Phys 1810 Course Outline
Prof Jayanne English
1. Vastness of the Universe:
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Arithmetic, Powers of Ten,
Scales, coordinates, distances, sizes
2. Fundamentals of how we know what we know:
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Light, radiation, motion, gravity
Telescopes & detectors, resolution
Brightness Laws
3. Cosmic Topics:
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Planets – our solar system and beyond
Stars – their birth and death, exotic stars
Black holes
Galaxies – our Milky Way and beyond
Cosmology – e.g. dark matter and dark energy (things we can’t see)
A SURVEY OF THE UNIVERSE.
The universe is defined to be the totality of all space, time
matter, and energy.
Gravity and Spacetime
Light, Electromagnetic Radiation, Interaction of
light and matter.
Cosmology
Clusters of Galaxies
Seyfert’s Sextet: Jayanne English, Chris Palma et al. (NASA’s HST)
Groups of Galaxies
Jayanne English, Sarah Gallager et al. (NASA’s HST and
WFPC2)
Early Release Observations Team (NASA’s HST and
WFC3)
Stephan’s Quintet
Interacting and Merging Galaxies
Individual Galaxies
Stars in Galaxies
Jayanne English and A. Russ Taylor for CGPS
Gas in Galaxies
The Birth of Stars
The Birth of Planets
David Lafreniere, Ray Jayawardhana, Marten H. van Kerkwijk (Gemini Observatory)
Planets around Other Stars
The Death of Stars
The Death of Stars like our Sun
The Galactic Anticentre (DRAO +
IRAS)
Jayanne English and A. Russ Taylor for CGPS
Remi Lacasse
Our Sun
Travis Rector (University of Alaska)
Our Solar System
Galileo Mission
Cassini Mission
Cassini Mission
Put these images in context:
• Which were your 3 favourites?
• Which items do you want to
know more about?
• Discuss your favourites with your
neighbours.
Syllabus
Online at
http://www.physics.umanitoba.c
a/~english/2010winterphys1810
/
Will be updated so check regularly.
Syllabus
Schedule:
• Revise course date: Jan 19
• Voluntary Withdrawal Date: Mar 19
• Test dates: Jan 29 and Feb 26
• Iclicker participation marks: start
Jan 11
Grading:
• 2 tests and 1 exam 70%
• Iclicker participation 5%
• lab and assignments 25%
Syllabus Continued
Office Hours:
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Monday 1pm
Discussion Group
Email to make an appointment with Prof.
English and with Mr. Cameron
Labs:
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Start this coming week
Meet in planetarium for 2 weeks; joint
with Phys 1820
Lab schedule will be posted in Angel
Learning Philosophy
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Format of class:
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Active, participatory class.
Interaction with each other.
Images are as important as text.
I will ask questions and wait for an answer.
• Encourage thinking in class.
• About 50% of material will be math.
• Take notes – write down what I say.
– share note-taking
– University Learning Centre has
workshops:
http://umanitoba.ca/student/u1/lac/wor
kshops/workshops.html
Learning Philosophy
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Materials:
• Textbook is Astronomy Today, 6th edition
Chaisson & McMillian and will be in the
library. If bought new, there is a website
with lots of multiple choice questions for
practise.
• The website for this course:
http://www.physics.umanitoba.ca/~englis
h/2010winterphys1810/
• iclicker
• will register these in class on Monday.
• Non-programmable calculator, for tests
and exams.
Learning Philosophy
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Guideline for grades:
• C-C+ is roughly 60-69%  average is about 65%
• B-B+ is roughly 70-79%  good to very good
• A is roughly 80-89%  excellent
• A+ is > 90%  EXCEPTIONAL
The factor that correlates most closely with
grades is attendance at lectures.
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Learning Philosophy
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Tips for improving grades.
1. Study Notes:
– Cornell Note-taking Method
Link on Phys 1830 website
http://www.physics.umanitoba.ca/~english/2010
winterphys1810/
Learning Philosophy
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Tips for improving grades.
2. Study Methods:
– PQRST
http://www.physics.umanitoba.ca/~english/2010
winterphys1810/
P = Preview
Q = Questions
R = Read
S = State
T = Turnback
Before each class, read your notes from the previous
class and prepare Questions.
I provide a “road map” for what is coming up so you can
Preview the material.
Learning Philosophy
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Tips for improving grades.
3. Spend 3 hours studying for every hour in
lecture. (Princeton Guidelines.)
4. Ways of Learning:
– Quiz to determine whether you are
predominantly an haptic, auditory or visual
learner is under the “learning styles” link at
http://www.physics.umanitoba.ca/~english/2010
winterphys1810/
5. Pneumonics, meditation, etc.
6. Visit your professor. (Email or phone to
make an appointment if you can’t visit
Mondays at 1pm.
Scientific Method: Richard Feynman
summary
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• Observation, reason, and experiment
make up what we call the scientific
method.
• The principle of science, the definition,
almost, is the following: The test of all
knowledge is experiment. Experiment
is the sole judge of scientific “truth.”
Scientific Method: Richard Feynman
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• Where do the laws that are to be tested come
from? Experiment, itself, helps to produce
these laws, in the sense that it gives us hints.
But also needed is imagination to create from
these hints the great generalizations - to guess
at the wonderful, simple, but very strange
patterns beneath them all, and then to
experiment to check again whether we have
made the right guess.
Scientific Method: Gottfried Wilhelm Von
Leibniz
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• There are 2 kinds of truths; those of
reasoning and those of fact.
• Truths of reasoning are necessary,
and their opposite is impossible.
• And those of fact are contingent, and
their opposite is possible.
Scientific Method
Science is a truth of
a) reasoning
b) fact
Scientific Method:
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• “Laws of Nature” are defined as
general rules that describe how
nature works.
• Evolution from one law to another,
not a revolution. E.g. Newton’s Law
of Gravitation is contained in
Einstein’s General Theory of
Relativity.
Scientific Method
Discuss with your neighbours:
Compare the scientific approach to
understanding the cosmos with other
approaches such as theological, spiritual, and
astrological efforts, in attempts to estimate
the probability of sentient, technological life
arising elsewhere in the universe. Do you
feel that the scientific attitude is basically
different than the others? Why?