| ASTR
103 – June
2008 Checklist of Names and Concepts to Remember – Introductory Topics |
| The Sky and the Celestial Sphere | |
| Locating objects | |
| – The local sky, important locations and coordinates on it | |
| – The celestial sphere, important locations and coordinates on it | |
| – Angular sizes: What is an arcminute, an arcsecond; What is the angular size of the Sun and the Moon | |
| Visible objects | |
| – Stars and planets, and how to tell them apart | |
| – How many stars are visible with the naked eye? What is their range of (apparent) magnitudes? | |
| – How many constellations in the sky? How many are in the Zodiac and what is special about them? | |
| – How many planets and other objects are visible with the naked eye? Which ones were known in antiquity? | |
| – Distances: Earth-Sun (in AU, km, and light travel time), Distance to next nearest star (in light-years and AU) | |
| – Which Solar System objects can transit the Sun | |
| – Which Solar System objects can be in opposition | |
| Motions of the main objects and their effects | |
| – Motion of the Sun and the ecliptic | |
| – Motion of the Moon, synodic and sidereal month, phases (why, when), and eclipses (why, when) | |
| – Daily rotation of the Earth, solar and sidereal day | |
| – Yearly revolution of the Earth, seasons (why), solstices and equinoxes | |
| – Proper motions of Sun, Moon, planets and stars; Which ones sometimes move in retrograde motion? | |
| – Star proper motion, and stellar parallax | |
| History of Astronomy | |
| People (which century did each of them live in, and why are they important) | |
| – Aristotle | |
| – Aristarchus | |
| – Ptolemy | |
| – Copernicus | |
| – Tycho Brahe | |
| – Kepler | |
| – Galileo | |
| – Isaac Newton | |
| Physics Concepts | |
| – Matter: Protons, neutrons, electrons, atoms (isotopes, ions), molecules, phases of bulk matter | |
| – Gravity: Newton's law of gravity; Difference between mass and weight | |
| – Forces: Which are the four known elementary forces? In what situations does each apply? | |
| – Light: Interference and diffraction; Range of wavelengths for visible light (in nm) | |
| – Light: Speed of light in a vacuum (in km/s or miles/s); Types of electromagnetic waves that are not visible | |
| Telescopes | |
| – History: When were they first used (both visible and radio telescopes) | |
| – Types: Refractors and reflectors; How large are the largest refractor lens, the largest reflector mirror | |
| – Performance: What are angular resolution and light gathering power, and what they depend on | |