Welcome to Physics 120:

From the Earth to the Cosmos

Professor: Aparna Venkatesan, Assistant Professor
Office: Harney 106
Phone: 415-422-6152; Email: avenkatesan@usfca.edu
Office hours:
IN SYLLABUS, or by appointment
Office hours may change during the semester as needed
Lectures: Harney 127
WELCOME TO PHYSICS 120 (ASTRONOMY):
FROM THE EARTH TO THE COSMOS

Remember these slides are already on

Canvas.
Reading for next class:
How to Succeed In Your Astronomy Course
Chapter 1
Dont worry about memorizing all the
numbers yet! Just get a sense for the sizes
and scales of the Universe

Looking back, Looking Ahead.

Its been an amazing last 25 years for Astronomy
weve learned SO MUCH and so much has
changed!
AND: so many new missions and discoveries are
still coming up!

TR 9:55-11:10 AM (Section 1)
TR 2:40-3:55 PM (Section 2)

Announcements:
We will cover Ch. 1 this week, and Ch. 2 next week
Lecture notes, and Multiple Choice Sheet
LABS START NEXT WEEK
New students: visit class site on Canvas and download syllabus,
and lecture notes. REGISTER ON MASTERING
ASTRONOMY ASAP. Our course ID is:
EARTHCOSMOSFALL16
- HW 1 posted on Mastering Astronomy, due NEXT Thurs. Sept.
1 at 10 PM ONLINE
- Familiarize yourself with text website (test out access code) and
start working on HW 1

Outline of Todays Class

Course goals
Course overview
Course information
Introduction: Sizes
and Scales

Goals
- To develop a broad view of what we
know about the Universe, how we
gained this knowledge
- To understand the forces
that shape the Universe
and its history
- To gain understanding
about how science works
- To connect processes in stars and
galaxies with our day-to-day lives

What well be studying

Sizes and
scales: finding
your way
through the
universe

- This class will focus on astronomy

BEYOND the solar system (comment on
Physics 121: Planetary Astronomy)

Seasons and Planetary Motion

History of Modern
Science, Scientific
Method, Keplers
Laws of Planetary
Motion.
Some archaeastronomy
and historical
astronomy, esp. of
Western U.S. Native
American peoples.

Light

Telescopes

What is it?
How do we use it to
understand what and where
things are? Doppler shift,
spectra, etc.
Light is THE messenger for
astronomy
Its interactions with matter
are critical to studying the
universe

The Sun

Stars are DYNAMIC entities

Stellar Birth and Life

the critical role of star mass

Stars of
every size
and color

Star death: white dwarfs,

neutron stars and black holes

And some pretty mind-blowing discoveries like gamma-ray

bursts (universes most powerful explosions), singing black
holes, Higgs Boson, gravity waves, etc.!

Our Galaxy: The Milky Way

Exploring an expanding universe filled

with galaxies, quasars and more

Some fascinating effects of quantum

mechanics and relativity in astronomy

Galaxy Formation/Evolution

Dark Matter, Dark Energy and

the Fate of the Universe

The Big Bang and Cosmology

If time permits, I will
also present some
astrobiology towards
the end (more in
Planetary Astronomy)
What are the conditions
for life as we know it?
Are we alone in the
universe?

Who should take this course?

Course Information
Lectures in Harney 232

No prerequisites, designed
for non-science majors
Moderate amounts of
quantitative work (algebra,
scientific notation,
proportions)
Satisfies Area B2 of Core
Curriculum

Lecture FORMAT: general

format/pace, notes posted
in ADVANCE, discussion +
in-class demos/activities,
videos, questions and class
discussion always welcome

Attendance is essential
to do well in this course.

Labs for this Course

Held in Harney 109
Enhance your understanding of
concepts and methods of astronomy
10 labs total, taught in 4 sections

Classroom etiquette and

attendance (see syllabus)
PLEASE ARRIVE ON TIME
and Ill end on time

Course Web Resource: Canvas

http://usfca.instructure.edu/
You can find the syllabus, lecture notes, lab materials,
handouts, exam solutions after exams, important course
announcements, and other useful things here

important part of this course, work in

groups of 2-3
required co - requisite

attendance is mandatory
make arrangements in advance if you are to miss a lab, time for making up
labs will be limited to that week only. MORE THAN 3 missed labs without
notice reduction by one letter grade in final course grade
Labs start NEXT WEEK (starting Aug. 29th); print and bring lab posted
on Canvas and read the lab in advance

IMPT.: You are responsible for checking this after class

today, and OFTEN over the semester. Please read your
USF email often. I will NOT use Canvas email Use
Canvas Settings to send Announcements to your USF
email address. You are also responsible for printing lab
material for each week from Canvas (Labs folder under
Files, usually posted by the Friday before each weeks
lab).

