Effective: 2022-05-01

Course Description

The course outline below was developed as part of a statewide standardization process.

General Course Purpose

PHY 142 promotes an interest in astronomy and physics and provides students with a working knowledge of stellar and galactic astronomy. Students who complete this course will understand and be able to use scientific reasoning and principles through the study of basic astronomy, and to apply knowledge to a specific problem in a systematic manner.

Course Objectives

• Scientific Literacy
• Explain what the scientific method is and how it is used in the science of astronomy.
• Quantitative Literacy
• Apply mathematical reasoning and techniques in discipline-specific ways (including, but not limited to, quantitative analysis of data.)
• Astronomy and the Birth of Modern Science
• Explain what the scientific method is and how it is used in the science of astronomy.
• Explain Kepler's Three Laws of Planetary Motion.
• Explain Newton's Laws of motion and Law of Universal Gravitation and how they describe orbital motion (1/r2 law).
• Describe the various coordinate systems, both on the Earth and in the sky (right ascension and declination, azimuth and altitude), and how these are used to orient an earthbound observer to celestial phenomena.
• Explain the physical principle of Electromagnetic Radiation and its application to the science of astronomy (c =^f, spectroscopy, Doppler Effect, Wien's Law, etc.).
• Identify the various telescopes used by astronomers and list their advantages and disadvantages (for all types of Electromagnetic Radiation).
• Describe the postulates of the special and general theories of relativity, along with major predictions and observational verifications.
• Measuring the Stars
• Describe all the properties and characteristics of the sun (internal structure, size, shape, mass, luminosity, appearance, energy generation, rotation, etc.).
• List the spectral classes of stars in order of temperature and describe their characteristics.
• Describe a Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram and its use in astronomy.
• Describe the stellar mass-luminosity relation.
• Describe the different types of nebulae and how they are formed.
• Describe the properties of the different types of stellar clusters.
• Explain the different types of variable stars and their related light curves and explain how they are used in measurement distance.
• Stellar evolution
• Draw a diagram of the Milky Way and name the major regions including the spiral arms near the sun.
• Summarize the life cycles of stars by outlining chronologically the stages from birth to death of stars with masses less than, equal to, and greater than that of the sun.
• Explain how to determine the relative ages of star clusters.
• Describe pulsars and neutron stars and the difference between them.
• Describe the different parts of a galaxy.
• Name and describe the classification scheme used in distinguishing different types of galaxies.
• Describe and explain the evolutionary significance of galactic classifications.
• Galaxies and Universe
• Explain the unique observational characteristics of quasars and the competing theories explaining the nature of quasars.
• Describe the properties of clusters and superclusters of galaxies.
• Explain the significance of Hubble's law, the Hubble constant and its significance to the expansion of the universe.
• Explain the Big Bang and Steady State theories of the origin of the universe.
• Describe what the Big Bang theory predicts regarding the evolution of the universe.
• Explain how a supernova, used to determine distance, has demonstrated that the universe is accelerating; explain a supernova in relation to the existence of dark energy.
• Explain how the observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation is related to the Big Bang Theory.

Major Topics to be Included

• Astronomy and the Birth of Modern Science
• Measuring the Stars
• Stellar evolution
• Galaxies and Universe