Embedded Files
Course Information (Spring 2022 Version)
Course Information (Spring 2022 Version)
Contact Information:
Contact Information:
Email: ryan.oelkers(at)tamu.edu
Phone: 267.261.9337
Office: Munnerlyn (MASS) 206
Office Hours: Wednesdays 01:00 PM to 02:00 PM via ZOOM (link on Canvas)
Classroom: MPHY 213 (lecture) & MPHY 331 (lab)
Lecture Time: 02:20 PM to 03:35 PM Tuesday & Thursday
(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
01/18/2022 Introduction, Orders of Magnitude, & Common Misconceptions -- --
01/20/2022 The Sky 1, 2 & 4 --
01/25/2022 Eclipses & The History of Astronomy 3 & 5 --
01/27/2022 Kepler's Laws & the History of Astronomy 3 & 4 --
02/01/2022 Newtonian Physics & Light 4 & 5 --
02/03/2022 Class Cancelled due to Weather
02/08/2022 Light, Spectra, & Telescopes 5 The Sky, Eclipses, the History of Astronomy
02/10/2022 Telescopes & Test 1 Review 5 Test 1 Topic Decompression
End of Test 1 Material
02/15/2022 Test 1 1-5 --
02/17/2022 An Introduction to the Solar System & Earth 6 Lab Section 1 Decompression
02/22/2022 The Terrestrial Planets: Mercury, Venus, & Mars (Abridged Lecture) 7 --
02/24/2022 The Terrestrial Planets, Jupiter, & Saturn 7 & 8 The Solar System & Terrestrial Planets
03/01/2022 Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, & the Dwarf Planets 8 & 9 --
03/03/2022 Asteroids, Comets, & Meteors 9 The Terrestrial Planets, Jupiter, & Saturn
03/08/2022 People's Choice Lecture: Jupiter 8 --
03/10/2022 Special Lecture: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence -- Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Asteroids, Meteors
End of Test 2 Material
03/15/2022 Spring Break - No Classes or Labs
03/17/2022 Spring Break - No Classes or Labs
03/22/2022 The Sun Part 1 & Test 2 Review 11 Test 2 Topic Decompression
03/24/2022 Test 2 6-9 --
03/28/2022 The Sun Part 2 11 --
04/05/2022 Low Mass Stars 13 & 14 --
04/07/2022 High Mass Stars & Supernovae 14 Stars & Low Mass Stars
04/12/2022 Star Formation & the Interstellar Medium 13 --
End of Test 3 Material
04/14/2022 The Milky Way Galaxy & Exoplanets 15 & 10 Stars & Interstellar Medium
04/19/2022 In the Beginning & Exam 3 Review 17 --
04/21/2022 Test 3 11-14 --
04/26/2022 The Expanding Universe 17 --
04/28/2022 Special Lecture: Debunking Conspiracy Theories & Grades Test 3 Topic Decompression
End of Test 4 Material
05/03/2022 Re-defined day - No class -- --
05/10/2022 Test 4 10-15, 17 1-3PM in MPHY 213
Essay Prompts and Rubrics
Essay Prompts and Rubrics
Due Date Essay Rubric Essay Prompt
02/22/2022 Essay 1 Describe a recent astronomical discovery (between the years 2000 - 2022) and explain its importance.
03/29/2022 Essay 2 Describe the habitability of various planets in our Solar System.
05/03/2022 Essay 3 Describe how the hunt for Dark Energy parallels the hunt for the heliocentric model.
Lab Manual
Lab Manual
A copy of the most recent version of the lab manual can be found here.
Lab Schedule
Lab Schedule
You must attend the lab section you registered for.
Section Day Time TA
501 Wednesday 10:20AM - 12:20PM Silvana Delgado Andrade
502 Wednesday 03:00PM - 05:00PM Jiawen Yang
Date Lab Name Notes
01/19/2022 No Labs First week of classes
01/26/2022 Using a Planisphere
02/02/2022 Using the SFA Star Charts
02/09/2022 Spectroscopy
02/15 & 02/16 Identifying Constellations Night Lab 8:00PM - 10:00PM
02/23/2022 Building a Telescope
03/02/2022 Impact Cratering
03/09/2022 Life in the Solar System
03/16/2022 No Labs Spring Break
03/22 & 03/23 Observing with Telescopes Night Lab 8:00PM - 10:00PM
03/30/2022 Angular Resolution
04/06/2022 The Moon’s Orbit
04/12 & 04/13 Observing the Moon Night Lab 8:00PM - 10:00PM
04/20/2022 Make Up Lab: Black Holes Optional
04/27/2022 Make Up Exams Optional
05/04/2022 No Labs Final week of classes: Reading Day
Supplementary Material
Supplementary Material
NASA's Fireball Website and the AMS Fireball Reporting Website
Old exams, quizzes, and lecture material can be found on previous semesters webpages here.
Google Sites
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