For introductory astronomy courses.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, Lecture-Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy are designed to help make large lecture-format courses more interactive. Each of the 29 Lecture-Tutorials is presented in a classroom-ready format, challenges students with a series of carefully designed questions that spark classroom discussion, engage students in critical reasoning, and require no equipment.
Table of Contents:
Naked-Eye Astronomy Position 1
Motion 3
Seasonal Stars 7
Solar vs. Sidereal Day 11
Ecliptic 13
Path of the Sun 19
Star Charts 23
Moon Phases The Cause of Moon Phases 25
Predicting Moon Phases 29
Nature of Light and Electromagnetic Spectrum Luminosity, Temperature and Size 33
Blackbody Radiation 37
Types of Spectra 41
Analyzing Spectra 43
Tools and Telescopes Telescopes and Earth’s Atmosphere 47
Motions in the Solar System Observing Retrograde Motion 51
Orbital Period and Orbital Distance 53
The Solar System Earth’s Changing Surface 57
Temperature and Formation of Our Solar System 61
Our Sun Sun Size 63
Stellar Magnitudes Apparent and Absolute Magnitudes of Stars 67
Techniques in Astronomy The Parsec 69
Parallax and Distance 73
Stellar Spectral Classification H-R Diagram 77
Spectroscopic Parallax 79
Stellar Evolution Star Formation and Lifetimes 81
Stellar Evolution 83
Characteristics of the Milky Way Milky Way Scales 85
Cosmology and the Big Bang Looking at Distant Objects 89
Expansion of the Universe 91
