|
|
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- Professor:
Olivia
Jensen ( course
e-mail |
web
service |
short
bio )
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TAs:
Chen , Debarati,
John, Kyle,
Marko,
Meghomita
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Section
001 CRN 8453
-
Time:
2:35 PM – 3:55 PM Monday and Wednesday, Jan 6 –
Apr 8, 2020
-
Place:
CMPUS1
109, 420 Sherbrooke St. West
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Audio/Video
files (Current sessions):
http://lrs.mcgill.ca/ListRecordings.aspx?CourseID=22759
-
Audio/Video
files (2019 sessions):
http://lrs.mcgill.ca/ListRecordings.aspx?CourseID=20558
-
News
and highlights – 2020
March
11, 2020: A
possible candidate for dark matter: On
Dark Matter
As
we worry about COVID-19 and the Novel Corona virus, many of you
might be considering not attending classes. Moreover, it might
well be that McGill closes classroom teaching in the next couple
of weeks, depending on the progress of the possible pandemic in
reaching into the Montreal region. MIT, Harvard and Columbia
universities among many others have already done so in New
England/New York. If classroom lecturing is cancelled, the
on-line lectures for this year will be curtailed. While the
lectures from last year were not properly recorded in mid-March,
you might pick up our current story, starting with the March 14
lecture. Still two subsequent lectures are missing. As an
alternative, you might try to follow the 2018 session lectures:
http://lrs.mcgill.ca/ListRecordings.aspx?CourseID=18267
You
might follow these earlier on-line lectures if or when the
current online lectures are suspended. In the meantime, we
expect that the course website and myCourses will be served
normally.
One
of your student colleagues, Sabrina, visited the National Museum
of Natural History in Washington during “Study Week”;
she took several photos of meteorites and associated displays. I
have dowloaded her photos here: Sabrina's
photos
February
26, 2020: We
now approach the winter break. I have had no requests at all to
move the Quiz #3 to another date or time so, now, it will take
place as listed in the course syllabus: Friday, February 28,
opening at 9:00AM and closing at midnight. In a
small accommodation for those who may be travelling
on
the Friday, I shall open the quiz early, at 6:00PM on Thursday,
February 27 – still closing at midnight on the 28th.
February
24, 2020: During
Thursday's Discussion Group, Debarati will discuss the search
for liquid water on Mars. Water is essential to life as we know
it. Subsurface, a Vast
lake of liquid water discovered on Mars
February
19, 2020: The
inSight
mission to Mars is
now regularly detecting marsquakes. A large-enough suite of good
seismic records should help to determine the interior structure
of Mars. Some non-seismic
noise from
inSight.
Cluttering
up the night sky: Astronomers
look to preserve the night sky as thousands of satellites set to
launch
February
18, 2020: Gravitational-lensing
measurements push Hubble-constant discrepancy past 5σ.
The two competing methods/models for determining the expansion
rate of the Universe and hence its ultimate age disagree
substantially. You might watch this debate over the next few
years.
February
17, 2020: SETI (Searth
for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is in the news again as
interstellar Comet
Borisov is
watched. Some of you may have seen the film Contact
concerning
the search.
If
you have not been doing the study quizzes, there are still 3
quizzes remaining that could be assembled into a full 30-mark
term-work score. Remember that the best 3 of 5 quiz results will
count toward term-work.
February
12, 2020: Thursday:
Discussion
Group;
Friday: Quiz #2 via myCourses
February
10, 2010: The
Solar
Orbiter has
been launched. It will explore activity in the Sun's polar
regions. We hope to learn more about solar-storm outbursts.
February
4, 2020: The
Earth is still accumulating materials from space as
micro-meteoroids, dust particles and, from time-to-time, larger
meteoroidal, asteroidal or cometary impacts. For the past 30
years, we have been monitoring the orbits of many objects that
might, one day, collide with Earth. You might explore the
SENTRY
website.
Sizing
up the threat to life.
February
3, 2020: Questions
concerning the online quizzes???
January
29, 2020: Yesterday,
a major earthquake struck just north of Jamaica.
M
7.7 - 125km NNW of Lucea, Jamaica The
Berkeley seismic lab provides a website that allows you to
“make
your own seismogram” as
recorded by many of their digital seismic stations.
Tentatively,
our final exam is scheduled for EPSC
180 The
Terrestrial Planets 23-Apr 18:30
To
start today's session, I would like to take a few minutes to
explore An
Atlas of the Universe with
you.
