Bill Keel's Intro Astronomy Resources


Course details:

  • PDF Syllabus (summer 2015)
  • Study and preparation hints
  • Lecture outlines in PDF format
  • Location map for astronomy viewing area in Moundville - and on Google Maps
  • Summer 2015 study guide (review-topic list) for final exam (PDF)
  • Practice quizzes and answers (not quite identical to the printed ones)
  • Answers to practice quizzes in the outline booklet
  • This term's quizzes/tests to date with answers: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
  • Second Summer 2015 extra-credit assignment (due June 23). Avoid trouble - see the library's guidelines on what professors define as plagiarism. A citation a day keeps the Dean at bay...
  • Demonstrations using the PC Skyglobe program
  • AY 102 lab pages

    New references for class use:

  • Images taken during extra-credit remote-observatory session, June 24, 2008: Whirlpool Galaxy M51 Globular cluster M13 Radio galaxy with jet M87 (pseudocolor)
  • Scales of the Universe (PowerPoint) - also an annotated and amplified version)
  • Phases of the Moon
  • Mars in myth and fact
  • Planetary ring systems (PowerPoint)
  • Descent to the surface of Eros
  • Galileo at Jupiter
  • Planetary satellites (PowerPoint)
  • The outer solar system
  • The Sun
  • Leonid meteors, 2001
  • Galaxy formation and evolution (PowerPoint)
  • Life on Earth - the cosmic background
  • Did the Apollo landings really happen? (PowerPoint)

    Web references: some interesting sites for topics related to astronomy for this class

    LOCAL INFORMATION:

  • UA Observatory public nights
  • UA Astronomy home page

    BREAKING NEWS:

  • Latest news items from the Hubble Space Telescope
  • Sky and Telescope weekly news bulletin
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA Goddard
  • Latest releases from the Chandra X-ray observatory and infrared results from the Spitzer and Herschel space telescopes
  • Cassini orbiter and Huygens probe around Saturn
  • Curiosity rover, Mars Exploration Rovers and Mars Express on and around to Mars Mars Odyssey 2001, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter orbiting Mars (plus the late
  • Mars Global Surveyor and Phoenix polar lander)
  • Martian meteorites and evidence for microfossils
  • Closeups from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
  • Pictures from the Galileo orbiter around Jupiter
  • By popular demand - Galileo's middle finger! (you folks are sick...)
  • MESSENGER (until recently) orbiting Mercury
  • The New Horizons probe pproaching the (dwarf) planet Pluto
  • The Dawn probe orbiting dwarf planet Ceres after touring giant asteroid Vesta
  • Bad Astronomy - what not to believe!

    THE EARTH

  • Latest satellite weather pictures
  • Terrestrial impact craters
  • Earth photos from space missions
  • Nighttime pictures from space: city lights
  • Recent earthquake data (US Geological Survey)
  • Real-time aurora information

    THE MOON

  • Current phase of the Moon (from US Naval Observatory)
  • Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
  • Google Moon

    OTHER PLANETS

  • Mars Exploration
  • Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR Shoemaker) and its mission to the minor planet Eros
  • Browse planetary maps
  • Views of the Solar System (note - has gone commercial)
  • Digital atlas of Mars
  • Mars Global Surveyor images of the "Face on Mars" and the Happy Face on Mars.
  • Google Mars (try searching for Tuscaloosa, Northport, or Montevallo!)

    THE SUN

  • Daily sunspot pictures from Big Bear Solar Observatory
  • Daily visible, ultraviolet, and X-ray solar views

    STARS AND STELLAR EVOLUTION

  • Planetary nebulae
  • California Extrasolar Planet Detection Project
  • Google Sky

    GALAXIES

  • Gallery of Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei
  • Ned Wright's fabulous cosmology tutorial from UCLA
  • Movie of stars orbiting the Galactic Center from the Max-Planck Institut für Extraterrestriche Physik
  • Stellar motions near Galactic Center from UCLA group
  • MPEG animation of galaxy collision by Frank Summers, Chris Mihos, and Lars Hernquist, from STScI

    SPACE EXPLORATION

  • NASA Human Space Flight
  • NASA Watch
  • Jonathan McDowell's weekly space newsletter
    UA Astronomy Home Page | Bill Keel's home page

    Rights, usage, and disclaimer: all original content here may be reused only with written permission of the originator. E-mail wkeel@ua.edu for details. The views, opinions, and conclusions expressed in this page are those of the author and not necessarily those of The University of Alabama or its officers and trustees. The content of this page has not been reviewed or approved by The University of Alabama, and the author is solely responsible for its content. (Yes, I know that sounds odd for a course home page, but them's the rules).

    wkeel@ua.edu 
    Last changes: 5/2015   links checked 7 May 2015