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

Sunday, August 4, 2013

1st Semester Assignments for 2013-14

Friday, August 16
go over syllabus, website, Stellarium (only use version 12.1), sky charts, etc.
Motions in the Night Sky (Stellarium)-this worksheet is due Tuesday, August 27

Monday, August 19
start chapter 1-Charting the Heavens
Lecture Tutorials (LT) p1-2, 3-6
Lab-Angular Measure

Wednesday, August 21
LT p7-9, 13-17, 87-90, 91-96, 11-12, 79-81, 83-85, 39-41, 35-37

Friday, August 23
Lab-Parallax of thumb
video-"The Universe-Constellations"
review

Tuesday, August 27
Test chapter 1

Thursday, August 29
start chapter 2-The Copernican Revolution
sections 2.1-2.4
Retrograde Motion worksheet
video clip of retrograde motion from "Wonders of the Solar System" - Youtube
ex p54 Problem 1
book work: page 54-Review Questions 1-8; Self Test questions 1-3

Monday, September 2 - NO School (Labor Day)

Tuesday, September 3

sections 2.5-2.7
Kepler's Laws worksheets
Practice Kepler's 3rd Law
book work: page 55-Review Questions 9-14; Self Test questions 4-8

Thursday, September 5
section 2.8
Lab-Using a Pendulum to determine the Mass of Earth
book work: page 55-Review Questions 18-20; Self Test questions 9, 10

Monday, September 9
discuss p55 Review Questions 15-17; Problem 7
video "The Universe-Gravity"
Review
HW - log into MasteringAstronomy, click on Study Area, choose chapter 2, and then take and submit your answers for the T/F tests

Wednesday, September 11
Test for chapter 2

Friday, September 13
Start chapter 3-Radiation
sections 3.1-3.3
Electromagnetic Spectrum worksheet
Telescopes and Earth's Atmosphere worksheet
book work: page 74 Review Questions 1-12 and 20; Self Test questions 1-5; Problems 1-3
Lab-Waves

Tuesday, September 17
section 3.4
Blackbody Radiation worksheet
bookwork: page 75 Review Questions 13-16; Self Test questions 6-9; Problems 4-7
Lab-Energy Absorption

Thursday, September 19
section 3.5
Doppler Shift worksheet
bookwork: page 75 Review Questions 17-19; Self Test questions 10; Problems 8
online work: log into MasteringAstronomy, enter the Study Area, choose the 3rd chapter, and submit the results of your "Tutorial Quiz"

Monday, September 23
Test for chapter 3

Wednesday, September 25
begin chapter 4-Spectroscopy
sections 4.1-4.2
worksheet "Types of Spectra"
video - Spectroscopy (part 1 of 3)
video - Spectroscopy (part 2 of 3)
video - Spectroscopy (part 3 of 3)
book work page 94 Review 1-14; Self Test 1-7

Friday, September 27
sections 4.3-4.4
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/
on-line work: log into MasteringAstronomy, complete the tutorials and the tutorials quiz-submit your answers

Tuesday, October 1
section 4.5
worksheet "Analyzing Spectra"
video-Easter Island Eclipse
book work page 94 Review 16-20; Self Test 8-10
on-line work: log into MasteringAstronomy, complete the true/false test, and submit your answers

Thursday, October 3
Test for chapter 4

Monday, October 7
start chapter 5-Telescopes
Optical Telescopes
Ray Diagram for a Concave Mirror
Ray Diagram for a Converging (Convex) Lens
Lab-Lenses and Mirrors in Telescopes
bookwork p128 Review 2; Self Test 1-2

Wednesday, October 9
Telescope Size, Resolving Power, Light Gathering Power, Images and Detectors
Lab-angular Resolution
worksheet-resolving power and light gathering power
bookwork p128 Review 1, 3, 6, 7, 20; Self Test 3-4
online work: log into your account, perform the tutorials in chapter 5 and then take and submit your answers for the Tutorials Quiz

Friday, October 11
High Resolution Astronomy, Radio Astronomy, Interferometry, Space-Based Astronomy, Full-Spectrum Coverage
video-400 Years of the Telescope
bookwork p128 Review 4, 5, 8-19; Self Test 5-8
online work: take and submit your scores for the T/F tests on the book's website

Monday, October 14 - Columbus Day (no school)

Wednesday, October 16 - Testing Day (no class)

Thursday, October 17
Test for chapter 5

Monday, October 21
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 p152 Review 2, 3, 6-9, Self Test 1-4
asteroid passes close to Earth
same asteroid to return in 2032

Wednesday, October 23
6.5 Interplanetary Matter, 6.6 Spacecraft Exploration, 6.7 How did the Solar System Form?
Lab-Angular Momentum
bookwork p152 Review 1,4,5,10-20; Self Test 5-10; Problem 4

Friday, October 25
video-Voyage to the Planets
online work: take the online T/F and MC tests and submit your scores

Tuesday, October 29
Test - chapter 6

Thursday, October 31
Begin chapter 7-Earth
7.1 Overall Structure of the Earth, 7.2 Earth's Atmosphere
video-"Six Degrees"
bookwork p180 Review 2,5,20; Self Test 1-4; Problem 3

Friday, November 1 - NO School (8th Grade Day)

Monday, November 4 - NO School (Veterans' Day observed)

Wednesday, November 6
finish video
7.3 Earth's Interior, 7.4 Surface Activity
worksheet-Earth's Changing Surface
bookwork p180 Review 1,3,4,6-13; Self Test 5-7; Problem 7

Friday, November 8
7.5 Earth's Magnetosphere, 7.6 The Tides
video-The Formation of the Earth
bookwork p180 Review 14-19; Self Test 8-10

Tuesday, November 12
finish video
online work: take the online T/F test and submit your scores

Thursday, November 14
Test for chapter 7

Monday, November 18
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 p208 Review 1-3,5,6,19; Self Test 1-4
video-The Universe: The Moon

Wednesday, November 20
8.4-8.6 (Rotation Rates, Lunar Cratering and Surface Composition, Surface of Mercury)
online video clip - Evolution of the Moon
lunar south pole impact - Aitken Basin
HW p208 Review 4,7-13,16-18; Self Test 5,6
video-The Universe: The Inner Planets

Friday, November 22
8.7-8.9 (Interiors, Origin of the Moon, History of the Moon and Mercury)
Discuss the Messenger Mission to Mercury
Ice on Mercury and video: how water ice was found on Mercury
ice on the moon and video: water on the moon
Moon survival activity
Complete and submit the online chapter 8 T/F test
review chapter 8
video: Day the Moon was Gone

Tuesday, November 26
test on chapter 8

Monday, December 2
start chapter 9-Venus
9.1 Orbital Properties, 9.2 Physical Properties, 9.3 Long Distance Observations
animation - Phases of Venus
video: A Traveler's Guide to the Planets (Mercury and Venus)
HW p228 Review 1-8; Self Test 1-4

Wednesday, December 4
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 p228 Review 9-20; Self Test 5-10
Take and submit the online chapter 9 T/F test
review for final (chapters 1-9)

Friday, December 6
review for final exam (taken in class on Thursday, December 12)

Tuesday, December 10
review for final exam (taken in class on Thursday, December 12)

Thursday, December 12
Final Exam (taken in class today)

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