Michael Norman, of the Center for Super Comuting Applications
at U. Ill. has developed a eye capturing and easily navagitable
multimedia
of the comos; from the beginning to the present. You will swim in the
Quark
Soup, you will see matter freeze out of the soup, you will watch
galaxies
being born.
GalaxyGuide is an exciting introduction to astronomy and
to the night sky. It covers 38 of the night sky's most spectacular
constellations
in depth. Explore the sky through the constellations, their myths,
their
deep space objects and their individual stars. Learn your way around
the
entire night sky, one constellation at a time through accurate star
maps.
Learn to pronounce constellation and star names. A flash card game
helps
you recall what you have learned, and a general astronomy game has over
1,500 questions to test your skill at any level.
Enjoy the pleasure of learning without the pain of finding
parking at the university. This course is designed to be an exploration
of the process by which the Universe grows to a state of
self-awareness,
as defined by the emergence of intelligence which asks questions and
seeks
information about that very Universe. More specifically, it is a study
in the evolution of ideas, based on observations, and the development
of
a non-unique evolutionary model that describes the origin of the
Universe
and the development of life. Since the model proceeds on the basis of
human
perception of external events, it is highly imperfect and flawed
because
of the intrinsic uncertainty associated with observation. Thus, we will
consider the question of "How do we know, what we know?" as well as
emphasizing
that which we do not know. In the end we hope to arrive at a consistent
evolutionary model for understanding the existence of intelligence and
then explore the implications of that model in terms of the existence
of
extra-terrestrial intelligence. In this way this course is designed to
ascertain if our species qualifies as an intelligent one. This will be
a different course, unlike what you think its going to be. The final
exam
will be quite different (see below) and will hopefully force you to
reflect
on how you think everything in the universe fits together. All lectures
in this course will be delivered electronically
This is Prof. Greg Bothun' Astronomy 121 course in a can
(computer). The study of the Solar System is primarily an exercise in
planetary
geology. The input data, in most cases, consists only of images of
planetary
surfaces from which we attempt to reconstruct its particular geological
history. Each planetary surface in our Solar System has a unique
geological
history and a wealth of network accessible information now exists. Well
over 10,000 individual images of planetary surfaces are now available
via
the World Wide Web/Internet system. The main goals of this class are
to:
To gain an understanding of some of the detailed properties of the
various
objects that make up our solar system. To achieve a coherent
understanding
of how the solar system was able to form in the Galaxy and the
probability
that similar formation processes occurred elsewhere.
A 1.2 Meg Mpeg Movie of the properties and structure of
M31. You must have an Mped video app in order to view. Netscape will
take
care of the downloading of the App for you.
This is a somewhat trite video that illitrates the inverse
square law by a dropped bomb into a cow pasture. It's called the cow
bomb.
Narration is available. Don't plan on seeing the sequal.
Here is an opportunity to thank Bob Wing (graduate of Berkley)
professor at The Ohio State University, for his contributions to
astronomy
in the areas of multiband photometry (Wing filters) and the first
penetration
of the interstellar medium to the galatic center. This page is under
construction
but offer some neat stuff already. So, one the count of three,
scatter....
'cause that's what the interstellar meduim does best.
This is another contribution from the University of Oregon's
Electronics Universe, project. U. of O. seems to be a developing force
in the area of multimedia astronomy education. Here is a synopsis of
their
multi media presentation:
Stellar Evolution is driven entirely by the never ending battle between
Pressure and Gravity . As imbalances are reached, the star is driven to
find a new Energy source. Each new stage in stellar evolution is hence
marked by a different energy generation mechansism. These stages are
discussed
below: Structure of a Main Sequence Star Here see that a main sequence
star has a simple structure. Pressure and gravitational forces are
equal,
the star is stable and its core is sufficiently hot to fuse Hydrogen
into
Helium . Eventually the core of the main sequence star will become pure
Helium and that will mark a new evolutionary phase for the star. -->
More
about main sequence stars Structure of a Post Main Sequence Star Now
the
star has two chemically distinct zones, a core of Helium surrounded by
an envelope of Hydrogen. Since Helium has 2 protons in its nucleus then
the fusion of Helium requires a higher temperature, to overcome this
electrostatic
barrier, than the fusion of Hydrogen.Structure of a Red Giant Star Now
the core of the star has heated to a temperature of 100 Million Degrees
which is the threshold temperature for the fusion of Helium into Carbon
. The star is again stable as pressure and gravity are equal. The
lifetime
of a star as a Red Giant is about 10% of its main sequence lifetime.
