Cuesta College :: Astronomy 210 :: Spring 2020
Calendar Policies Goals Grades

Homework 
Review previous reading assignment responses (*.blog)
Read ASTRO3, Chs. 3-3, 3-4, 3-5a, 3-5b, 3-5d, 4-1, 4-2
     
Preview online presentations (*.blog), (*.blog), (*.blog) 
     
Complete online reading assignment 3 (*.html)
     (Due 12:00 AM midnight before class this week)
     

Wednesday (1) 
"Science is a method for testing claims about the natural world, not an immutable compendium of absolute truths.  The fundamentalists, by 'knowing' the answers before they start, and then forcing nature into the straitjacket of their discredited preconceptions, lie outside the domain of science--or of any honest intellectual inquiry."
     --Stephen Jay Gould, "The Godfather of Disaster," Bully For Brontosaurus, 
       W. W. Norton (1992), p. 379.

Quiz 2 question packet (*.pdf)

Chs. 3-1, 3-2: Retrograde Motion (review)
     "Spacetime Coordinates" (*.html)
     Epicycle demonstrator (*.js), (*.gif)
          (Syracuse University, 6, 1, 1/10)
     Teacup epicycle (*.blog)
          (K Street Mall, Sacramento, CA)
     Retrograde demonstrator (*.swf), (*.gif)
          (marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov)

In-class activity 7 (*.pdf) [00:20]
     Find and sit in your assigned groups
     Cooperate and collaborate within your group
     Share answers within and between groups
     Turn in group worksheet at front

Chs. 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5: The Astronomers (continued) [00:45]
     Galileo: Solar System Motions (*.blog)
     Museo Galileo artifacts (*.html), (*.html)
          (atlasobscura.com, Cuesta College Astrophoto Pool)
     Kepler and Newton: The Lawgivers (*.blog)
     Planetary orbit simulator (*.swf)
          (Nebraska Astronomy Applet Project)
     Mountain cannon simulator (*.swf)
          (University of Virginia Physics)



Wednesday (2) 
"You can't have, like, a light, without a dark to stick it in.  You know what I'm saying?  You can't have one thing without the other thing."
     --Arlo Guthrie, "The Neutron Bomb Story (01:04)," Precious Friend, Warner Bros., 1981. 

Quiz 3 question packet (*.pdf)

(Ch. 4-1: Radiation: Information from Space) 
Ch. 4-2: (Optical) Telescopes [00:30]
     Telescopes and Powers, SLO campus (*.blog), (*.html)
     Telescopes and Powers, NC campus (*.blog), (*.html)

In-class activity 8 (SLO (*.pdf), NCC (*.pdf)) [00:25]
     Find and sit in your assigned groups
     Cooperate and collaborate within your group
     Share answers within and between groups
     Turn in group worksheet at front
     
"Correct(?) answers, but no explanations given" (*.html)

Quiz 2 announcements
     Wednesday, 2/19, 6:00-6:20 PM
     Closed-book, closed-notes
     Ten multiple-choice questions = 40 points
          Eclipses: three questions
          Planet-finding, prograde/retrograde models: three questions
          Astronomers (no tides): four questions
     No work needs to be shown; partial credit possible
     No scantrons; circle answers directly on quiz
     **USE YOUR OWN UNIQUE 4-DIGIT P.I.N.**



Homework 
Review previous reading assignment responses (*.blog)
Read ASTRO3, Chs. 4-1b, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 
     
Preview online presentations (*.blog), (*.blog), (*.blog)

Complete online reading assignment 4 (*.html)
     (Due 12:00 AM midnight before start of class next week)