Embedded Files
Course Information (Fall 2021 Version)
Course Information (Fall 2021 Version)
Contact Information:
Contact Information:
Email: ryan.oelkers(at)tamu.edu
Phone: 267.261.9337
Office: Munnerlyn (MASS) 206
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM via ZOOM (link on Canvas)
Classroom: MPHY 213 (lecture) and MPHY 331 (lab)
Lecture Time: 09:10 AM to 10:00 AM MWF
(Left) A view from Estacion Astrofisica de Bosque Alegre. The small hexagon at the center of the image is the camera system I built for my PhD dissertation. The image is from NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Image Credit & Copyright
Photogragh: Sebastian D' Alessandro; Constellations: Judy Schmidt
Please note you will need to be logged into your TAMU Google account to access the course material.
Course Syllabus
Course Syllabus
A copy of the course syllabus can be found here.
Course Schedule
Course Schedule
The lecture slides are available through the links below. Thank you to Dr. Kevin Krisciunas, Dr. Jennifer Marshall, and Dr. Peter Brown for their previous class material which have been incorporated into these slides.
Date Topic (click link for slides) Relevant Chapters In Class Quiz
08/30/2021 Introduction and Common Misconceptions -- --
09/01/2021 Orders of Magnitude and the Sky 1 & 2 --
09/03/2021 The Sky (continued) 1 & 2 --
09/06/2021 The Sky (concluded) & The Moon 2 & 4 --
09/08/2021 Eclipses 2 & 4 --
09/10/2021 A Brief History of Astronomy 3 The Sky, the Moon, & Eclipses
09/13/2021 Another Brief History of Astronomy & Kepler's Laws 3 & 4 --
09/15/2021 Kepler's Laws and an Introduction to Newton's Laws 4 --
09/17/2021 Newton's Laws, the Conservation Laws, and Light 4 & 5 The History of Astronomy, Kepler's Laws, & Newton's Laws
09/20/2021 Light 5 --
09/22/2021 Spectra & Telescopes 5 --
End of Test 1 Material
09/24/2021 An Introduction to the Solar System 6 Newton's Laws, Light, and Telescopes
09/27/2021 Earth and Test 1 Review 7 --
09/29/2021 Test 1 1 - 5 --
10/01/2021 Mercury, Venus, & Mars 7 Test 1 Decompression & Planet Lecture Results
10/04/2021 Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune 8 --
10/06/2021 People's Choice Lecture: Saturn 8 --
10/08/2021 Pluto and Dwarf Planets 9 The Solar System, the Terrestrial Planets, & the Jovian Planets
10/11/2021 Asteroids, Comets, & Meteors 9 --
10/13/2021 Exoplanets 10 --
10/15/2021 People's Choice Lecture: Search for ET -- Pluto, the Dwarf Planets, Asteroids, Comets, & Exoplanets
End of Test 2 Material
10/18/2021 The Sun: Part I 11 --
10/20/2021 The Sun: Part II 11 --
10/22/2021 The Sun: Part III 11 Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence & the Sun
10/25/2021 Stars: Part I and Test 2 Review 12 --
10/27/2021 Test 2 6-10 --
10/29/2021 Stars: Part II 12 Test 2 Decompression & Death of Stars Lecture Results
11/01/2021 Stars: Part III 12 --
11/03/2021 Star Formation & the Interstellar Medium 13 --
11/05/2021 The Life of Low Mass Stars: Part I 13 & 14 Stars & Star Formation
11/08/2021 The Life of Low Mass Stars: Part II 13 & 14 --
11/10/2021 The Life of High Mass Stars 14 --
11/12/2021 People's Choice Lecture: Supernovae -- Low Mass Stars & High Mass Stars
End of Test 3 Material
11/15/2021 The Milky Way: Part I 15 --
11/17/2021 The Milky Way: Part II 15 --
11/19/2021 "In the Beginning..." & Test 3 Review 17 The Milky Way & Supernova
11/22/2021 Test 3 11-14 --
11/29/2021 The Expanding Universe 17 --
12/01/2021 The Big Bang 17 --
12/03/2021 The End of the Universe 17 The Expanding Universe & The Big Bang
End of Test 4 Material
12/06/2021 Special Lecture: Debunking Conspiracy Theories -- --
12/08/2021 Grades and Midterm 4 Review -- --
12/13/2021 Test 4 at 8:00-10:00AM
Essay Prompts and Rubrics
Essay Prompts and Rubrics
Due Date Essay Rubric Essay Prompt
10/18/2021 Essay 1 Describe an astronomical event from the past 200 years and explain its effect on society at large or its advancement of science.
11/01/2021 Essay 2 Calculate the habitable zone of different stars and describe the possible life on planets within those zones.
12/06/2021 Essay 3 Describe the end of the universe and the methodology used to describe unknown physics through history.
Lab Schedule
Lab Schedule
You must attend the lab section you registered for. A copy of the most recent version of the lab manual can be found here.
Section Day Time TA
501 Tuesday 11:10AM - 01:10PM Jiawen Yang
502 Wednesday 10:20AM - 12:20PM Silvana Delgado Andrade
Date Lab Name Notes
08/31 or 09/01: Math Review
09/07 or 09/08: Building a Telescope
09/14 or 09/15: The Moon’s Elliptical Orbit
09/21 or 09/22: Observing with Telescopes Night Lab from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM
09/28 or 09/29: Spectroscopy
10/05 or 10/06: Impact Cratering
10/12 or 10/13: Life in the Solar System
10/19 or 10/20: Using a Planisphere Night Lab from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM
10/26 or 10/27: The HR Diagram
11/02 or 11/03: The Milky Way’s Black Hole
11/09 or 11/10: Hubble’s Law
11/16 or 11/17: Observing the Moon Night Lab from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM
11/23 or 11/24: -- No Labs
11/30 or 12/01: Final Lab Quiz Optional
12/07 or 12/08: -- No Labs
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