–Last updated Friday, May 08, 2020 at 9:32 AM
ASTRONOMY 101 Frontiers of Astronomy Welcome to AST 101! You have a standing assignment to check this web page at least twice a week. Questions? Feel free to call or stop by during office hours (click here for the hours).	Ringing and Beeping disrupts class. Please set all phones to silent operation.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

AST 101 is OVER.

All grades posted.

Enjoy the Summer.

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Check your grades with the on-line grade. See below.

See class calendar (below) for all class information

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CHECK YOUR GRADES IN AST 101

***Click Here***

With this on-line grade sheet you can check all your grades in AST 101, make sure that the professor recorded them properly, and see what your overall grade is in AST 101.
This requires Microsoft Excel. It works on Jefferson computers. It may work on your personal computer and maybe on your phone.

WEEK 1 (scroll down for more weeks)	DT Campus (Monday) January 13 SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) January 14/16
	Click here for class syllabus (sign and return as indicated). Click here for Make-up options for MISSED PARTICIPATION Click here for “B” PROJECTS Click here for Final Exam (“A” PROJECT) Click here for the required textbook, The Known Universe—6^th Edition (also available in the Jefferson campus book store). Don’t have the textbook on the first day of class? You may also access the first chapters by clicking here. Want a copy of the software Graney uses in class? Click here.
	MONDAY, JANUARY 20: ML KING DAY HOLIDAY (NO CLASS)
WEEK 2	SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) January 21/23 DT Campus (Monday) January 27
Reading Assignment for this week.	Have these chapters of The Known Universe read before you come to class: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Class Participation Assignment for this week.	Click here for Class Participation Comments and Questions, Part 1 and Part 2. You must come to class with both parts completed at the start of the week’s class (except for those sections of Part 2 that you will complete in class). This means completed by the start of class for classes that meet once in a week, and by the start of the first class meeting of the week for classes that meet twice in a week. You will need to have a pencil in class for this. Grades posted 1/27/2020
WEEK 3	SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) January 28/30 DT Campus (Monday) February 3
Reading Assignment for this week.	Have these chapters of The Known Universe read before you come to class: Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Supplemental material – not required, but might be helpful: · Helpful Animations for Ptolemy’s epicycle theory: Click here for an animation on how the theory worked for one wandering star. For the entire system, click here (can be zoomed in and out) · Videos on sizes and distances: Size of Earth – click here Size and distance of Moon and Sun – click here · Video on annual parallax – click here Grades posted 2/3/2020
Class Participation Assignment for this week.	Click here for Class Participation Comments and Questions, Part 1 and Part 2. You must come to class with both parts completed at the start of the week’s class (except for those sections of Part 2 that you will complete in class). This means completed by the start of class for classes that meet once in a week, and by the start of the first class meeting of the week for classes that meet twice in a week. You will need to have a pencil in class for this.
WEEK 4	SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) February 4/6 DT Campus (Monday) February 10
Reading Assignment for this week.	Have these chapters of The Known Universe read before you come to class: Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Supplemental material – not required, but might be helpful: · Helpful Animations Click here for animation of geocentric and heliocentric theories, from YouTube, with explanations. Click here for animation of Copernicus’s heliocentric theory for one planet. Click here for animation of Copernicus’s theory for the entire system. · Video on a solution to the annual parallax problem – click here Grades posted 2/10/2020
Class Participation Assignment for this week.	Click here for Class Participation Comments and Questions, Part 1 and Part 2. You must come to class with both parts completed at the start of the week’s class (except for those sections of Part 2 that you will complete in class). This means completed by the start of class for classes that meet once in a week, and by the start of the first class meeting of the week for classes that meet twice in a week. You will need to have a pencil in class for this.
“B” Grade Projects	Students wanting a grade of “B” or better in AST 101 should turn in their first “B” Project (see WEEK 1) by WEEK 5.
	MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17: PRESIDENTS’ DAY HOLIDAY (NO CLASS) The Monday AST 101 class has had two weeks of holiday, and the Tuesday/Thursday AST 101 class has had none. Therefore, in order to keep the two classes coordinated, there will be no AST 101 class on Tuesday-Thursday February 11/13 (this applies to AST 101 only).
WEEK 5	SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) February 18/20 DT Campus (Monday) February 24
Reading Assignment for this week.	Have these chapters of The Known Universe read before you come to class: Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Supplemental material – not required, but might be helpful: · Helpful Animations Click here for animation of Tycho’s geocentric theory. · Videos on Tycho Brahe and Galileo Galilei: Tycho Brahe’s observatory – click here Galileo Galilei in Florence – click here · Videos on the Parallax and Star Size problem: The star size problem – click here The double star problem – click here