January
27, 2020: The
first “study quiz” that counts toward term mark will
open at 9:00AM on Friday, January 31.
You
get two tries at this quiz. There are 5 such quizzes in lieu of
midterms. Your best 3 results will/can count toward your term
mark. Note
that students registered with the OSD receive time
accommodations if I receive notification from the Office. Please
let me know if you are registered.
Some
of you have asked if we might be able to see auroral displays in
the next few days. I refer you to the University of Alaska's
Auroral
Forecast.
January
22, 2020: The
Discussion Group organizational meeting will
not take place on
Thursday
evening at 5:45PM, January 23 as previously scheduled. We shall
organize during the January 30 session.
Note
that Participants
are required for Social Psychology Research.
January
20, 2020: Today,
we will be discussing the evolution of stars. Some large, bright
stars explode as supernova. Betelgeuse
is ready (in
the next few thousand years but maybe tomorrow).
January
14, 2020: For
the Discussion
Group,
I propose Thursday evening at 5:45PM on January 23 (to get
started), January 30, February 13, February 27, March 19, March
26 and April 2. Come to the January 23 session if you would like
to join our group.
January
13, 2020: A
small earthquake with epicentre south of Ormstown, Quebec
occurred this morning at 05h39. You can find information about
this event and others on the Earthquakes
Canada
site:
http://earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/
and/or on the USGS
Earthquakes Hazard Program
site:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/
For interest, you might view the on-line record of the last 2
hours of seismic motions as recorded by the Montreal MNTQ
station:
http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/stndon/wf-fo/index-en.php?channel=MNTQ
January
12, 2020: Volcanoes
have not yet come up in this class but for your interest and
concern, a very large eruption is now underway in the
Philippines: Taal
Volcano
January
8, 2020: There
is a possibility of a TA strike this term. I have been asked to
inform you of it with this statement: ``In
the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University’s
control, the evaluation scheme in a Course is subject to change,
provided that there be timely communications to the students
regarding the change.” In
this course, as unsatisfactory as it may be, we may have to move
to Multiple-choice with machine grading for the final exam; that
is, there may be no short-answer component for the final.
New
wavelike structure has been found in our region of our galaxy,
the Milky Way: Astronomers
discover giant wave-shaped structure in the Milky Way
January
7, 2020: The
Faculty of Science invites you to the Soup
and Science series.
January
6, 2020: The
lectures begin.
The
Near Earth Objects Program has been renamed to “Sentry”.
I may use this link from time-to-time in the course lectures. In
the meantime, you might explore it, choose an object from the
list to monitor and then click on its [example following] “orbit
details” then
on “show
orbit diagram”.
You
might look to object 29075,
the largest known asteroid of risk to us – but not until
2880-03-16.99 and then with only 1.2 chances in 10000 of hitting
us.
Formation
of the Moon revisited: Apollo
rocks showed how the moon was made, and now they’re about
to solve more mysteries
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__________________________________
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News
and highlights – 2019
May
13, 2019: Formation
of the Moon revisited: Apollo
rocks showed how the moon was made, and now they’re about
to solve more mysteries
May
8, 2019: The
Near Earth Objects Program has been renamed to “Sentry”.
I shall use this link from time-to-time in the course lectures.
In the meantime, you might explore it, choose an object from the
list to monitor and then click on its [example following] “orbit
details” then
on “show
orbit diagram”.
You
might look to object 29075,
the largest known asteroid of risk to us – but not until
2880-03-16.99 and then with only 1.2 chances in 10000 of hitting
us.
May
7, 2019: Grades
are now shown in myCourses with break-down and submitted to
Minerva.
April
24, 2019: NASA,
ESA and the SEIS group of the inSight mission are claiming the
recording of a “marsquake”.
This may change our key to one correct answer on the final exam
next week.
April
4, 2019: Last
lecture I mentioned that we might be on the doorstep of another
iceage unless we have come to the tipping point that breaks the
cyclical glaciations. We may have already done just this:
One
climate peril these emissions ruled out, said Siegert, was a
return to an ice age, which had happened several times in the
last million years; CO2
was
now at too high a level for there to be any chance of a big
freeze, said Siegert. “We’ve killed it.”
See
this article from the Guardian: Last
time CO2 levels were this high, there were trees at the South
Pole
March
26, 2019: Here
is a preview showing 3 questions from the up-coming final: Final
Exam Preview.
