Astro A-1,000

             The Solar System

             Purdue (Fall 2024)

                    bwoodahl@purdue.edu

                    (Don't Use Brightspace to contact me, use email link)

                    Office: LD 156-S, 278-9244

                    Class: ES 2107 on Tues and Thur 10:30 - 11:45

                    http://134.68.135.8/AstroA1000

Reminder: Exam 3 is Thursday, December 5

• Exam 3 will be at 10:30 AM on Thursday, December 5. It's not comprehensive, it only covers the material that follows Exam 2.

• Do not be late, door closes at 10:50 AM. Like the other exams, permitted time is 75 mins: Exam 3 ends at 11:45 AM.

• About 70 multiple choice questions.

• Rememberize to bring a #2 pencil.

• ''.. I brought my pencil, gimme something to write on, man ..'' OpScan sheets will be provided, pick one up when you enter.

• There is no final exam. After this exam, the course ends.

Exam 3 Study Guide

• Exam 3 Study Guide (PDF)

Week 16 Images (Tuesday)

• Big Bang Theory

• The Beginning of Time

• Temperature of the Universe as it Cools

• The Eight Main Eras of Big Bang Theory

• Planck Era: Quantum Foam

• More Quantum Foam

• GUT Era: Only Two Forces Exist: GUT and Gravity

• Electroweak Era: Three Forces: Gravity, Strong, and Electroweak

• Particle Era: Elementary Particles (and Anti-Particles) are Abundant

• Nucleosynthesis Era: Quarks Bind to Form Protons and Neutrons

• Nuclei Era: Protons and Neutrons Join to Form Nuclei

• Atoms Era: Universe is Cooled so that Nuclei Attract Electrons to Form Atoms & Molecules

• Galaxy Era: Gravity Clumps Matter to Form Galaxies

• Evidence for the Big Bang Theory: Penzias and Wilson and their Microwave Antenna

• Spectrum of Microwave Radiation Closely Matches Big Bang Theory

• High-Tech Big Bang Detector in Your Home: Snowy Channel on an Antenna-Fed TV

Notice: No Lecture on Tuesday, November 26 (Week of Thanksgiving)

• Enjoy the break!

Week 15 Image

• Enjoy your Thanksgiving Break!

Week 14 Images

• Isaac Newton

• Albert Einstein

• Travelers on Earth's Surface (Curvature) and Orbiting Objects (Forces) Follow the Same Path

• Rubber Sheet Analogy: Matter and Energy Warps Space (and Time)

• The Equivalence Principle

• Dimensions

• Relative Time: Moving Clocks Tick Slower: A 50 Years Long Trip Takes Only 2 Years for the Astronauts

• The 3 Possible Ways For Spacetime Curvature

• Sun Curves Spacetime, Planets Follow the Straightest Paths

• Worldline (Includes Space and Time) of Earth as it Orbits the Sun

• Blackhole: Spacetime Sufficiently Curved so that the Slope is Greater than Velocity of Light

• Karl Schwarzschild (Developed the First Relativistic Theory of Blackholes)

• Blackhole's Singularity: Infinite Density and Pressure, Classically

• Orbit Path (Perihelion) of Mercury Moves (Precesses)

• General Relativity Allows for Wormhole Solutions for Faster than Light Travel

• "Back To The Past": General Relativity Allows for Wormhole Solutions for Time Travel

Week 13 Images

• The Sun's Fusion Rate is Self-Regulated

• Photon Takes About 200,000 Years to Escape the Sun

• One of the Many Vibrational Patterns in the Sun

• Neutrino (Rendition)

• Homestake South Dakota Neutrino Detector

• Ray Davis Jr, 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics for the Detection of Cosmic Neutrinos (Homestake Detector)

• Three Types of Neutrinos (To Make for Six Leptons, Similar to the Six Quarks)

• Looking For Life Beyond Planet Earth

• Geological Time Scales on Earth

• 3.5 Billion Year Old Stromatolites Show Microbial Evidence, Including Photosynthetic Microbes

• Charles Darwin

• Double-Helix Structure of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Molecule

• Stanley Miller of the Famous 1950's Miller-Urey Experiments: Life's Basic Ingredients Made in a Flask

• The Evolution of the Origin of Life (and therefore Evolution)

• Liquid Water Can Only Exist on a Planet's Surface in the Habitable Zone

• Astronomer Frank Drake and His (Full) Drake Equation

• Attempting to Make "CONTACT" Using the NRAO-VLA

• 64-Meter Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia Listens for Extraterrestrial Communications

Week 12 Images

• ".. If you only knew the power of the BRIGHT side, .. Obi-Wan never told you ..."