The
luminosity generated by the core fusion of Helium into Carbon is far
greater
than the shell luminosity associated with the fusion of Hydrogen into
Helium.
Quit impressive!
All stars derive their energy through the thermonuclear
fusion of light elements in to heavy elements. High temperatures are
required
so that the mutual electrostatic repulsion of the protons in each
fusing
atomic nucleus is overcome. This requires a high velocity collsion
which
can only be achieved under conditions of high temperature. The minimum
temperature require for the fusion of Hydgrogen is 5 million degrees.
Elements
with more protons in their nuclei require higher temperatures. For
instance,
to fuse Carbon requires a temperature of about 1 billion degrees. This
sequence is now shown in the animation below. Refer to the legend below
for all the animations: Take a look!
CM diagram Young Cluster In this case we see the Main Sequence
fully represented. The blue dots represent massive stars with short
main
sequence lifetimes. This stars would have masses greater than 2 solar
masses.
The yellow dots represent stars with masses between 1 and 2 solar
masses
and the red dots represent stars with masses less than 1 solar mass.
Since
the cluster is very young, no Red Giants have appeared. CM diagram 10
Million
Years Old Now we are seeing the disappearance of the most massive main
sequence stars as their main sequence lifetimes is less than 10 million
years. These stars have evolved to become the first generation of Red
Giants
. CM diagram 1 Billion years Old Now we see that all the blue stars
have
evolved off the main sequence and that some of the Red Giants have
evolved
to become White Dwarfs . As the main sequence lifeftime of a 2 solar
mass
star is about one billion years, then there are no stars still on the
main
sequence with masses higher than this. Thus, identifying the most
massive
star which is still on the main sequence is an effective means of
determining
the age of a stellar cluster. CM digram 10 Billion years Old All of the
yellow stars have no disappeared. The Giant Branch is now well
populated,
Overall, the cluster colors would be very red since all the stars are
either
red giants or low mass mainsequence stars. The number of white dwarfs
has
increased quite bit. In the next few billion years the cluster will
continue
to evolve and slowly fade as all its former members end up as white
dwarfs,
neutron stars or black holes.
ASTRONOMY. Even the word conjures up wondrous images in
your mind. Images of distant galaxies, maybe, or exploding stars, or
comets,
meteors, stars, constellations, telescopes, or maybe even your own
memories
of a night under a truly dark sky where the universe seemed to glow
with
"billions" of stars. Whatever image the word astronomy creates in your
mind, the subject of astronomy has captured the interest and attention
of virtually every human on the planet since humans were able to look
up.
What follows is a course on astronomy using the Internet. It is
adaptable
to most age and interest levels. Each of the units in the course are
listed
below in the Table of Contents, and each unit has its own separate
"page."
I hope you will enjoy using the course and will come back again and
again
as I make changes and additions to it.
Topics in Astronomy: Cosmology and the Origin of Life complete
course, Solar System Geology, Properties of Galaxies, Planetary Motion,
Inverse Square Law, The Interstellar Medium, Stellar Evolution,
Nucleosynthesis
in Stars, The Evolution of Star Clusters.
Most of us think of Earth's environment as ending somewhere
above the clouds but below the space shuttle. We think of the Sun as a
blazing yellow disk that moves from horizon to horizon, spreading
sunbeams
and sunburns. But what about the space in between Earth and Sun? With
the
advent of radios, RAM, and rockets, scientists found that Earth's
environment
extends nearly a million miles into space, and the Sun brings us far
more
than warming daylight. From observatories in the air and on the ground,
physicists now study an invisible realm as changeable as the weather,
windier
than a mountain peak, and as electric as a city night...They call it
geospace.
Through funding from NASA, faculty at Montana State University
and classroom teachers from across the nation have developed an
extensive
library of on-line and interactive K-12 science education materials for
teaching astronomy. Closely aligned with the NRC National Science
Education
Standards, these web based lessons make maximum use of exciting on-line
NASA resources, data, and images. In addition to classroom-ready
materials
using contemporary teaching strategies, CERES has developed several
on-line
NASA data search engines and two graduate level distance learning
courses,
available over the internet to K-12 teachers.