REQUIRED TEXT:
Will assign regular readings from
The Cosmic Perspective, by
Bennett et al., 7th Edition. Please
read the assigned text chapters
before you come to class.

Read through all course information

in syllabus carefully!
GRADES:
Lowest HW score dropped but ALL lab scores count. Note
exam dates, NO make-up exams offered; absence at
Final is automatic F in class

Text purchase includes textbook

website and resources (interactive
tutorials, quizzes, etc.)
SkyGazer planetarium software,
and tutoring center

ACADEMIC HONESTY: Students are expected to follow the

USF Honor Code & behave with courtesy to the
instructors and their classmates. Always turn in your
OWN work in your OWN words. Note sources or
references you use.

www.masteringastronomy.com
ACCESS REQUIRED FOR
COURSE.
Tutorial on this

Please seek help EARLY if you are struggling

or have concerns. Being concerned in the
last few weeks of the semester is often TOO
LATE.

To succeed in this course:

PUT IN THE TIME
DO ASSIGNED TEXT
READINGS BEFORE CLASS
WORK on the assigned
homework, turn them all in
WORK on extra questions or
problems in text, Use text
websites tutorials/resources
COME TO CLASS and
participate in activities
COME TO LAB and turn in
your reports

Most important to me:

Provide you with a substantive and interesting
astronomy learning experience, math and critical
thinking skills
These skills are very useful outside of your
schoolwork and outside of science!
Be a guide/mentor in this course and in your
future career, if that interests you
I care about your learning and your success in
this course so please approach me with
questions or issues

SEEK HELP EARLY

And the astronomy minor

To provide you with a
rigorous and broad
introduction to modern
astronomy and astrophysics,
and to prepare you for
careers in education, science
teaching, science writing or
graduate school, depending
on your interests
This course will be part of the
astronomy minor so you can
count this in towards an astro
minor later

Navigating the Universe:

Sizes and Scales

I wander'd off by myself,

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars
- Walt Whitman

Our Cosmic Address

Discussion Question:

Earth
Sun/Solar
System

What is the approximate difference in size

between Earth and Supercluster scales?
How many factors of 10?

Milky Way
Galaxy
Local Group
Local
Supercluster

Scale models of the Universe

Scale Sun as a grapefruit (1:10,000,000,000), or
1 to 10 billion

Earth = pin, 15 meters

Mars = pin, 23 meters
Jupiter = marble, 78 meters
Pluto = tiny grain, mile
away

On this scale, the nearest stars would be a system

formed by a cantaloupe, a small apple and a kiwi fruit,
located in Washington, DC

There is essentially nothing in between!

New Scale for the Galaxy:

Stars are microscopic located 4mm apart
Milky Way galaxy is 100 meters in diameter,
contains 100,000,000,000s (100s of billions) of
stars

Another Scale for Everything Else

Galaxies are 10
paper plates
Milky Way and
nearest neighbor
Andromeda) are 5
meters apart
Galaxy groups and
clusters contain 10s
to 1000s of galaxies

Measuring cosmic distances

Superclusters 50
meters across (size
of buildings in our
scale model) are
the largest
structures we see
Observable
universe is about
size of San
Francisco on this
scale

Most useful measure is based on the speed of

light = 300,000 km/sec
Like saying I live 30 min. from San Francisco
Constant speed for light traveling in space
In this image, each dot is an entire
galaxy

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
-T.S. Eliot

Nothing travels faster than light through space

Light year:
which of the following sentences makes
sense (the others are nonsense)
A.Well wait light years before Mars is as close as
it is tonight
B.The Galileo spacecraft has traveled 30 light
years since its launch in 1989
C.The globular cluster M13 is located 16,000 light
years away from Earth.

Measuring distances with light:

Nearest stars = several light-years

Earth-Moon = 1.5 light-seconds

Milky Way= 100,000 light years = 105 ly

Earth-Sun (a.k.a. astronomical unit, or AU)

= 8 light minutes

Local group = several million light years = 106 ly

Observable universe = 14 billion ly = 1.4 x 1010 ly

Solar system = light hours

Question:

A message from outer space arrived

today and it was sent on the day you
were born. The friendly aliens sending
you the birthday message live:

A.
B.
C.
D.

In a galaxy outside the Local Group

In the solar system
In the local arm of the Milky Way
On the opposite side of the Galactic disk

Over astronomical distances, even light

takes a lot of time (from a humans
perspective!) to travel between the stars
This means that the light we SEE from the
distant universe is light that has traveled
for a long time.
Our image of the universe is a delayed
image. By looking out into space, we are
also looking back in time.