March
21, 2019: The
bolide
(meteorite) that exploded in the atmosphere above the Bering Sea
on
Dec. 18, 2018 is still in the news. Such events probably happen
on an interval-average of about 25 years. Only 5 years earlier,
an even larger fireball
exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia.
It was well recorded by many people. In 1908, a much larger
meteor or comet exploded over Tunguska, Russia: the
Tunguska_event.
March
20, 2019: I
realize that I have not covered all the questions asked on the
intended March 20 quiz in my lectures. This quiz is, therefore,
delayed until March 27.
Venus
is not Earth’s closest neighbor I
came upon this interesting argument concerning Earth's closest
planetary neighbour. Venus' orbit is closest to Earth, of
course, but Venus when it is on the opposite side of the Sun
from Earth is farther away from Earth than is Mercury. Averaged
over the whole orbit of both planets, Mercury is more often
closer to Earth than Venus. It is an interesting argument. In
fact, this argument holds for all the planets. Even for Neptune,
Mercury is, on average, its closest neightbour!!!!
March
16, 2019:
Greta
Thunberg Ted-x talk. Greta is being nominated for
a Nobel Peace Prize.
March
12, 2019: Due
to some clumsy oversight, I failed to give the Week 7 lecture.
We shall do this today, running into Thursday. We will then skip
on to the Week 9 lecture.
An
e-mail received this afternoon:
Dear
Dr. Jensen,
I
hope this email finds you well! My name is Lucy Everett, and I am
a U2 student studying Environment and Development at the McGill
School of Environment. On March 15, students all over the world
from over 1000 cities in 80 countries will be striking to demand
that our governments take appropriate climate action in line with
the IPCC reports. I am part of the outreach committee of the
McGill chapter of the strike and we are trying to spread the word
to the student body. Would I be able to come make an announcement
to the students of epsc201 on Thursday before class?
Thanks!
March
1, 2019: It
seems that several of you have missed the suggestions for a
term-paper. It was posted as a link on the Course overview page.
This is the link:
http://sappho.eps.mcgill.ca/~olivia/TP/2019-Winter/essay_question.html
I should have made it clearer early in January when the webpage
was composed. Note that you can write on anything that falls
within the broad sweep of the topics of the course... and almost
everything in the universe does.
February
20, 2019: A
previously unknown moon, now named Hippocamp,
has been found in close orbit around Neptune.
February
12, 2019: Tomorrow,
February 13, Quiz #2 becomes available on line via myCourses.
New
research on some rocks from Quebec suggest that the Earth's
inner core formed quite recently: Earth's
inner core is young at heart
February
4, 2019: Earlier
in the lecture series, we discussed the Origin
of the Elements.
The observation of the collision of two neutron stars confirmed
the argument that such kilonova
events
are
responsible for much of the Formation
of the Heaviest Elements.
January
31, 2019: The
tentative
schedule for final exams
is
now published. Our exam is scheduled for April 29 at 18h30. It
will probably be held in the Field-house of the Currie sports
centre.
January
29, 2019: The
Discussion
Group
begins
this Thursday evening, January 31 at 5:45 in FD Adams 232. I
shall moderate this first session. Those who would like to
participate in the Discussion should attend this first group.
Our days will be Thursday evening; we can't get any other
convenient rooms for the discussions.
Note
as well, the first online quiz is assigned for tomorrow:
Wednesday, January 30 (9:00AM to midnight). You get 2 tries for
this quiz. There will be no later make-up.
I
was talking with a couple of students who are in Music programs
at McGill and mentioned that there are many natural processes
that can be converted into sound. Here is a rather elaborate
project at Skidmore College: Composing
atom music
January
11, 2019: Some
more information concerning Ultima
Thule and New Horizons
During
Tuesday's class (January 15), I shall send around a form by
which your can register or show your interest in joining the
Discussion
Group.
Active participation in the Discussion Group can improve your
final grade.
