the planets as they appear on today's date (updates continuously each day)

This shows what the current sky looks like. The southern horizon is at the bottom. Directly overhead is located in the middle of the diagram.
current night sky over Los Angeles, CA
Sky map by AstroViewer®
Get the HTML code for this sky map

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Semester One Assignments for 2009-10

Tuesday, August 18
start chapter 1-Charting the Heavens
Lecture Tutorial (LT) p1-2, 3-6
Lab-Angular Measure

Thursday, August 20
LT p7-9, 13-17, 87-90, 91-96, 11-12, 79-81, 83-85, 39-41, 35-37

Monday, August 24
Lab-Parallax
video-"The Universe-Constellations"
review

Wednesday, August 26
Test chapter 1

Friday, August 28
start chapter 2-The Copernican Revolution
sections 2.1-2.4
Retrograde Motion worksheet
book work: page 60-Review Questions 1-8; Self Test questions 1-4

Tuesday, September 1
sections 2.5-2.7
Kepler's Laws worksheets
book work: page 60-Review Questions 9-14; Self Test questions 5-8

Thursday, September 3
section 2.8
Lab-Using a Pendulum to determine the Mass of Earth
book work: page 60-Review Questions 15-20; Self Test questions 9-20

Monday, September 7
No School-Labor Day

Tuesday, September 8
video "The Universe-Gravity"
Review

Thursday, September 10
Test for chapter 2

Monday, September 14
Start chapter 3-Radiation
Electromagnetic Spectrum worksheet
Telescopes and Earth's Atmosphere worksheet
book work: page 81 Review Questions 1-12; Self Test questions 1-5 and 11-15
bookwork: page 83 Problems 1-3
Lab-Waves

Wednesday, September 16
Blackbody Radiation worksheet
bookwork: page 81 Review Questions 13-16; Self Test questions 6-8 and 16-19
bookwork: page 83 Problems 6-11
Lab-Energy Absorption

Friday, September 18
Doppler Shift worksheet
bookwork: page 81 Review Questions 17-20; Self Test questions 9,10,20
bookwork: page 83 Problems 12
online work: log into your astronomy book website, choose the 3rd chapter, and submit the results of your "Tutorial Quiz"

Tuesday, September 22
Test for chapter 3

Thursday, September 24
begin chapter 4-Spectroscopy
worksheet "Types of Spectra"
book work page 104 Review 1-6, and 12-14; Self Test 1-4, 8, and 11-13
Read chapter 15 in "Death by Black Hole"-be prepared for a quiz on Wednesday,September 30

Monday, September 28
worksheet "Light and Atoms"
Lab-Spectral Lines
after the lab, go to this spectra webpage to identify your elements:http://astro.u-strasbg.fr/~koppen/discharge/
book work page 104 Review 7-11, and 15-16; Self Test 5-7, 9, and 15-17
on-line work: log into your astronomy book website, complete the tutorials and the tutorials quiz-submit your answers

Wednesday, September 30
Quiz-chapter 15 from "Death by Black Hole"
worksheet "Analyzing Spectra"
book work page 104 Review 17-20; Self Test 10, 14, 18-20
on-line work: log into your astronomy book website, complete the multiple choice tests, the true/false test, and submit your answers

Friday, October 2
Test for chapter 4

Tuesday, October 6
start chapter 5-TelescopesOptical Telescopes
Lab-Mirrors/Lenses
bookwork p140 Review 2; Self Test 11,12
the chapter 5 test will be Friday, October 16

Thursday, October 8
Telescope Size, Resolving Power , Light Gathering Power, Images and Detectors
Lab-Angular Resolution
worksheet-Resolving Power and Light Gathering Power
bookwork p140 Review 1,3,6,7,8,20; Self Test 1-3,6,7,13,14

Monday, October 12 - No School (Columbus Day)

Tuesday, October 13
High Resolution Astronomy,Radio Astronomy,Interferometry,Space-Based Astronomy,Full-Spectrum Coverage
bookwork p140 Review 4,5,9-19; Self Test 4,5,8-10,15-20
online work: take the MC and T/F tests on the book's website, and submit your scores

Wednesday, October 14 - School-wide Testing Day (No Classes)

