Lecture 1 – Overview of the Night Sky
Summary / Checklist of the Main Concepts to Understand and Remember

The Sky  
red bullet Why is the daytime sky blue? Why is the sunset sky reddish?  
• What is the difference between the reasons why an apple and a piece of colored glass are red?  
red bullet What would the daytime sky be like if there was no atmosphere?  
     
Some Objects in the Night Sky  
red bullet Approximately how many stars can we see with the naked eye (in really good viewing conditions)?  
red bullet What differences can one see between different stars in the sky?  
red bullet Can you see more stars with a telescope than with the naked eye? Why or why not?  
red bullet Why do stars "twinkle"?  
red bullet How can you tell whether a dot of light is a star or a planet?  
red bullet What is a constellation? What is the Zodiac?  
• Name two (or more) kinds of objects that may be visible in the sky, other than stars and planets.  
red bullet What does a galaxy look like? Can we see any? (Name three examples.)  
red bullet What does a comet look like?  
     
     

Topics from the lecture page and textbook not listed above [or between square brackets] were not covered in class;
Underlined words indicate that I will expect students to remember a number or a name related to that topic.

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