A Brief History of the Universe

If you observe the
Orion Nebula this
semester, remember
that the light youre
seeing left Orion
about 1800 years
ago!

About 14 billion years

ago, everything was
unbelievably hot and
dense.
Conditions were too
extreme for normal
matter to exist
Then space started to
expand. This beginning
is called the Big Bang.

After the universe cooled,

hydrogen gas and other
normal matter formed.
Gravity began to pull this
gas into balls that
became stars. Gravity
also pulled the stars into
larger structures called
galaxies
Gravity keeps galaxies and
stars about the same
size, but the universe is
STILL expanding and
galaxies are getting
farther away from each
other.

The stars process

hydrogen into other
elements via nuclear
fusion.
Supernovae explosions
disperse these other
elements throughout
galaxies and the
universe.
This is the origin of nearly
all elements - including
all of the carbon,
oxygen, etc. in your
body

Inside galaxies,
planetary systems
form around some
stars, made of the
recycled elements
from previous
generations of stars
Stars form, burn hydrogen into other
elements and explode, dispersing the
material to make new stars

History of the Universe:

how long did this all take?
Use a 12 month calendar as a model for
the 14 billion year history since the Big
Bang. 1 month ~ 1.2 billion yr
1 Jan: Big Bang
Late on Jan 1st, hydrogen forms
Mid-Feb, Milky Way galaxy forms

Feb.-August: stars are

born and die in the Milky
Way. Build-up of heavy
elements in the galaxy.
Early Sept.: Solar system
and Earth form
Late Sept: Life begins on
Earth
Dec 26th- Dec 30th :
dinosaurs

This is big stuff - how to grasp

astronomical numbers?

Dec 31st, 9pm:

human ancestors
walked upright

Powers of 10: count the number of zeros

behind the digit.

11 sec ago:
Egyptian Pyramids

1000= 1 thousand =
1,000,000 = 1 million =
1,000,000,000 = 1 billion =

0.05 sec ago: you

were born

10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 =
= approximately the number of stars in the
observable universe - more than the grains of
sand on all the beaches on Earth

10

Review of Scientific Notation

General form: a x 10n, a: 1-10
Order of magnitude: factor of 10
Numbers < 1, count no. of times to move
decimal to right, e.g.,
0.003 = 3 x 10-3 ; 10-n = 1 10n
Numbers > 1, count no. of times to move
decimal to left, e.g.,
65000 = 6.5 x 104

Solving a real problem:

Review (contd.)
Multiplication: ADD powers of 10
(3 x 102) x (2 x 104) = ??
Division: SUBTRACT powers of 10
(9 x 103) (3 x 10-4) = ??

See also text figure on raisin cake analogy for expanding universe

The Earth is believed to be 4.6 billion yr old from

geologic dating. What fraction of the Earths
lifetime have we been around, if the human
species appeared about 200,000 yr ago, and how
many human generations have there been?
(a) 200,000 yr 4.6 billion yr
= 2 x 105 4.6 x 109 = 4.35 x 10-5
(b) 200,000 yr 25 yr
= 2 x 105 2.5 x 101 = 0.8 x 104 = 8 x 103

Does It Make Sense?

1.) Our solar system is bigger than some
galaxies.
2.) The universe is about 14 billion lightyears old.
3.) Someday we may build spaceships
capable of traveling at a speed of 1 lightminute per hour.

The Reason for Seasons

Astronomers have traditionally
been responsible for keeping
time.
Earths rotation (day/night) and
revolution around Sun (changes
in night sky)
Why is Sun hotter at noon than
at dusk? Why is summer hotter
than winter?

11

Calendars and Timekeeping

Its hard to reconcile solar and lunar cycles as
they do not divide evenly (29.5333 days in lunar
month and 365.2422 days in solar year).
Julian calendar reform: year is 365.25 days.
Gregorian calendar reform: year is 365.2425
days. This is still very slightly off from 365.2422
days.
The concept of leap seconds

The Cosmic Connection

We are constantly bathed in ancient light.
We are relative newcomers at the cosmic party, having
arrived only on New Years Eve in the universes year.
We are never really still.
We are not the center of the universe.
There is a recurring theme in the universe from largest to
microscopic scales: great emptiness alternates with
relatively dense structures.

12