Class Participation for this week.	Click here for Class Participation Comments and Questions, Part 1 and Part 2. You must come to class with both parts completed (except for those sections of Part 2 that you will complete at the end of class). You will need to have a pencil in class for this. Grades posted 2/24/2020
WEEK 6	SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) February 25/27 DT Campus (Monday) March 2
Reading Assignment for this week.	Have these chapters of The Known Universe read before you come to class: Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Supplemental material – not required, but might be helpful: · Helpful Animations Parallax and star distances – click here Kepler’s elliptical orbits – click here Newton’s cannon – click here · Videos on gravity, etc.: Riccioli and Gravity – click here Newton’s cannon – click here A nice summary of the ideas involved in the battle over whether Earth moved – click here
Class Participation for this week.	Click here for Class Participation Comments and Questions, Part 1 and Part 2. You must come to class with both parts completed (except for those sections of Part 2 that you will complete at the end of class). You will need to have a pencil in class for this. Grades posted 3/2/2020
WEEK 7	SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) March 3/5 DT Campus (Monday) March 9
Reading Assignment for this week.	Have these chapters of The Known Universe read before you come to class: Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Supplemental material – not required, but might be helpful: · The Jewish calendar is dated from the creation of the world. The Jewish year 5780 began in September (with the new moon) – click here. Click here for Israel National News and note the date at top right. · Ussher’s Age of the Universe & certain editions of the Christian Bible: click here. Also click here or here for recent-ish local news along this line. · Read Appendix D in your text book
Class Participation for this week.	Click here for Class Participation Comments and Questions, Part 1 and Part 2. You must come to class with both parts completed (except for those sections of Part 2 that you will complete at the end of class). You will need to have a pencil in class for this. Grades posted 3/10/2020
“B” Grade Projects	Students wanting a grade of “B” or better in AST 101 should turn in their second “B” Project (see WEEK 1) by WEEK 8.
WEEK 8	SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) March 10/12 Note: Spring Break (no classes) is the week of March 16 DT Campus (Monday) March 23
Reading Assignment for this week.	Have these chapters of The Known Universe read before you come to class: Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Supplemental material – not required, but might be helpful: · Videos: Lord Rosse’s Telescope – click here Spectroscopy -- click here
Class Participation for this week.	Click here for Class Participation Comments and Questions, Part 1 and Part 2. You must come to class with both parts completed (except for those sections of Part 2 that you will complete at the end of class). You will need to have a pencil in class for this. ON-LINE/COVID-19 CLASS PROCEDURE DT Campus students: E-mail me your Part 1 forms (address is christopher.graney@kctcs.edu). I will read them and post a response on YouTube, which I will e-mail to you. After you watch my response, complete your Part 2 forms and e-mail them to me. My response is now posted on YouTube—CLICK HERE to watch it, then complete your Part 2 forms and e-mail them to me.
WEEK 9	Note as of March 24, 2020: JCTC wants me to make to cut down on the use of certain resources as the college tries to manage the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore, I am delaying the Tuesday-Thursday class discussion by one week. Note the date changes below. This will work, because the Monday AST 101 class has had two weeks of holiday, and the Tuesday/Thursday AST 101 class had none. Therefore, in order to bring the two classes together at the end of the semester I would have to do this anyway at some point. I am doing it now so that I can combine my YouTube responses for both classes (this applies to AST 101 only). SW Campus (Tuesday) March 24 DT Campus (Monday) March 30 SW Campus (Thursday) April 2 (note date change)
Reading Assignment for this week.	Have these chapters of The Known Universe read before you come to class: Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Supplemental material – not required, but might be helpful: · The Football Field Universe calculator (requires MS EXCEL; works on Jefferson computers) – click here.
Class Participation for this week.	Click here for Class Participation Comments and Questions, Part 1 and Part 2. You must come to class with both parts completed (except for those sections of Part 2 that you will complete at the end of class). You will need to have a pencil in class for this. ON-LINE/COVID-19 CLASS PROCEDURE All students: E-mail me your Part 1 forms (address is christopher.graney@kctcs.edu). I will read them and post a response on YouTube, which I will e-mail to you. After you watch my response, complete your Part 2 forms and e-mail them to me. My response is now posted on YouTube—CLICK HERE to watch it, then complete your Part 2 forms and e-mail them to me.
“A” Grade Project	For students wanting a grade of “A” in AST 101, the Final Exam (the “A” Project) is now available. See WEEK 1 under “Final Exam”.
WEEK 10	DT Campus (Monday) April 6 SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) April 7/9
