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Introduction to the 1st Canadian Edition of this textbook - and cover photo credits
Territorial Acknowledgments
Preface to Open Stax Astronomy
Curriculum Guidelines for ASTR1105 at Douglas College
1.0 Introduction
1.1 The Nature of Astronomy
1.2 The Nature of Science
1.3 The Laws of Nature
1.4 Numbers in Astronomy and Scientific Notation or Powers of Ten
1.5 Consequences of Light Travel Time
1.6 A Tour of the Universe
1.7 The Universe on the Large Scale
1.8 The Universe of the Very Small
1.9 A Conclusion and a Beginning
1.10 For Further Exploration
1.11 Questions and Exercises
2.0 Thinking Ahead
2.1 The Sky Above
2.2 Ancient Astronomy Around the World
2.3 Astronomy of the First Nations of Canada
2.4 Ancient Babylonian, Greek and Roman Astronomy
2.5 Astrology and Astronomy
2.6 The Birth of Modern Astronomy - Copernicus and Galileo
2.7 For Further Exploration
2.8 Collaborative Group Activities and Questions
3.0 Thinking Ahead
3.1 The Laws of Planetary Motion - Brahe and Kepler
3.2 Newton’s Great Synthesis
3.3 Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation
3.4 Orbits in the Solar System
3.5 Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft - Escape Velocity
3.6 Gravity with More Than Two Bodies
3.7 Collaborative Activities and Questions
4.0 Thinking Ahead
4.1 Earth and Sky
4.2 The Seasons
4.3 Keeping Time
4.4 The Calendar
4.5 Phases and Motions of the Moon
4.6 Ocean Tides and the Moon
4.7 Eclipses of the Sun and Moon
4.8 Further Exploration
4.9 Collaborative Exercises, Review Questions, Thought Questions
5.0 Thinking Ahead
5.1 The Behavior of Light
5.2 The Electromagnetic Spectrum
5.3 Spectroscopy in Astronomy
5.4 The Structure of the Atom
5.5 Formation of Spectral Lines
5.6 The Doppler Effect
5.7 For Further Exploration
5.8 Collaborative Activities, Questions and Exercises
6.0 Thinking Ahead
6.1 Telescopes
6.2 Telescopes Today
6.3 Visible-Light Detectors and Instruments
6.4 Radio Telescopes
6.5 Observations outside Earth’s Atmosphere
6.6 The Future of Large Telescopes
6.7 For Further Exploration
6.8 Collaborative Activities, Questions and Exercises
7.0 Thinking Ahead
7.1 Overview of Our Planetary System
7.2 Composition and Structure of Planets
7.3 Dating Planetary Surfaces - Geology and Radioactivity -- Radioactive Dating
7.4 Origin of the Solar System
7.5 For Further Exploration
7.6 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
8.0 Thinking Ahead
8.1 The Global Perspective
8.2 Earth’s Crust and Plate Tectonics
8.3 Earth’s Atmosphere
8.4 Life, Chemical Evolution, and Climate Change
8.5 Impact Craters and Other Cosmic Influences on the Evolution of Earth - What killed the Dinosaurs
8.6 For Further Exploration
8.7 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
9.0 Thinking Ahead
9.1 General Properties of the Moon
9.2 The Lunar Surface
9.3 Impact Craters
9.4 The Origin of the Moon
9.5 Collaborative Activities and Questions
12.0 Thinking Ahead
12.1 Ring and Moon Systems Introduced
12.2 The Galilean Moons of Jupiter
12.3 Pluto and Charon - Should Pluto still be called a planet?
12.4 For Further Exploration
12.5 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
14.0 Thinking Ahead
14.1 Meteors
14.2 Meteorites: Stones from Heaven
14.3 Formation of the Solar System
14.4 Comparison with Other Planetary Systems - Exoplanets
14.5 Planetary Evolution
14.5 For Further Exploration
14.6 Collaborative Activities, Questions and Exercises
15.0 Thinking Ahead
15.1 The Structure and Composition of the Sun - and the connection to the Auroras
15.2 The Solar Cycle and Sunspots
15.3 Solar Activity above the Photosphere
15.4 Space Weather
15.5 For Further Exploration
15.6 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
16.0 Thinking Ahead
16.1 Sources of Sunshine: Thermal and Gravitational Energy
16.2 Mass, Energy, and the Theory of Relativity
16.3 The Solar Interior: Theory
16.4 The Solar Interior: Observations
16.5 For Further Exploration
16.6 Collaborative Activities, Questions and Exercises
17.0 Thinking Ahead
17.1 The Brightness of Stars
17.2 Colours of Stars
17.3 The Spectra of Stars (and Brown Dwarfs)
17.4 Using Spectra to Measure Stellar Radius, Composition, and Motion
17.5 For Further Exploration
17.6 Collaborative Activities, Questions and Exercises
18.0 Thinking Ahead
18.1 A Stellar Census
18.2 Measuring Stellar Masses
18.3 Diameters of Stars
18.4 The H–R Diagram
18.5 For Further Exploration
18.6 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
