What is our place in the universe? This course provides an introduction to the sciences of astronomy and cosmology. We will study a wide range of texts written by ancient thinkers such as Aristotle and Ptolemy, reformation-era thinkers such as Copernicus and Kepler, and modern thinkers such as Hubble, Einstein and Lemaitre.

Each week, I will list below (i) what book chapter(s) you must read, (2) which youtube lecture(s) you must watch, (3) what homework problem(s) you must complete and (4) what lab exercises we will do (if you are enrolled in PHY 105).

Week 15 (Dec. 7 - 11): Finals week
  • Comprehensive Final Exam Monday Dec. 7. 10:30 - 12:15. Download the test from the mywlc page for PHY 101. No books, notes, or electronic devices allowed.
  • Solutions to HW problems and the final quiz (14) are available by clicking on the HW assignments below.
  • There is no separate final exam for PHY 105.
  • Be sure to upload your lab exercises for PHY 105 on the PHY 105 mywlc web page. In particular, be sure to upload the record of your telescopic observations, your Jupiter and Saturn observations, and your moon observations. If you have not turned in any other observations, be sure to do that, too.
  • Have a Merry Christmas!

Week 14 (Nov. 30 - Dec. 4): Edwin Hubble and the Structure of the Universe
  • Our course will end with a reading from Edwin Hubble's book The Realm of the Nebula.
  • There are no lectures at the ordinary time this week (9 - 9:50 am MWF).
  • Watch the youtube lectures on Chapter 26.
  • Be sure to watch the zoom cloud recorded lecture on Henrietta Leavitt from last week!
  • Read: ASG v1 Chap. 26 (The Structure of the Universe)
  • HW: Ex. 26.1
  • Lab: Scan your un-submitted lab pages and upload them to the appropriate location on the PHY 105 course page.
  • Quiz 14 solutions.

Week 13 (Nov. 23 - 25): From Isaac Newton to Henrietta Leavitt
  • This (short Thanksgiving) week, we will transition from early modern to modern cosmology. I will talk briefly about Newton's law of Universal Gravitation and introduce the pioneering work of Henrietta Leavitt.
  • Read: ASG v1 Chap. 20.
  • HW: Ex. 20.1
  • Watch: Youtube lectures on Chapter 20
  • Wed. Nov. 25 zoom cloud recording. Passcode: @UmQMe0?
  • Lab: Be sure to sign up to set up the telescope on Monday evening. Also: continue your Jupiter and Saturn observations, and you lunar observations!

Week 12 (Nov. 16 - 20): Galileo's Starry Messenger
  • This week, we will read together Galileo's Starry Messenger, in which he describes his telescopic observations of the moon, the Milky Way, and Jupiter's moons.
  • Read: ASG v1 Chap. 18, 19
  • HW: Ex. 18.1 (angular width), Ex. 18.2 (mountain height)
  • Watch: Youtube lectures on Chapter 18 and 19!
  • Wed. Nov. 18 zoom cloud recording. Passcode: qw@7zW.$
  • Lab: Be sure to sign up to set up the telescope on Monday evening. Also: continue your Jupiter and Saturn observations, and you lunar observations!
  • Quiz: 12 on Friday.

