1. Does the earth revolve around the sun or vice versa ?

How do you know ?

2. Telescopes:

How does a pinhole camera form an image (student project) ?

How does a telescope form an image ?

Why is the image inverted ?

What is a radio-telescope ?

3. How big is the moon ?

Lab: repeat of classical Greek work

4. How can one predict eclipses ?

1. What are sunspots ?

2. Sunspots seem to come in clusters. Why ?

Lab

3. How hot is the surface of the sun (and how did we measure the temperature ?)?

4. The corona is hotter than the surface of the sun. Why ?

5. What is the source of energy for the sun ?

Why does the nuclear reaction involve deuterium ?

How long will the sun continue to shine ?

What is its power output ?

Lab

6. What elements are found in the sun ? In stars ? In extra-stellar space ? How do we know ?

Lab

1. Easy: name the nine planets that revolve around our sun.
2. How do directions of revolutions (around the sun) and rotations (around respective axes) compare ? What does that tell us about the formation of the solar system ?
3. The "ancients" knew of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (in addition to Earth). How were Uranus, Neptune and Pluto discovered ?
4. How is the orbital period of a planet (for example, the orbital period of Jupiter = 12 years) related to its distance from the sun ?

a. What about orbital periods of satellites ?

b. What is a geosynchronous orbit ?

 

5. There is no planet between Mars (approx. 1.52 a.u. from the sun) and Jupiter (approx. 5.2 a.u. from the sun. Instead there are asteroids. Why ? What are their orbital periods ?
6. Why are there meteor showers ? (We are planning a field trip for the Leonid meteor shower late this fall.)
7. What are some similarities and differences between planets ? For example, which planets have metallic cores ? How do you know ? Which planets are terrestrial and which are Jovian ?
8. The earth: why does the east coast of the Americas resemble the west coast of Europe and Africa ? (Take a look at a map and check this out for yourself.)

1. What fraction of stars have planets ?

1. What fraction of stars are binaries ? So, if we count one star in each binary system, what is the likelihood that a given star has a companion ?
2. How does Jupiter compare in size to a very small star (brown dwarf) ?
3. How can we discover planets around distant stars ?

1. How many planets are there have intelligent life ? How many have any life ?

1. What is required for life to evolve ?

How old is the universe ?

How were atoms formed ?

Hydrogen ?

Deuterium ?

Helium ?

Oxygen ?

Iron ?

2. What is the Drake equation ?
3. How would you modify the Drake equation (if at all ?) in light of recent discoveries of extra-solar planets ?
4. How does SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence work) ?

Return to Astronomy 280 course page.