• Kelvin and Helmholtz

• Einstein (and his friend Kurt Godel)

• Sun is in Hydrostatic Equilibrium

• Long Filament Recorded in August of 2012

• Sun's Structure

• Proton: Two Up Quarks and One Down Quark Having Color Charge: Red, Green, and Blue (Gold arrows are the Spin Vectors)

• Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion

• Fusion of Nuclei Only Possible at Large Velocities

• Effective Fusion Reaction in Sun: 4 Protons Produce Helium and Energy

• Fusion in the Sun: Proton-Proton Chain

• Proton-Proton Chain (Movie)

Week 11 Images

• Large Planet Orbits Star 51 Pegasi (Rendition)

• The Sun and Jupiter Orbit a Center-Of-Mass Point

• Sun's Motion About the Solar System's Center-Of-Mass Point

• Doppler Shift Technique for Finding Extrasolar Planet

• Velocity Data Derived from Doppler Shift of Spectra

• Eccentric Orbits Produce Non-symmetric Velocity Plots

• Calculating an Extrasolar Planet's Mass and Orbit

• Discovered in 2010, Probable Earth-like Planet: Gliese 581 G

• Planets of Star Gliese 581

• Current Wiki on Gliese 581 G

• Current Wiki on Extra-Solar Planets

• Current Listings

Exam 2 (Tuesday, October 29)

• 80 questions, multiple choice, review all your notes following the Exam 1 material

• There is much material to know, please study some amount each day.

• Rememberize to bring a #2 pencil

• ''.. I brought my pencil, gimme something to write on, man ..'' OpScan sheets will be provided, pick one up when you enter

Exam 2 Study Guide

• Exam 2 Study Guide (PDF)

Quiz 8 (Thursday, October 24)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from previous four lectures

Quiz 7 (Tuesday, October 22)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from the past five lectures (focus on the most recent 3 lectures)

Week 10 Images

• Asteroids Move Significantly During Long-Exposure Photos

• Ceres, 1000 km Across is the Largest Asteroid (Dwarf Planet) in the Asteroid Belt (bright spots theory: brine crystallization)

• Smaller Asteroids Have Nonspherical Shapes

• Asteroid Mass Obtained from the Motion of 'Roid-Moon

• The Asteroid Belt

• The Ahnighito Meteorite from Greenland (34 tons), Displayed at New York Museum of Natural History

• Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997

• Nucleus of Comet Vilt-2 Photographed by Spaceprobe Stardust in 2004

• Coma, Plasma Tail and Dust Tail of Comet

• Comet Dynamics

• Comets Come From Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt (Previous Image)

• Pluto

• Eris

• Pluto and Eris Orbits (Previous Image)

• Comet SL9 Impacting Jupiter in 1994 as seen from Io (Rendition)

• Impact Scars (Hubble Space Telescope)

• KT (K = Cretaceous, T = Tertiary = Paleogene) Boundary has Thin Layer Rich in Earth-Rare Iridium (red arrow)

• Another KT (K Pg) Boundary Layer

• Mass Extinction Events of the Past 540 Million Years

• Large Asteroid Impacting Earth (Rendition)

• The 1908 Tunguska Event: Forest Damage

• Asteroid Impact Rates on Earth

• Gravity Forces of the Jovians May Send Impactors to Earth

Quiz 6 (Tuesday, October 15)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review all your notes from the past three lectures

Week 9 Images

• The Four Jovians

• Nonsphericity of Jovians

• Detailed Interior Structure of Jupiter

• Interior Structure of Jovians

• Jupiter's Three Cloud Levels: Ammonia, Ammonium Hydrosulfide, Water

• Jovian Cloud Types and Elevations

• Methane: Blue Neptune and Uranus

• Jupiter's Clouds: Different Colors and Different Elevations

• Coriolis Effect on Jupiter's Great Red Spot

• Animation of Jupiter's Cloud Bands and Great Red Spot

• Sizable Moons of the Jovian Planets

• Jupiter's Io: Volcanically Active

• Source of Io's Heat: Elliptical Orbit and Jupiter's Tidal Forces

• Orbital Resonances Produce Slight Elliptical Orbits

• Jupiter's Europa: Covered With Water Ice

• Europa's Composition

• Jupiter's Ganymede: Largest, Icy, and Dual Surfaced

• Jupiter's Callisto: Icy and Heavily Cratered

• Saturn's Titan: Nitrogen and Methane Atmosphere (Photo NOT Color-Corrected)