Friday, October 16
Test on chapter 5

Tuesday, October 20
Begin chapter 6-The Solar System
6.1 An Inventory of the Solar System, 6.2 Measuring the Planets, 6.3 Overall Layout of the Solar System, 6.4 Terrestrial and Jovian Planets
video-The Planets
bookwork p166 Review 2,3,6,7,8,9; Self Test 1-5,8,11-14
Read chapters 4 and 7 in the book "Death by Black Hole"-you will be quizzed on them on Oct. 28

Thursday, October 22
6.5 Interplanetary Matter, 6.6 Spacecraft Exploration, 6.7 How did the Solar System Form?
Lab-Angular Momentum
bookwork p166 Review 1,4,5,10-20; Self Test 6,7,9,10,15-20

Monday, October 26
video-Voyage to the Planets
online work: take the online T/F and MC tests and submit your scores

Wednesday, October 28
test for chapter 6
quiz on chapters 4 and 7 of "Death by BlackHole"

Friday, October 30
Begin chapter 7-Earth
7.1 Overall Structure of the Earth, 7.2 Earth's Atmosphere
video-we will examine either "An Inconvenient Truth" or "Six Degrees"
bookwork p196 Review 2,5,20; Self Test 1-3,13,14
Read chapter 24 in the book "Death by Black Hole"-you will be quizzed on it on Nov. 13

Tuesday, November 3
finish video
7.3 Earth's Interior, 7.4 Surface Activity
worksheet-Earth's Changing Surface
bookwork p196 Review 1,3,4,6-13; Self Test 4-6,11,12,15-17

Thursday, November 5
7.5 Earth's Magnetosphere, 7.6 The Tides
video-The Formation of the Earth
bookwork p196 Review 14-19; Self Test 7-10,18-20

Monday, November 9 - No School (Veteran's Day)

Wednesday, November 11
finish video
online work: take the online T/F and MC tests and submit your scores

Friday, November 13
test for chapter 7
quiz on chapter 24 of "Death by BlackHole"

Tuesday, November 17
Start chapter 8-The Moon and Mercury
(the chapter 8 test will include questions from any videos we watch)
8.1-8.3 (Orbital Properties, Physical Properties, Surface Features)
HW p226 Review 1-3,5,6; Self Test 1,4,5,11,17
video-The Universe: The Moon
Read chapter 9 from the book "Death by Black Hole"

Thursday, November 19
8.4-8.6 (Rotation Rates, Lunar Cratering and Surface Composition, Surface of Mercury)
HW p226 Review 2,4,7-11,13,16-20; Self Test 2,3,6-9,13-16
video-The Universe: The Inner Planets

Monday, November 23
8.7-8.9 (Interiors, Origin of the Moon, History of the Moon and Mercury)
Discuss the Messenger Mission to Mercury
Moon survival activity
Reading:How Scientists Discovered a Solar System "Superhighway"
Complete and submit the online chapter 8 MC and T/F tests

Wednesday, November 25
review and test on chapter 8
quiz on chapter 9 from "Death by Black Hole"

Tuesday, December 1
start chapter 9-Venus
9.1 Orbital Properties, 9.2 Physical Properties, 9.3 Long Distance Observations
HW p248 Review 1-8; Self Test 1-3, 11-14

Thursday, December 3
9.4 The Surface of Venus, 9.5 The Atmosphere of Venus, 9.6 Venus' Magnetic Field and Internal Structure
video-The Universe:The Inner Planets (Venus)
HW p248 Review 9-20; Self Test 4-10, 15-20
Take and submit the online chapter 9 tests

Review for Semester 1 Final Exam (taken in class on Friday, December 11)

Monday, December 7
start chapter 10-Mars
10.1 Orbital Properties, 10.2 Physical Properties, 10.3 Long Distance Observations, 10.4 The Martian Surface
overview of NASA Mars Missions
Hw p275 Review 1-3, 6-8; Self Test 1, 4-6, 8, 11-13, 15-16

Wednesday, December 9
10.5 Water on Mars, 10.6 Martian Atmosphere, 10.7 Martian Internal Structure, 10.8 The Moons of Mars
video-The Universe:Mars
Hw p275 Review 4,5,9-20; Self Test 2,3,7,9,10,14,17-20
take and submit the online chapter 10 tests

Friday, December 11
Semester 1 Final is taken in class today