Discussion: Astro 101

There used to be a photo of their daughter in one of the early chapters. "Grains of sand" on a beach I think. Is she still orienteering as well?

Hee hee - Astro 101 :) Space rocks for jocks.

Is Astro 101 the class where you learn all the signs and stuff?

Eddie, that was Astro 1010, not 101. Obviously, Space Boulders for Broad Shoulders.

Oh cool, will have to look for the photo! I just flipped through the contents last night, and Cristina, you'll be happy to know there is a section 'covering' Astrology... =)

A good thing, that. It would be pretty embarrassing to make it through your basic astro course without being able to ID the zodiac constellations in the night sky, eh?

If you need photos for the Aries unit, which I assume will be the first and most important one, feel free to grab anything from my awesome FB collection.

=), yes, will indeed have to teach them the basic constellations! One good thing about teaching astro in the evening - at least occasionally it's got to be clear enough for us to go outside and actually look at the sky!!

And! Reviewing stuff for Astro101, I learned there is an orienteering constellation!! Pyxis = the compass, woo! It's a super small constellation essentially in the Milky Way, so does not get that much attention. Honestly, I don't think I'd ever heard of it before, astronomy fail...

And thanks for volunteering Cristina, so we'll have Aries covered, any for the remaining signs? =)

What's your sign?

Have you seen this book http://www.amazon.com/The-Stars-New-Way-Them/dp/03...? It's by the author of Curious George. Talks about constellations & the stories of the stars, but has some very legit math in the second half regarding your location on earth vs sun/stars points of rising & setting. I used it as a point of reference for figuring out problems to use when teaching trigonometry.

I recommend your final exam involve the use of a sextant to determine latitude to within 100m. Better yet, hand them an astrolabe.

An astrobabe?

What latitude is that at?

I *want* my sign to be Ophiuchus, the 13th constellation that crosses the ecliptic!! But it turns out, the astrological 'signs' are all off from the constellations now anyways, because astrologers don't take account of the Earth's procession.... fail.

And thanks for the reminder of that book Zan! That's how I learned the constellations in highschool and remember it being great... but not sure where my copy is. Time to dig through some boxes perhaps!!

Boooooooo! Dept chair *just* let me know that actually I'm not teaching 1010. This is <1 week before the first class! Apparently the new lecturer needs to teach all 4 sections to have enough hours or something. So maybe I'll teach the calculus 'bridge' for students who mistakenly took intro physics without calculus and actually want to continue doing real physics/engineering...

Saturn was in Ophiuchus forever. Or maybe it was there the whole time I was in college so it only seemed like forever. "Seven years of college...down the drain."

I just checked the Sun's ephemeris for my birthdate and sure enough, it was in Ophiuchus! Right on the line too - just minutes across the boundary from Scorpius. I AM the serpent bearer! muahh ahh ahhhhhh!!!!!

Snakes. Why'd it have to be...snakes?

All this time I thought I was half-man/half-horse, but I'm just some jackass carrying a snake. It does explain alot though :)

Hah, awesome eddie, so very glad you checked =)