• Huygen's Spaceprobe Reveals Some of Titan's Surface Features

• MSNBC Article About Titan (Current)

• Saturn's Enceladus (Image 1)

• Saturn's Enceladus (Image 2)

• Saturn's Enceladus (Image 3)

• Saturn's Enceladus (Image 4)

• Saturn's Rings as Seen by Cassini Spacecraft

• Rings Close Up (Rendition)

• Gap Moon Pan Creates Ripples in the Rings of Saturn

• Origin of Rings

• Neptune's Triton: Captured, Geological Activity

• Triton Close Up

10 Bonus Points Opportunity

• In no less than 1000 words, TYPED, submitted as PDF (not Word or txt, etc.) to bwoodahl@purdue.edu, explain in your own words the "Bethe Weizsacker Cycle". Make sure your paper includes a short discussion where you contrast it with the Proton-Proton Chain. Include your full name, the due date is Friday Nov 15th at 5:00 PM. Late submittals are not accepted.

Final Exam Schedule

• Purdue Indianapolis has released the date/time for our Final

• Final Exam: in ES 2110 on Friday, Dec 13 starting at 7:00 PM

• Pencil this into your Calendar.

• However, I might change it to just an Exam 3 during the last week of lecture

Week 8 Images (Thursday only)

• Sources of Atmospheric Gases

• Mechanisms for Loss of Atmospheric Gases

• Mars' Orbital Ellipticity: Hemispherical Asymmetry in the Seasons

• Water Ice & Trace Amount of Dry Ice in Mars' North Pole Ice Cap During Northern Hemisphere Summer

• Mars' Global Dust Storm

• Venus' Atmosphere

Quiz 5 (Tuesday, October 1)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from last week's lectures

Week 7 Images

• Moon's Lunar Highlands and Lunar Maria

• Mercury's Caloris Basin

• Mercury's Giant Cliffs

• Theories on Mercury's Giant Cliffs

• Mercury Still Shrinking (Tectonically Active)

• Mars' Southern Highlands and Northern Plains

• Past Volcanism on Mars: Olympus Mons

• Mars' Tectonics: Valles Marineris

• Mars' Ancient Water Erosion by Rivers

• Mars' Ancient Water Erosion by Rainfall: Lack of Small Craters

• Evidence for Water Today (Oct 2005) on Mars: High Resolution Picture 1

• Evidence for Water Today (Oct 2005) on Mars: High Resolution Picture 2

• Evidence for Water Today (Oct 2005) on Mars: High Resolution Picture 3

• Evidence for Water Today (Oct 2005) on Mars: High Resolution Picture 4

• Images for Water on Mars (Sep 2015): High Resolution Picture 1

• Images for Water on Mars (Sep 2015): High Resolution Picture 2

• NASA Presser on Mars Flowing Water (Sep 2015)

• More Evidence: Large Sub-surface Water Lake on Mars (Jul 2018): Image

• Latest Data from Curiosity Rover (Sep 2013)

• Snow Evidence Today on Mars

• Cold Brines on Mars May Support Aerobic Life

• Venus' Surface from Magellan Spacecraft Radar Imagining

• Venus' Surface Close-Up from Soviet Union's Venera Lander Using an Optical Imager

• Terrestrial Atmospheres

• Gravity Creates Higher Pressure and Density Near Surface

• Atmospheric Absorption of EM Radiation

• In The Evening

• Atmospheric Scattering of Light: Blue Daytime Skies and Red Dawn

• Greenhouse Effect

• Pink Floyd DSOM: Scattering of Light: Violet and Blue Scatter More (Bending Angle Greater) Than Red and Orange

• Blue Sky and Red Dawn on Earth

• Coriolis Effect

Week 6 Images

• Galactic Recycling: Stardust = All the Elements Heavier than Hydrogen and Helium (and tiny bit of Lithium)

• Willie Nelson: Stardust (melody, the memory of love's refrain ...)

• Solar Nebula to an Orderly Solar System

• Composition of Solar Nebula

• The Frost Line

• Early Solar System

• Terrestrial Formation

• Planetesimals must avoid being Shattered

• Jovian Formation

• Accretion Process

• Narration of Solar System Formation

• Surfaces of Terrestrials

• Differentiation of Terrestrial Interiors

• Sources of Internal Heat

• Radioactive

• Cooling Mechanisms

• Impact Cratering

• Volcanism

• Tectonics

• Erosion

• Role of Planet's Size, Distance, and Spin

Exam 1 (Thursday, September 19)

• About 70 questions, multiple choice, review all your notes and quizzes

• Bring a picture ID card (Driver's License, CrimsonCard, JagTag, Military ID, etc.)

