Welcome to the Prospectus for Astronomy 427
SELECTED TOPICS IN PLANETARY ASTRONOMY

Spring, 2004
Tuesday and Thursday, 12:30 - 1:45 PM , in Room 5
Jack Brandt, Room 170.

Planetary Astronomy has re-emerged as a major area of astronomical research, and some knowledge of this area is essential to a balanced astronomical education. Besides the many discoveries made from ground-based and earth-orbiting telescopes, space missions to solar-system objects contribute to the discoveries and the excitement. And the solar system serves as "ground truth" for other planetary systems.

Progress and discoveries, many since approximately 1990, have introduced new words or phrases into our astronomical vocabulary: escape hatch; Yarkovsky effect; Kuiper Belt Object (KBO); heliospheric current sheet (HCS); disconnection event (DE); magnetic reconnection; comet D/Shoemaker-Levy 9; impacts on Jupiter; Io auroras; sodium tail; Vesta chips; zonal winds; planetary weather; water on Mars; amorphous water; standard method; binary asteroids; Chicxulub crater; and Near-Earth Objects. Astr 427 provides an overview of solar-system research and these words or phrases will be explained.

The level is intended for upper-division undergraduates and beginning graduate students. The coverage will be partly qualitative and partly quantitative. For the quantitative part, the student will need algebra, trigonometry, calculus, and general physics. An introductory astronomy course would be helpful, but is not required. Note that the physical explanations will be developed starting from a general physics level.

The major topics currently planned are: basic orbits, including resonances and chaotic behavior; Mars--atmosphere and surface; giant planets-- atmospheres and interiors; solar wind--origin, structure, and interactions with the earth's magnetosphere, Jupiter, and comets; zodiacal light; rings with emphasis on Saturn; asteroids; comets; solar-system collisions; meteors and meteorites; and solar-system origin.

Course grade will be based on class participation (10%), mid-term exam (30%),
written term paper and oral presentation (30%), and final exam (30%).

Text:  The Planetary System, 3rd Ed. by Morrison & Owen, Addison-Wesley(2003).

Other sources including the recent literature and unpublished papers will also be used.

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Last updated/modified: October 23, 2003