LFPL MyLibraryU
Course: The Known Universe
with
Chris Graney (Jefferson Community & Technical College – JCTC)
WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION
Download
your own copies of the Stellarium (click here) and Celestia
(click here) software used in
our class.
The
“book” (Graney’s class notes) for the class is The Known Universe: Discovering the Science of Astronomy through the
History of Astronomy. The library is providing this for free. Please bring your library-provided binder
each week for the next free installment!
If you want the whole book at once you can get (not at all for free) a
hardback from the JCTC Southwest Campus bookstore,
a paperback from Destinations
Booksellers in New Albany, or from the printer, Lulu.
Click
here
for telescopes recommended for beginning students who take JCTC’s AST 195
lab. For MyLibraryU participants I
recommend the less expensive Orion Observer 60mm and 70mm refractors.
Who
is this Graney guy and what does he do in Astronomy? Click here
for Graney’s research.
WEEK 2: THE CENTER OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE
Animations
for Ptolemy’s epicycle theory:
Click here for an animation on how the
theory worked for one wandering star.
For the entire system, click
here (can be zoomed in and out)
WEEK 3: THE STRUCTURE OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE
Animation
of geocentric and heliocentric theories, from YouTube,
with explanations (click
here).
Animations
for Copernicus’s heliocentric theory used
in class today:
Click here for an animation on how the
theory worked for one planet.
For the entire system, click
here.
Animation
for Tycho’s geocentric
hybrid theory used in class today: click here.
Animation
for Kepler’s elliptical
orbits: click here
Animation
for Newton’s cannon: click here
Animation
for parallax and star distances: click here
WEEK 4: THE AGE OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE
The
Jewish calendars are dated from the creation of the world.
The Jewish year 5773 began this month
– click
here and here.
Click here for Israel National News, and note the date at top left.
Ussher’s Age of the Universe &
certain editions of the Christian Bible: click
here
Edwin Hubble – Louisville resident (click
here; click
here for UofL professor Joel Gwinn’s article on
Hubble in Louisville)
Expanding Universe and Hubble Plots (click here and here)
Football Field Universe calculator
(requires MicroSoft Excel): click
here
WEEK 5: THE INHABITANTS OF
THE KNOWN UNIVERSE
1950 Radio Broadcast of Martian
Chronicles – click
here (from a time when intelligent life on Mars still seemed plausible)
NORAD
tracks Santa Claus – click
here.
Original Movie Trailer for 2001: A Space Odyssey –
the technology depicted in this 1968 movie shows what the year 2001 was
envisioned to be like in your grandparents’ day, forty-plus years ago – click here. Also check
out the Original Movie Trailer for 2010 (the 1984 sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey)– click here. This movie
has better special effects featuring the awesome 21st-century space ships of
today!
The
Concorde (video) – the future of air travel back in
“Grandpa’s day”, discontinued in 2003 – click here.
Searching for Solar Systems (NPR
All Things Considered April 1, 2010 -- This is a pretty large MP3 audio file
and may take a while to download): click
here
Opening scene in movie “Contact” –
full of science errors, but illustrates the idea of SETI that signals from
Earth can be detected by listeners in space, and that listeners at further and
further distances from Earth will hear signals from further back in the Earth’s
past – click here.
Major errors include that the time delay is exaggerated too much (you would
hear signals from a few hours ago at Jupiter, not from years ago) and the
asteroids are far too densely packed.
The Alien
Civilization calculator (requires MS EXCEL) – click
here
“Life
as we Know It” by your professor – just out this fall (click here)
Jefferson Community & Technical
College’s OBSERVATORY (click here)