Week 11 ( Nov. 9 - 13): Kepler's Epitome of Copernican Astronomy
  • This week, we will explore Kepler's famous work which significantly revises Copernican heliocentrism.
  • Read: ASG v1 Chap. 14, 15.
  • Watch: the posted Youtube lectures
  • HW: Ex. 16.1 (Kepler's third law). Ex. 15.3 (Platonic Solids), parts a, b, and c. (Hint: you can either use geometry or look up the answer to part c).
  • Lab: Schedule up a time (with a group of 4) to set up the telescope in the evening.
  • Wed. Nov. 11 zoom cloud recording Passcode: ?%2bRS1Z
  • Quiz: Covering Chap. 14 and 15 and Kepler's laws of Planetary Motion.
Week 10 ( Nov. 2 - 6): Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion
  • This week, we will finish our discussion of Copernicus' "Revolutions" and begin looking at Kepler's Epitome of Copernican Astronomy, in which he explains his famous Laws of Planetary Motion.
  • Watch the youtube video for Chap. 13, as well as the posted videos for Chapter 14.
  • Read ASG v1 Chap. 14: Celestial Physics.
  • Wed. Nov. 4 zoom cloud recording. Passcode: zh@Z6n6r
  • On Friday: quiz 9.
  • Lab: This week we will use our evening ab times to schedule telescope setup times.
  • HW: None
Week 9 (Oct. 26 - 30): The Copernican Revolution, continued
  • This week, we continue our study of Copernicus' "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres".
  • In autumn, there is a group of constellations that represented an ``ocean" to early stargazers. Check it out!
  • Catching up: You should finish watching the videos I posted for Chapter 11 if you have not done so already. There are six in total. Also, since I did not ask you to read Chap. 12 in the book, I uploaded a 20-minute youtube video explaining briefly what you missed out on. You should watch this.
  • Now, by Monday you should read Chap, 13: Re-ordering the Heavenly Spheres. This is a challenging chapter; don't worry if you find it challenging: it is.
  • By Wednesday: watch the youtube videos for Chap. 13.
  • Mon. Oct. 26 zoom cloud recording. Passcode: eH02f#^x
  • Wed. Oct. 28 zoom cloud recording. Passcode: n.+p+x8m This is the same material as on Monday, but the video quality may be better. Unfortunately, the audio is missing…
  • On Friday: quiz 8. This will cover all of the Copernicus chapters we've discussed.
  • HW: Ex. 13.3 (Copernican Worldview)
  • Lab: How to set up a Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope. Sign up for a demonstration time.
Week 8 (Oct. 19 - 23): The Copernican Revolution
  • Nicholas Copernicus resurrected the ancient idea that the Earth, rather than being at the center of the World, is in fact one of the planets. This week we'll be studying his famous book "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres".
  • By Wednesday, you should read Chapter 11: Heliocentrism: Hypothesis or Truth? You should also watch all of the youtube videos for Chapter 11.
  • Here is a link to my Wed. Oct. 21 zoom cloud recording. Passcode: VbXBRE5!
  • There will be no quiz on Friday. Instead, the students who ordinarily come to the Monday section should attend Friday's class for discussion of Chap. 11.
  • HW: Ex 11.3 (Goal of Astronomy Essay). You should submit a one-page well-written essay response. It should be double spaced and contain at least one correctly formatted bibliographic entry in the Chicago style.
  • Lab: You should finish your Latitude and Longitude Observations (Ex. 9.3) and continue your Planetary Observations (Ex. 3.2). Please place your lab notebooks in the box outside my office door by Friday at 9am so that I can grade your work. I will check to be sure that you have competed Ex. 9.3 and have been doing Ex. 3.2
Week 7 (Oct. 12 - 17): Waldseemueller's Maps
  • This week, we'll be studying a short work by renowned medieval map-maker Martin Waldseemueller. He (like Ptolemy before him) made extensive use of astronomical knowledge to inform his map-making. He is also the first to make a map that called the "New" world "America".
  • By Monday, you should read Chapter 9: From Astronomy to Cartography.
  • Here is a link to the Mon. Oct. 12 zoom cloud recording. Passcode: 8rgwB+mf
  • Here is a link to the Wed. Oct. 14 zoom cloud recording. Passcode: nu&5L&5R
  • Mars reaches Opposition at 6pm (Central Daylight Time) on Tuesday, October 13. This means that Mars is passing through its culmination at midnight. It will be particularly beautiful, so if you have a few minutes Tuesday evening, go outside and look for the bright red planet located in Pisces in the southern sky.
  • Friday: quiz 7
  • Lab: we will not meet for evening lab this week. You should take opportunities this week to do your Latitude and Longitude Observations (Ex. 9.3) and your Planetary Observations (Ex. 3.2)
  • HW: Ex. 9.1 (Latitudes) and 9.2 (Waldseemueller's worldview). The information in Ex. 9.2 will almost certainly be on the quiz this week!
Week 6 (Oct. 5 - Oct. 9 ): The Venerable Bede!
  • This week, we will be finishing our discussion of Ptolemy's Almagest and moving into the Venerable Bede's The Reckoning of Time, written in the 8th century. Bede made a careful study of ocean tides, popularized the use of the term Anno Domini (AD), and was instrumental in making the calendar more consistent with astronomical observations.
  • By Monday: read ASG Chapter 8: The Sun, the Moon and the Calendar.
  • This week, I am not recording lecture videos on Bede. Instead, I will focus on the lecture I gave on Calendar Construction and the Problem of Easter. The slides are available here.
  • Friday: quiz 6.
  • Lab: Ex. 9.3 (Latitude and Longitude observations).
  • Homework: do Ex 7.2 (Altitude of the Sun) and Ex. 8.1 (The Moon and the Zodiac).
Week 5 (Sep. 28 - Oct. 2 ): Ptolemy's Almagest
  • Claudius Ptolemy's book The Almagest, was used as an astronomy textbook for almost 1500 years. This week, we will be looking at the introductory chapters of this famous work of astronomy
  • By Monday: read ASG Chapter 5
  • Here is a link to the Mon. Sept. 28 zoom cloud recording. Passcode: dq8us1L+ For laughs, you might check out the zoom audio transcript at minute 11:04 :)
  • By Wednesday, watch all of the videos related to Chap. 5.
  • Here is a link to the Wed. Sept. 30 zoom cloud recording. Passcode: U2Q?%q.S
