Astro Course Home Page

Astronomy 103, Fall 2009

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) the Solar System.

Lecture:
- Monday through Thursday, 11:00 to 11:50, Fulton 101.

Laboratory:
- Two days a week at night, rain or shine. (Please follow your sections schedule, because those who show up at the wrong section will be sent home!)
Instructor: Dr. Tibor Torma, Department of Physics and Astronomy
- Office: Lewis 208
- Phone 915-5627
- Email: kakukk@phy.olemiss.edu
- Office hours: After each class, or by appointment.
Textbook:
- The Cosmic Perspective, J. Bennett et al., 5th edition.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

All grades are up to date as of Nov. 12.


For each class and test students need a new scantron # 16485.

What's up in the sky?

The Sun. We are close to sunspot minimum, only few and very small spots are visible.

New Moon: Nov. 16, First Quarter: Nov. 24,

Full Moon: Dec. 2, Last Quarter: Dec. 8.

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Jupiter is visible early night.

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News

1. Water ice has been found on the Moon, buried underground in the bottom of a crater at the Moon's pole where the Sun never shines.

2. By incredible chance, for the second time in 15 years, another comet or asteroid hits Jupiter.

3. The Hubble Space Telescope has been serviced successfully.

4. The Messenger spacecraft is surveying Mercury - at least in detail.

5. The Cassini spacecraft has taken some really stunning images of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn's.

Three dynamic images - really amazing!

6. The Crab Nebula's pulsar in action in a movie - it is really moving!

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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 2009.

Pictures taken at Oxford.

Click here for more.
Click here for the presentations used in class; information on the tests, the home page of the laboratory, your grades, 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

The full syllabus.
The instructor's home page
The department's home page
The schedule of the astronomy open houses at Kennon Observatory.

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: Nov. 12, 2009 by T. Torma.