Where are we? Where is someplace else? And how do I get there from
here? These are questions we need to answer both on the Earth and in
the sky to assign a location to a place or celestial object on the
surface of a sphere. This lecture includes a review of angular units
and the terrestrial system of latitude and longitude on the spherical
Earth. We the ... Show More
Sep 2007
Lecture 08: The Phases of the Moon
What are the Phases of the Moon? This lecture introduces the Moon and describes the monthly cycle of phases. Topics include synchronous rotation, apogee and perigee, the cycle of phases, and the sidereal and synodic month. Recorded 2007 Sep 28 in 1000 McPherson Lab on the Columbu ... Show More
42m 34s
Mar 2006
Lecture 44: Life, the Universe, and Everything (Life Part II)
How can we search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and what are we looking for? This second part of a 2-part lecture picks up where we left off yesterday by examining SETI, the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence, and reviews what we might look for and how. We will use thi ... Show More
45m 56s
Sep 2006
Lecture 2: Astronomical Numbers
Before we can begin our exploration of astronomy, we need to develop a
common language for notating large numbers, and introduce the basic
units of length, mass, and time that we will use throughout the quarter.
We will first re-introduce the basic metric system, explaining how t ... Show More
43m 29s