGE #17. Thu Feb 9 18:34:07 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
A hint on 6b. Let the Units help you! You have the relevant numbers on page 64, and you want total Energy (measured in Joules). Let the units show you what you have to do to convert and compare the numbers.
Go Suitsat! The Russian spacesuits can only be used so many times - this is the most unique use of a used Russian spacesuit yet!
MESSAGE #16. Wed Feb 8 15:36:07 2006 . Hava Bresler wrote:
MESSAGE #15. Tue Feb 7 19:07:48 2006 . Hava Bresler wrote:
MESSAGE #14. Tue Feb 7 17:26:20 2006 . Pamela Smith wrote:
MESSAGE #13. Mon Feb 6 19:47:02 2006 . Manusha Rabel wrote:
By using Skywatch 2.0
http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/
and entering your zip code after you run the Java Applet you can check out when the station passes over your neighborhood. Use the SkyTrack button to create a map of the station's path through the night sky. Pretty cool (wish I had the time to check it out)
MESSAGE #12. Mon Feb 6 16:23:09 2006 . Arthur Mandel wrote:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1703203,00.html
MESSAGE #11. Sun Feb 5 15:01:34 2006 . Manusha Rabel wrote:
This program uses your computer’s CPU power, disk space, and network bandwidth to search for and detect radio or other signals by surveying the sky in hope of finding transmission from a civilization on a distant planet. For those of you who leave your computer on all day, (and are away from your computer) can use your computer’s idle time to run this program (you can customize how much of your computer power the program uses).
You can use The Drake Formula to predict the number of communicative civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html#Description **** Beware of the numbers you plug in, because it is based on guesses and not fact and your result can be speculative.
MESSAGE #10. Fri Feb 3 9:01:33 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
MESSAGE #9. Thu Feb 2 16:28:28 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/
There is a lot of intesting stuff there including intrigue, stolen data, and backstabbing! This is actually pretty unusual in astronomy.
MESSAGE #8. Thu Feb 2 14:57:25 2006 . Sandra Grabowski wrote:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=2006-001A
MESSAGE #7. Wed Feb 1 14:52:05 2006 . Joon Hong wrote:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/02/01/tenth.planet/index.html
MESSAGE #6. Wed Feb 1 9:57:18 2006 . Roman Steichen wrote:
Here is all the info you need on minoring in Astronomy. All the cool kids are doing it!
MESSAGE #5. Mon Jan 30 19:56:45 2006 . Rachel Clem wrote:
MESSAGE #4. Thu Jan 26 19:22:19 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
I've fixed the errors in the class description writeup that you found in class today - thanks!
MESSAGE #3. Thu Jan 26 16:59:51 2006 . Hava Bresler wrote:
Just a heads up, Hava
MESSAGE #2. Thu Jan 26 16:57:44 2006 . Hava Bresler wrote:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/index.html
-Hava
MESSAGE #1. Wed Jan 25 19:34:31 2006 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:
* Offer void where prohibited by law, you must be enrolled in ASTR330 to participate, and your posting must not be part of another assignment for which you receive class credit.