  • Friday: quiz 5. Be sure to look over the vocabulary words from Chap. 5!
  • If you have a chance, check out the moon and mars (right next to each other) in the evening on Friday, Oct. 2.
  • Homework: Ex. 5.1. (Ptolemaic Geocentrism).
  • Laboratory: begin Ex. 8.4 (Lunar observations).
Week 4 (Sep. 21 - 25 ): Aristotle's On the Heavens.
  • The ancient greeks were able to determine the size of the Earth and the distance to the moon and the sun by the second century BC. How did they do this? This week, we will supplement our last reading from Aristotle's On the Heavens (ASGv3 Chap. 4) with some lectures on the topic of ancient distance measurements.
  • By Monday, you should have read ASG Chapter 4. In this chapter, Aristotle reviews (and attempts to refute) the opinions of other ancient Greek thinkers on the size, shape and motion of the Earth.
  • The Autumnal Equinox occurs at 8:30 a.m on Tuesday, September 22.
  • By Wednesday: watch all of the youtube videos on Chapter 4. You should also watch the two videos on ancient and modern debates between advocates of a flat earth and advocates of a globe earth.
  • Friday: quiz 4.
  • Homework: ASGv3 Ex. 4.1.
  • Here is a link to the Wed. Sep. 23 zoom cloud recording. Passcode: %@m5t=Nc
  • Laboratory: we will begin our planetary observations (ASG v3 Ex. 3.2). We will have quite a treat this year: for the first time in this class, we will be able to track the great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the constellation Sagittarius. You should bring your cross-staff to lab, and your completed observation notebook form the last two lab sessions.
Week 3 (Sep. 14 - 18 ): Aristotle's On the Heavens!
  • This week, you should plan to have viewed the lecture videos related to Chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the textbook. (Last week we finished the "Chapter 0" videos related to Stellarium and the Guidepost constellations).
  • Before class on Monday, you should read Chapters 1 and 2 of the textbook and watch the video lectures on Chapters 1 and 2.
  • Before Wednesday, you should read Chapter 4 and watch the videos lectures for Chapter 4.
  • Your homework assignment is to type an essay on Science and Speculation (Ex.1.1). This essay should be single-spaced, use 12 point font, and should have correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. It should be no longer than one page. You should also include a correctly formatted citation in Chicago style at the bottom of the page referring to the source reading (chapter 1 in your textbook).
  • In our evening laboratory sections (PHY105) this week, we will be building a cross-staff (Ex. 7.5).
  • On Friday, we will have our third quiz.
Week 2 (Sep. 7 - 11 ): Guide post constellations, the four stories, and the zodiac!
  • This week, you should plan to have viewed the lecture videos from Ch00Lect07 through Ch01Lect13. (Last week you viewed the first six lecture videos).
  • Before class on Monday, you should try to watch through video Ch00Lect11. These video lectures walk you through (so to speak) the guidepost constellations—Orion, The Big Dipper, Cygnus, and Cassiopeia.
  • Before Wednesday, you should have completed watching through lecture video Ch00Lect13. These videos introduce the twelve constellations that form the zodiac.
  • Your homework assignment is to (i) go outside on one or more clear night and try to locate the four guidepost constellations, and (ii) make a hand-drawn sketch of each of the four stories (each story on a separate sheet of paper). Be sure to label the constellations and the brightest stars in each constellation. These four sketches should be uploaded to MyWLC by Friday morning before class.
  • In our evening laboratory sections (PHY105) this week, we will be finishing up the Horizon Globe workbook sections. In the remainder of our lab time, we will go outside and try to find the guidepost constellations and the constellations that make up the four stories. Be sure to bring your astronomy observation book!
  • On Friday, we will have our second quiz—focusing on the four stories (you will need to know these by heart.)
Week 1 (Aug. 31 - Sep. 4): Welcome to Introduction to Astronomy!
  • On Monday we will primarily go over the course syllabus . Again: you will need to download the syllabus before Monday so you can bring it to class with you.
  • Before class on Wednesday, you will need to watch the first four videos on the Introduction to Astronomy youtube playlist (ASGv1Ch00Lect01, Lect02, Lect03, and Lect04.)
  • Your assignment this week is to download and install Stellarium Software (see link in the page sidebar to the right). Before Friday, you should spend at least half an hour looking at the motion of the sun, the moon, and the planets on Stellarium. Be sure your location is set to Milwaukee and use the date and time window to increment time in hours, days, and months while observing their positions. Take two screenshots of the sky on the date of your birth (e.g. July 3, 2001) and upload them to MyWLC. One if these should show the sun and its surrounding constellation art at noon on the day you were born; the other should show an interesting feature of the night sky.
  • In our evening laboratory sections (PHY105) this week, we will be assembling a Horizon Globe. The Horizon Globe is a mechanical model of the sky—a bit like an armillary sphere. Over the next two weeks, we will be working through the following workbook packets: Horizon Globe—Getting Started, Sun and Moon, Constellations, Planets, Seasons, and More.
  • Before class on Friday, you should view the next two videos (ASGv1Ch00Lect05, Lect06).

Since our classroom (S105) accommodates 18 students, and since we have 24 students enrolled in the class, we need to make more economical use of the room. Solution:
  • On Mondays, The Monday evening lab section will come to lecture room S105 to go through homework problems and discussion.
  • On Wednesdays, The Thursday evening lab section will come to lecture room S105 to go through homework problems and discussion. If you are not in an evening lab session, you should attend this lecture section.
  • On Fridays, all students will meet to take the weekly quiz and review the answers.