19.0 Thinking Ahead
19.1 Fundamental Units of Distance
19.2 Surveying the Stars
19.3 Variable Stars: Cepheid Variables - One Key to Cosmic Distances
19.4 The H–R Diagram and Cosmic Distances
19.5 For Further Exploration
19.6 Collaborative Activities, Questions and Exercises
20.0 Thinking Ahead
20.1 The Interstellar Medium
20.2 Interstellar Gas
20.3 Cosmic Dust
20.4 Cosmic Rays
20.5 The Life Cycle of Cosmic Material
20.6 Interstellar Matter around the Sun
20.7 For Further Exploration
20.8 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
21.0 Thinking Ahead
21.1 Star Formation
21.2 The H–R Diagram and the Study of Stellar Evolution
21.3 Evidence That Planets Form around Other Stars
21.4 Planets beyond the Solar System: Search and Discovery
21.5 Exoplanets Everywhere: What We Are Learning
21.6 New Perspectives on Planet Formation
21.7 For Further Exploration
21.8 Collaborative Group Exercises, Questions and Exercises
22.0 Thinking Ahead
22.1 Evolution from the Main Sequence to Red Giants
22.2 Star Clusters
22.3 Checking Out the Theory
22.4 Further Evolution of Stars-The Fate of Our Sun-Planetary Nebulae
22.5 The Evolution of More Massive Stars
22.6 For Further Exploration
22.7 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
23.0 Thinking Ahead
23.1 The Death of Low-Mass Stars
23.2 Evolution of Massive Stars: An Explosive Finish - Supernovae
23.3 Supernova Observations
23.4 Pulsars and the Discovery of Neutron Stars
23.5 The Evolution of Binary Star Systems
23.6 The Mystery of the Gamma-Ray Bursts
23.7 For Further Exploration
23.8 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
24.0 Thinking Ahead
24.1 Introducing General Relativity
24.2 Spacetime and Gravity
24.3 Tests of General Relativity
24.4 Time in General Relativity
24.5 Black Holes
24.6 Evidence for Black Holes
24.7 Gravitational Wave Astronomy
24.8 For Further Exploration
24.9 Collaborative Activities, Questions and Exercises
25.0 Thinking Ahead
25.1 The Architecture of the Galaxy
25.2 Spiral Structure
25.3 The Mass of the Galaxy and Dark Matter
25.4 The Centre of the Galaxy
25.5 Stellar Populations in the Galaxy
25.6 The Formation of the Galaxy
25.7 For Further Exploration
25.8 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
26.0 Thinking Ahead
26.1 The Discovery of Galaxies
26.2 Types of Galaxies
26.3 Properties of Galaxies
26.4 The Extragalactic Distance Scale
26.5 The Expanding Universe - The Hubble-Lemaître Law
26.6 For Further Exploration
26.7 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
27.0 Thinking Ahead
27.1 Quasars
27.2 Supermassive Black Holes: What Quasars Really Are
27.3 Quasars as Probes of Evolution in the Universe
27.4 For Further Exploration
27.5 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
28.0 Thinking Ahead
28.1 Observations of Distant Galaxies
28.2 Galaxy Mergers and Active Galactic Nuclei
28.3 The Distribution of Galaxies in Space
28.4 The Challenge of Dark Matter
28.5 The Formation and Evolution of Galaxies and Structure in the Universe
28.6 For Further Exploration
28.7 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
29.0 Thinking Ahead
29.1 The Age of the Universe
29.2 A Model of the Universe
29.3 The Beginning of the Universe
29.4 The Cosmic Microwave Background
29.5 What Is the Universe Really Made Of?
29.6 The Inflationary Universe
29.7 The Anthropic Principle
29.8 For Further Exploration
29.9 Collaborative Group Activities, Questions and Exercises
30.0 Thinking Ahead
30.1 The Cosmic Context for Life
30.2 Astrobiology
30.3 Searching for Life beyond Earth
30.4 The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
30.5 For Further Exploration
30.6 Collaborative Activities, Questions and Exercises
Appendix A.1 How to Study for an Introductory Astronomy Class
A.2 Astronomy Websites, Images, and Apps
A.3 Scientific Notation
A.4 Units Used in Science - Metric System
A.5 Some Useful Constants for Astronomy
A.6 Physical and Orbital Data for the Planets
A.7 Selected Moons of the Planets
A.8 Future Total Eclipses
A.9 The Nearest Stars, Brown Dwarfs, and White Dwarfs
A.10 The Brightest Twenty Stars
A.11 The Chemical Elements
A.12 The Constellations
A.13 Star Chart and Sky Event Resources
A.14 Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
A.15 Indigenous Astronomy
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Douglas College Astronomy 1105 Copyright © 2017 by Douglas College Department of Physics and Astronomy, Open Stax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.