On
Earth, we live at the boundary of the Anthropocene,
a newly designated geological chronozone (not yet held to
consensus) within the Holocene
epoch
that is determined by the human impact on the planetary
environment. The geological clock appropriate to Martian geology
(or areology) may also require a new period that distinguishes
our impact on a major environmental change on Mars: the Mars
Anthropocene
January
10, 2019: My
department, Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Department of
Atmosphere and Ocean Sciences offer a session at 6:00PM tonight
where you might learn something of our programs that relate to
Climate Science. We shall offer you free pizza and drinks:
ClimateStudies
January
9, 2019: The
slidesets are available by clicking on PowerPoints in the banner
or via
Office365
January
7, 2018: The
Chinese space agency, CNSA, has landed a rover on the backside
of the Moon: JadeRabbit2
Starting
in the late evening of Jan 20, a
lunar eclipse
will
be seen by anyone who can see the Moon. The eclipse maximum will
occur just after midnight on January 21. The NASA
Eclipse website
will
help you plan to see other solar and lunar eclipses.
January
3, 2019: The
New
Horizons probe
shows us images of Ultima
Thule.
Relevant
to the first lecture, I attach a link to an explanation of
seasons: It’s
January: Time for Earth’s Closest Approach to the Sun
December
16, 2018: Tonight,
the Christmas comet (Comet
46P/Wirtanen)
passes closer to the Earth (at less than 12million km) than it
has in the past 30 years. At magnitude 3, it should be visible
to the naked eye or with binoculars if the skies are clear and
dark. For viewing, you might look to the south to find the 3
bright stars that form the belt of Orion. At about 10PM tonight,
you should be able to see the three stars of the belt of Orion
in the SE sky. To the right of the belt and higher in the sky,
you should find the bright red star, Aldebaran. Don't confuse
Aldebaran with Betelgeuse, another brighter red star, to the
left (east). The comet
will
be seen as a dimmer, fuzzy green patch slightly further to the
right (west) of Aldebaran.
December
15, 2018: Two
summers ago, the New
Horizons
probe
showed us images of Pluto. It is continuing on into the Kuiper
Belt and will, on January 1, begin imaging Ultima
Thule.
From 6 billion kilometres distance, the transmission of photos
will be slow but some should be available by mid-January . The
probe will continue deeper into the Kuiper Belt travelling at
50000 km/hr.
December
11, 2018: Course
website still under construction for the 2019 term. Next term
the Social Psychology Research Group will be looking for
candidates to participate in their research: Social
Psychology Recruitment
December
10, 2018: Last
year, of 155 students who completed the course, 72 of them
received either A
or
A-
final
grades. Only 3 students were assigned D
grade.
October
26, 2018:
Preparing
for the next year's course? On telling time and reading the
calendar: Time
and How Earth Moves
-
News
and highlights – 2018
August
20, 2018: The
deferred/supplemental exam will be held
EPSC
180 The
Terrestrial Planets 22/08/2018 9:00 ENGTR 1100,
that
is Wednesday at 9:00 AM. The Trottier Engineering Building can
be found here: ENGTR
Don't
worry the exam. It always seems to feel like a difficult exam
for students but grades have usually been severely curved
upwards. For some topics worth reviewing for the short-answer
part of the exam: Vera Rubin, subduction, eclipses, Earth's
rotation, crater counting, black hole at the galactic centre,
megathrust eartquakes, Hawaii, Earth's body tides, age of ocean
basin rocks, K-Ar dating, planetary volcanism. Answer the
questions even if you are not confident of your answer.
July
27, 2018: For
those of you travelling in the middle-east, Indian subcontinent
or east Africa, a total eclipse of the moon will begin in a
couple of hours. You will be able to see the full sequence of
the eclipse. In the rest of Africa, Europe and the far East, you
will also be able to see much of the eclipse. Unfortunately, we
here at home in Montreal or elsewhere in North America, we shall
see nothing. When our moon rises, the eclipse will have already
completed. This should be a very impressive lunar eclipse: NASA
Information
on the July 27, 2018, Lunar Eclipse
July
19, 2018: Some
of you are writing a deferred or supplemental exam. Take care to
attend your exam as scheduled. I don't have your schedule in
detail but these exams will take place: August
20, 22 and 24, 2018 I
do not normally attend the deferred exams but I shall remain
available during the preceding week via e-mail for advice and to
answer questions.
April
10, 2018: Final
exam: EPSC 180 The Terrestrial Planets 17-Apr 9:00 in the
Fieldhouse
April
6, 2018: Are
We Prepared for the Next Mega Eruption? History
of Mars’s Water, Seen Through the Lens of Gale Crater
April
5, 2018: Remember
to do the final quiz: Quiz#5-review. You get two tries; your
average grade from the two tries will be counted.
