Credit/Permission: For text, © David Jeffery. For figures etc., as specified with the figure etc. / Only for reading and use by the instructors and students of the UNLV astronomy laboratory course.
Complete the following short
definitions
in complete sentences in your own words.
Read the definition or explanation from some source,
think about what it means, and then formulate your own version.
Sub Tasks:
Complete this task using the
planetary configuration simulator
shown in the applet figure below
(local link /
general link: naap_planetary_configurations.html).
in the group must do this
task for themselves.
Sub Tasks:
Sub Tasks:
Then check out the
List of Tricks for TheSky:
Solar System Tricks (i.e., item 18)
which tells you how to do some of the things we have to do tonight.
Usually, the 3D Solar System Model will just come up in this orientation.
If NOT, use the
Tricks (item 18)
to find out how to get it.
If some inner Solar System
planets are turned off,
you must turn them on using the
button menu with Display Explorer.
See
List of Tricks for TheSky:
Solar System Tricks (i.e., item 18.1).
If you don't want to print after seeing the Preview, go
Toolbar/Close.
Sub Tasks:
By nearest
"planetary configuration",
we mean the
planetary configuration
nearest to today's
elongation just approximately.
You'll need to know that the
greatest elongations
for Mercury and
Venus are, respectively, 18--28°
and 45--47°
(see Wikipedia: Elongation).
There is a range of greatest elongations
since the orbits are NOT exact circles.
Complete this task using the
Ptolemaic System Simulator
shown in the applet
figure below
(local link /
general link: naap_ptolemaic_system_simulator.html.html)
after this task.
in the group must do the task for themselves.
Sub Tasks:
The Ptolemaic system
was NOT the uniquely good geocentric
epicycle system---many roughly equally good
geocentric epicycle systems were developed in the
centuries
after Ptolemy (c.100--c.170 CE).
After reading the caption with
Ptolemaic System Simulator
(which is given above), discuss
whether or NOT Ptolemy should
have been aware of the non-uniqueness problem of
geocentric
epicycle systems
and what might a modern scientist
conclude about the geocentric
epicycle theory
from the non-uniqueness problem.
Remember that the Ptolemaic system
was worked out in great detail by Ptolemy,
and so he spent a lot of time devising its particular
epicycle orbits.
Was the fact that
the inferior planets
exhibit an apparent oscillation around the Sun's position on the
sky (see the figure above
(local link /
general link: ptolemy_system.html)
and
the Ptolemaic System Simulator
in the applet figure below
(local link /
general link: naap_ptolemaic_system_simulator.html.html)
a clue to
good old Ptolemy? Discuss.
HINT: You might consider what happens in the
Tychonic system
and the Copernican system.
Sub Tasks:
Sub Tasks:
Have you read it? Y / N
Unfortunately, Copernicus never makes that
completely explicit it seems.
He certainly thought of it as a major argument.
Retrospectively, it clearly is the main argument.
Now Copernicus could NOT
measure absolute distances beyond the
Moon.
No one could until the 17th century
(see Wikipedia: Astronomical unit: History).
So how could Copernicus
get the correct order and correct relative orbital radii of
planets or as he put it
"form of the universe".
HINT: The short answer is expected.
From the heliocentric solar system model,
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473--1543) was able to
predict the mean orbital radii
of the planets in their
orbits around the
Sun.
On the other hand,
from the (geocentric)
Ptolemaic system,
Ptolemy (c.100--c.170 CE)
was NOT able to predict the locations of the
planets in
space, NOT even their
order going outward from the Earth.
He was able to make such predictions with
extra hypothetical as detailed in his
Planetary Hypotheses---but let's
NOT consider those predictions and hypothetical
since they go beyond the basic
Ptolemaic system.
Discuss which scientific theory is better---the
heliocentric solar system model or
the Ptolemaic system---from
the point of view of modern science,
but without knowing which is right.
Complete this task using the
planetary orbit simulator
in the applet figure below
(local link /
general link: naap_planetary_orbit_simulator.html)
after this task.
in the group must do the task for themselves.
Sub Tasks:
Have you read it? Y / N
Sub Tasks:
Have you read them?
Y / N
What is the slope of the
curve on the plot? _________________
In this lab, we do NOT want to expand much on the
Doppler effect/shift, but
a little explication is needed to understand it for our purposes.
Sub Tasks:
Have you read it?
Y / N
Have you watched them?
Y / N
Complete this task using the
NAAP: Exoplanet Radial Velocity Simulator
shown in the figue below
(local link /
general link: naap_radial_velocity_simulator.html).
in the group must do the task for themselves.
Sub Tasks:
Have you read it? Y / N
In the
transit method for
the discovery of exoplanets,
one just observes the light curve of
a star.
Dips in the light curve of the right kind
show that planets are
transiting the
star and partially
eclipsing it.
Only stars with
inclination near 90°
will exhibit planet
transits.
EVERYONE in the group must do this task for themselves.
Sub Tasks:
Sub Tasks:
Sub Tasks:
Sub Tasks:
Answer:
Answer:
Have you read them? Y / N
Sub Tasks:
Have you read it? Y / N
Your truly suggests using the standard 40-mm eyepiece
for one diagram and a 18-mm
eyepiece for the second diagram.
Consult
Table: C8 Telescope Specifications for Available Eyepieces
as needed.
Remember the
C8 telescopes
does a point inversion
and the star diagonal
does an plane reflection
through the line perpendicular to its symmetry plane.
So you can approximately figure out
north,
south,
east,
and
west.
EOF
EOF
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Table: Elongations and Nearest Planetary Configurations:
For today, right now.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Planet Elongations Nearest Planetary Configuration
(degrees,E/W) (e.g., opposition, quadrature, etc.)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
_______________________________________________________________________________________
... the chief thing, that is the form of the universe and the clear
symmetry of its parts.
This quote suggests that Copernicus
thought that the deduced structure of the Solar System
(which he thought of as being the whole
universe or
whole cosmos)
was the main argument for heliocentrism.
P=[2π/(GM)**(1/2)]*R**(3/2) ,
where P is orbital period,
M is the parent star
mass (assumed much larger than the
planet
mass),
gravitational constant G = 6.67430(15)*10**(-11) (MKS units),
and
R is the mean orbital radius
(AKA the semi-major axis).
On the log-log plot, one gets
the linear relationship between logarithmic period and logarithmic radius
log(P)=(3/2)*log(R) + constant .
What is the slope of the line
on a log-log plot of
the dynamical Kepler's 3rd law?
HINT:
Reread subsection
Power Laws and Logarithmic Plots
above
(local link /
general link: Power Laws and Logarithmic Plots).
______________________________
If there is only one sky map per group,
append it to the
favorite report form.
Yours truly suggests 2 diagrams per group both to be appended to the
favorite report form.
The circle on the diagram is the
FOV area.
Yours truly suggests
you observe the best observable planet---which is usually
the most interesting to look at---which if they are in the sky
are Jupiter or
Saturn.