• In our normal room, also bring a #2 (HB) pencil (failure to use a pencil results in a zero)

• ''.. I brought my pencil, gimme something to write on, man ..'' OpScan sheets will be provided, pick one up when you enter

Exam 1 Study Guide

• Exam 1 Study Guide (PDF)

Quiz 4 (Tuesday, September 17)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from the last three weeks (this will also help prepare for the exam)

• Know everything about light

• Know about the fundamental particles (and other aspects of matter)

• Understand the distinction between chemical and nuclear reactions

Week 5 Images

• Saturn

• Uranus

• Neptune

• Planetary Data

• Dwarf Planets Pluto and Eris (with other Kuiper Belt Objects)

• Orbit Details of Eris

• The Asteroid Belt

• Kuiper Belt Objects and Oort Cloud Objects

• Jovians Versus Terrestrials

Quiz 3 (Tuesday, September 10)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from the past two weeks

• Know all about Newton, his Laws of Motion, and his Law of Gravity

Week 4 Images

• Atoms

• The Fundamental Particles

• Atom Type (Element) Determined by the Number of Protons

• The Periodic Table (PDF)

• Water (H₂O) Molecule

• Photon (wavy line) Being Absorbed by Atom -> Electron (solid blue line) Jumps Up into Higher Orbit

• Atom Emitting a Photon (wavy line) -> Electron (solid blue line) Jumps Down into Lower Orbit

• Spectra of Helium, Sodium, and Neon

• At The Station

• Sound Produced by Stationary Source

• Sound Produced by Moving Source: Doppler Effect

• Doppler Effect on Spectra: Redshifting and Blueshifting

• Solar System: Sun and Planets (Ignore Pluto)

• Orderly Motion

• Sun

• Mercury

• NASA Mercury Mission (Messenger)

• Venus

• Earth

• Mars

• Ghost on Mars?

• NASA Mars Mission (Curiosity)

• Jupiter

• Jupiter's Great Red Spot

Quiz 2 (Tuesday, September 3)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from the past four lectures

• Know the history of Foucault, Galileo, Kepler, Brahe, Copernicus

• Know the numbers/info regarding galaxies, and stars in galaxies

• Know the motion of Earth's path around Sun (ecliptic plane, perihelion = closest to the sun, etc.) and the seasons

• Know about the Moon's motion around the Earth and the phases of the Moon

Week 3 Images

• No Moon, No Gravity, No Tide(s)

• Moon's Gravitational Force Stretches (Pancakes) the Earth Thus Creating Two Tides (on Opposite Sides)

• Moon's Tidal Forces are Squashing (Pancaking) the Earth

• Moon is Lifting Itself into a Higher Orbit

• White Light Contains All Colors

• Duality of Light: Light Is Both a Wave and a Particle

• Wavelength and Frequency

• Inverse Relationship Between Wavelength and Frequency

• Electromagnetic (EM) Spectrum

Quiz 1 (Tuesday, August 27)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from last week, know:

• The metric prefix names for various powers of ten

• Dividing two numbers and obtaining the "order of magnitude"

• The number of stars in a galaxy and the number of stars in the observable universe

• The speed-of-light in the metric units

Week 2 Images

• Ptolemaic Model

• Retrograde Motion (Updated)

• Nicolaus Copernicus

• Copernican Model

• Tycho Brahe

• Johannes Kepler

• Galileo Galilei

• Orbits are Elliptical

• Galileo's Venus Phases Supports Copernican Model

• Ptolemaic Model has Limited Phases of Venus

• Foucault Pendulum at Fermilab

• Change in Velocity (either speed or direction) is an Acceleration

• Sir Isaac Newton

• Newton's 1st Law

• Newton's 2nd Law

• Newton's 3rd Law

• Acceleration of an Object Due to Earth's Gravity

• Converting Energy from One Type Into Another Type

Week 1 Images

• Number of stars in the Universe?

• The Milky Way Galaxy

• Andromeda Galaxy (M31)

• The Expanding Universe

• The Reason for the Seasons

• Details of Earth in Motion

• The Phases of the Moon

• Synchronous Rotation (figure on right-hand side)

Course Information