Next
week, I shall invite Rowan and Duncan (TAs) to give short
presentations. The rest of these classes will be devoted to
answering questions you may have about the course and up-coming
exam.
April
3, 2018: While
it is not considered a “supervolcano”, the Campi
Flegrei caldera
near Naples, Italy remains active and extremely dangerous:
Visualizing
One of the Most Hazardous Formations in Nature
Juno
at Jupiter.
The
final quiz (Quiz#5-review) opens tomorrow at 9:00AM. It remains
open until April 17 at 9:00AM, the scheduled date/time of the
final exam. You can do it twice; the average of your two scores
will determine the quiz grade.
Final
exam schedule: EPSC 180 The Terrestrial Planets 17-Apr 9:00
March
29, 2018: A
galaxy with no dark matter? Galaxy
without any dark matter baffles astronomers
March
28, 2018: Today's
Discussion group will be led by Rebecca Paisley, Shane
Rooyakkers, Clara Waelkens, volcanologists and perhaps John
Onwuemeka, seismologist. They are your TAs, those who will be
grading the short-answer part of your final exam.
March
27, 2018: Two
interesting short articles appeared today in Physics Today, the
monthly magazine of the American Institute of Physics
The
case for Venus and
Making
super Earths You
might find both articles of some interest.
Note,
for tomorrow's discussion group (FD Adams 232 at 5:30PM), three
graduate students have offered to describe their research.
March
20, 2018: Spring
arrived at 12h15 EDT today! Why? How? The
Vernal Equinox.
Tomorrow,
we have Quiz#4.
It opens at 9:00AM and will be closed at midnight. Only 12 of
you have submitted term papers, so I assume everyone else
intends to use their quiz results for the 30% term-work grade.
There are two quizzes left, tomorrow's and that of April 4. We
shall review tomorrow's quiz on Thursday. The April 4 quiz will
not be reviewed because it will remain open until the time/day
of the final exam, April 17 at 9:00AM. You can do this last
(April 4) quiz twice and your grade will be calculated as the
average of the two tries. Do prepare for your first attempt
because it will count for 50% of that quiz grade. This pre-final
quiz will be useful in preparation for the final. Note that
there is also a pre-final
review quiz that
will not count for term-work grade but it can be done as many
times as you may like.
March
15, 2018: Term
papers are due today, March
15, 2018.
Papers are to be submitted on-line in either *.doc,
*.docx or,
preferred,
in *.pdf
formats
as an e-mail attachment to terrestrial.planets@gmail.com
March
14, 2018: Today's
Discussion Group – topic
March
13, 2018: Final Exam Preview:
the questions here will appear on your final exam.
I
would like to schedule a Discussion Group meeting for tomorrow
evening. Would one of the participants in the group like to
offer a topic for discussion?
February
28, 2018: Today's
Discussion Group – topic
February
27, 2018: Remember
that Quiz#3 is scheduled for tomorrow (any time from 09h00 until
midnight). Also, our Discussion Group is meeting at 5:30PM in FD
Adams 232.
While
this news item is more than 1 year old, it is relevant to our
recent lectures: Dawn
Finds Possible Ancient Ocean Remnants at Ceres
The
launch window for the InSight
Mars lander is
May
5, 2018 - June 8, 2018. The lander comprises several geophysical
instruments, especially interesting among them, a seismograph
that will look into Mars' interior for tectonic activity causing
seismic tremors. Given enough tremor sources, it should be
possible to map the variation of mechanical properties of the
planet with depth. Not since 1976 have we placed seismograph
systems on Mars.
February
22, 2018 Special note: Just
as I was leaving Thursday's class, I noted that the microphone
was not on and so there will be no audio for that lecture.
The video is available but without explanation. You could
find explanation in the relevant section of the Noteset (link
found on the Websites page or the Notes and Materials page.). As
an alternative covering pretty much the same story, you might
look to the equivalent lecture from last year:
http://lrs.mcgill.ca/viewers/iViewer/?rid=c8df08a1-ae16-4d19-a8cc-8c92cff863f1
February
22, 2018: Jupiter’s
Great Red Spot May Soon Disappear...
For
next Wednesday's Discussion group, I suggest the topic
(Brodie's) might be “recent
climate change on Earth and Mars”. I
would like the participants to do a quick Google search for the
topic in order to be somewhat informed for discussions. This
article may be relevant: Huge
Water Reserves Found All Over Mars
February
13, 2018: Quiz#2
opens for you at 9:00AM tomorrow morning. It closes at midnight.
