COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: -- Don Brownlee, C331 Physics-Astronomy Bldg ("PAB"),
office hours- drop in or by appointment.
phone - 543-8575,
email - brownlee@astro.washington.edu,
Lectures: -- 1:30-2:50 tuesday & thursday in Architecture (ARC) room 160
Midterm Quiz: Thursday Oct 29, Final: Friday Dec 18, 2:30- 4:20
Required text: -- Moons and Planets - Bill Hartmann
GRADING
Grades are based on:
15% homework, 35% midterm quiz & 50% final
Homework problems and the solutions will posted on the homepage in pdf format
TOPICS, HOMEWORK & TESTS
We will cover the following set of topics in order. The text (Hartmann) is largely descriptive but it provides a good background for class topics and does covers some of the quantitative aspects covered by the problem sets, the real meat of the class. Feel free to work with others but everyone will need to fully understand all of the homework problems by the time of the quizes. Feel free to ask for help with the problems. The tests will be based on the class sessions, the homework and reading and will all be closed book, no notes etc :)
Overview-what the solar system is and how it fits into the Universe
Other solar systems, detection, properties - how diverse are they?
Observations- how information on the solar system and other solar systems is obtained
What happened before the Sun and planets formed- formation of the elements; interstellar gas & dust
Orbital motion, n-body & tidal effects, light pressure
Formation of stars & planetary systems
Models of the solar nebula-how planets formed here and elsewhere
Comets, asteroids and meteorites- information on the early solar system
Moons - How our Moon formed and evolved- origin, evolution & diversity of moons
Earth-like planets planets - surfaces, surface processes, interiors & evolution
Atmospheres - origin, composition, processes & evolution
Gas and ice giants
Astrobiology - origin, evolution, survival and transport of life in the Universe- habitable zones
problem set#6 (due tuesday Nov17)
problem set#7 (due thursday Dec 3)
Lecture 1 Oct 1 - Introduction + how we learn about solar system bodies
Lecture 2 Oct 6 - Solar System Pre-history + the Sun
Lecture 4 Oct 12 Orbits, three body effects + tidal effects
Lecture 5 Oct 15 Tidal & nongravitational effects + extrasolar planets
Lecture 6 Oct 20 Extrasolar planets
Lecture 7 Oct 22 Extrasolar planets + accretion+ planetary system building materials
Lecture 8 Oct 27 Accretion + formation and migration of Jovian planets
Lecture 9 Nov 3 Planet formation, Neptune migration, quiz solutions
Lecture 10 Nov 5 Accretion, condensation, meteorites
Lecture 11 Nov 10 Meteorites , asteroids
Lecture 12 Nov 12 Meteorites, asteroids
Lecture 14 Nov 19 Comets, planetary interiors
Lecture 15 Nov 24 Planetary interiors
WEBSITES of potential interest to 321
Most recent pictures of Mars (Exploratorium)
Interesting daily comments on Mars and more
STARDUST- the comet sample return mission
Mars Global Surveyor
Current High Rise images of Mars
Interesting Planetary Science info
Links to NASA Discovery Missions
Space weather, current sunspots and predictions of Aurora & asteroid near-misses
The Sun- current and past images from the SOHO mission
Star cluster formation in 3D- Matthew Bate simulation
Suggested Topics To Study For The Final
Origin of the elements and solar composition
Orbit parameters
Tidal effects
Resonance effects
Velocity in circular orbit
Kepler’s 3rd law
Detection of extrasolar planets and estimates of their masses
Total energy of an orbit
Velocity in elliptical orbit
Escape velocity and impact velocity
Light pressure, Poynting Robertson Drag and the Jarkovsky effect
Temperature of a body illuminated by sunlight
Accretion rate of a growing body + Gravitational focusing effects
Evidence for planet migration
Roche’s limit
Hill radius
Accretion vs gravitational instability
Hydrostatic equilibrium and pressure variation in interior of a body
Pressure variation in a constant temperature atmosphere
Age dating
Impact origin of Moon
Magma ocean
Impact and cratering effects
Composition of atmospheres
Planet surface histories and how they are determined
Astrobiology