Reading Assignment for this week.	Have these chapters of The Known Universe read before you come to class: Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Supplemental material – not required, but might be helpful: · 1950 Radio Broadcast of Martian Chronicles – click here (from a time when intelligent life on Mars still seemed plausible) · Official Trailer for movie John Carter of Mars – click here · Unofficial Trailer for John Carter of Mars – click here · War of the Worlds book chapter – click here · 1938 radio War of the Worlds – click here · 1953 movie War of the Worlds Trailer – click here · 2005 movie War of the Worlds Trailer – click here
Class Participation for this week.	Click here for Class Participation Comments and Questions, Part 1 and Part 2. You must come to class with both parts completed (except for those sections of Part 2 that you will complete at the end of class). You will need to have a pencil in class for this. ON-LINE/COVID-19 CLASS PROCEDURE All students: E-mail me your Part 1 forms (address is christopher.graney@kctcs.edu). I will read them and post a response on YouTube, which I will e-mail to you. After you watch my response, complete your Part 2 forms and e-mail them to me. My response is now posted on YouTube—CLICK HERE to watch it, then complete your Part 2 forms and e-mail them to me.
“B” Grade Projects	Students wanting a grade of “B” or better in AST 101 should turn in their third “B” Project (see WEEK 1) by WEEK 11.
WEEK 11	DT Campus (Monday) April 13 SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) April 14/16
Reading Assignment for this week.	Have these chapters of The Known Universe read before you come to class: Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Supplemental material – not required, but might be helpful: · NORAD tracks Santa Claus – click here. If Santa wasn’t real, would the military have a web page for him? · The Concorde (video) – the future of air travel in Grandpa’s day, discontinued in 2003 – click here for a nice short video. · World’s Fastest Road Cars – Koenigsegg Agera RS hits 277 mph in 2017 (click here); Mercedes W125 hits 268 mph in 1938 (click here). · Original Movie Trailer for 2001: A Space Odyssey – the technology depicted in this 1968 movie shows what the year 2001 was envisioned to be like in your grandparents’ day, forty-plus years ago – click here. Also check out the Original Movie Trailer for 2010 (the 1984 sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey) – click here. This movie has better special effects featuring our awesome 21^st-century space ships! · The Future (2015) – the 1980’s imagines the year 2015 in the movie Back to the Future II – click here and here. · Opening scene in movie “Contact” – full of science errors, but illustrates the idea of SETI that signals from Earth can be detected by listeners in space, and that listeners at further and further distances from Earth will hear signals from further back in the Earth’s past – click here. Major errors include that the time delay is exaggerated too much (you would hear signals from a few hours ago at Jupiter, not from years ago) and the asteroids are far too densely packed.
Class Participation for this week.	Click here for Class Participation Comments and Questions, Part 1 and Part 2. You must come to class with both parts completed (except for those sections of Part 2 that you will complete at the end of class). You will need to have a pencil in class for this. ON-LINE/COVID-19 CLASS PROCEDURE All students: E-mail me your Part 1 forms (address is christopher.graney@kctcs.edu). I will read them and post a response on YouTube, which I will e-mail to you. After you watch my response, complete your Part 2 forms and e-mail them to me. My response is now posted on YouTube—CLICK HERE to watch it, then complete your Part 2 forms and e-mail them to me.
WEEK 12	DT Campus (Monday) April 20 SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) April 21/23
Reading Assignment for this week.	Have these chapters of The Known Universe read before you come to class: Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Supplemental material – not required, but might be helpful: · Searching for Solar Systems (NPR All Things Considered -- This is a pretty large MP3 audio file and may take a while to download): click here · The Alien Civilization calculator (requires MS EXCEL; works on Jefferson computers) – click here
Class Participation for this week.	Click here for Class Participation Comments and Questions, Part 1 and Part 2. You must come to class with both parts completed (except for those sections of Part 2 that you will complete at the end of class). You will need to have a pencil in class for this. ON-LINE/COVID-19 CLASS PROCEDURE All students: E-mail me your Part 1 forms (address is christopher.graney@kctcs.edu). I will read them and post a response on YouTube, which I will e-mail to you. After you watch my response, complete your Part 2 forms and e-mail them to me. My response is now posted on YouTube—CLICK HERE to watch it, then complete your Part 2 forms and e-mail them to me.
“B” Grade Projects	After this week students wanting a grade of “B” or better in AST 101 may turn in a maximum of two “B” Projects (see WEEK 1). Students wanting a grade of “B” or better in AST 101 should turn in their fourth and final “B” Project (see WEEK 1) by WEEK 13.
WEEK 13	DT Campus (Monday) April 27 SW Campus (Tuesday-Thursday) April 28/30
Reading Assignment for this week.	No reading assignment this week.
Class Participation for this week.	No class participation assignment this week.
“B” Grade Projects	This is “B” Project turn-in/work week.
WEEK 14 FINALS WEEK	DT Campus (Monday) May 4 SW Campus (Tuesday) May 5
Reading Assignment for this week.	No reading assignment this week.
Class Participation for this week.	No participation assignment this week.
“A” Grade Project	For students wanting a grade of “A” in AST 101, the Final Exam (the “A” Project) is due this week. See WEEK 1 under “Final Exam”.
	Tuesday, May 5 at noon is the end of AST 101. No material will be accepted after that time. This is