These are introductory courses to astronomy, with more emphasis on active thinking than memorizing facts.
The main points of this course are:
(1) a general understanding of astronomy, (2) what can be observed in the sky, (3) Stars, Galaxies and the Universe.
- Lecture:
- Astr104, Sec. 9-12: Monday through Thursday, 8:00-8:50, Lewis 101.
- Laboratory:
- At night, twice a week. For a detailed schedule, see the "Lab" link below.
- Instructor:
Dr. Tibor Torma, Department
of Physics and Astronomy
- Office: Lewis 208
- Phone 915-5627
- Email: kakukk@phy.olemiss.edu
- Office hours: Monday through Friday 12:00, or call for appointment.
- Textbook:
- The Cosmic Perspective, J. Bennett et al., 4th or 5th edition.
| ANNOUNCEMENTS |
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TEST 1 is on Thursday, July 10.
(25 questions, have a scantron and a picture ID)
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Preparation: use the presentations as a guide.
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For each class and test students need a new scantron # 16485.
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What's up in the
sky?
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The Sun.
We are close to sunspot minimum, only few and small spots are visible.
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New Moon: July 2,
First Quarter: July 9,
Full Moon: July 18, 
Last Quarter: July 25.
***
Jupiter 
is nice in the telescope. It rises at 9 pm.
Saturn 
is pretty. It is visible only a short time after sunset.
Comet C/2007 W1 (Bottini) may get bright in July!
******
News
Two dynamic images - really amazing!
1. Landslides photographed on Mars.
2. The Crab Nebula's pulsar in action in a movie - it is really moving!
***
Unusual events and
objects
(Students might want
to ask help in how to use the coordinates, ephemerids and finder
charts.)
- Observable comets
and
more
resources.
- Comet, astroid and supernova headlines.
- Bright asteroids
in 2007.
Pictures taken
at Oxford.
Click here
for more.
Click here for the presentations, or the home page of the laboratory, and
to download the reader in case you don't have it.
Look at these fancy
magazines, the Sky
and Telescope , and
Astronomy .
More links to
Comments? Want to contact the instructor? Click here.
Click here
for an animation of the current weather.
(You need Java
installed on your computer to see this.)
An astronomical
weather forcast for Oxford, MS:
Last updated: June. 12, 2008 by T. Torma.