Astronomy 321 2009

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 Sets (in pdf format)- Solutions can be found in class presentations below

problem set #1 ( due oct 8)

problem set #2 (due oct 15)

problem set #3 (due oct 22)

problem set #4 (due oct 29)

problem set#5 (due nov 10)

Class Presentations (in pdf format)

Lecture 1 Oct 1 - Introduction + how we learn about solar system bodies