Also,
for those of you who are participating in the Discussion Group,
out next conference takes place tomorrow afternoon at 5:30PM. I
would like the students who offered the “topic” for
tomorrow, Sigi and Brodie (?), to contact me after class.
Final
exam schedule: EPSC
180 The Terrestrial Planets 17-Apr 9:00
February
8, 2018: The
Trappist-1
system,
discovered only two years ago, comprises 7 orbiting rocky
planets, 4 of which have relatively low density (mass-to-volume
ratio). Their density suggests large amounts of water and
volatiles on or in these bodies. The
nature of the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets.
Over the next few years you might watch for research concerning
these planets; they are among the exoplanets that are best
candidates for evidence of life beyond our Solar System.
February
6, 2018: Modelling
and simulations are often used to test models in physics,
astrophysics and cosmology. Including all that we “know”
of the composition of the Universe (baryonic and dark matter and
dark energy or negative gravity) computer simulations of the
organization of the galactic structures in the Universe are
being modelled. You might jump ahead in the course to look at
this video (found online here: Most
of the Universe is Missing)
to learn what simulators are/were trying to do. An updated story
on such simulations: Astrophysicists
release IllustrisTNG, the most advanced universe model of its
kind .
Comparison
of simulations with observations often brings up troubling
inconsistency, example: A
whirling plane of satellite galaxies around Centaurus A
challenges cold dark matter cosmology As
we resolve the causes or reasons for such inconsistencies, our
models and understanding of the Universe are improved. We don't
have all the answers! How this problem might be resolved: Galaxy
motions cause trouble for cosmology
And
finally, one of your class colleagues has spoken at the UN on
Youth Empowerment. Malina's e-mail to me: “This
morning I presented my speech at the UN on Youth Empowerment and
I just wanted to share it with you! You can find me at 1 hour
and 9 minutes.”
http://webtv.un.org/watch/10th-meeting-committee-on-non-governmental-organizations-2018-regular-session-29-january-7-february/5726612864001/
Asteroseismology
(seismology
on stars) reveals chemistry of the cores of white-dwarf stars.
An article by Connie Aerts: Asteroseismology
For
free oscillation sesimology on Earth, look to Lucien Saviot's
site: Free
oscillations of the Earth .
January
31, 2018: For
those of you who are paying attention to the Moon, there is a
lunar eclipse this morning. The Moon will enter the outer part
of Earth’s shadow at 5:51 a.m.. The darker part of Earth’s
shadow will begin to blanket part of the Moon with a reddish
tint at 6:48 a.m. EST, but the Moon will set less than a
half-hour later at 7:16 a.m. We in the east don't get a very
long view of the eclipse. Your friends in Vancouver, if it isn't
cloudy this morning, should be able to see all of it starting
about 2:50 a.m.. The
NASA eclipse page.
Today's
Discussion Group – topic
January
30, 2018: Note
that the first of the online quizzes opens tomorrow morning at
9:00AM. You get two tries for this quiz (only) and your best
mark of the two tries will be registered for possible inclusion
in your course grade. I shall be unable to open the quiz for
those who have problems (computer/technical/dog???) after the
conclusion of the quiz window at midnight. Make sure that you
can do this quiz tomorrow.
Another
note: Tomorrow evening at 5:30, we have our first discussion
session. Darcy Wang is prepared with many questions concerning
the cosmological story of the Big Bang. I think we have 10
participants registered; there is room for more. We meet
5:30-7:30 in F.D.
Adams Building,
Room 232 on alternating Wednesdays. You are welcome to join us
informally if you don't want to register for the group.
Nights
are clearing; we can see the Moon, planets and stars. To help
you find your way around the night sky, I refer you to John
Walker's “Your
Sky”.
As an alternative, you might download “Kstars”
which
is available for 64-bit Windows, for Macs and for Linux systems.
It usually comes pre-loaded with most Linux distributions. There
is a “lite” version for Android phones and tablets.
For iPads/iPhones and Android devices, there are several other
free sky maps available in their Apps Stores.
January
25, 2018: Two
planets in unusual star system are very likely habitable
The
Discussion Group will meet alternate
Wednesdays starting January 31, 5:30-7:00PM, in FD Adams Room
232.
January
23, 2018: A
large earthquake in the Gulf of Alaska: M
7.9 - 280km SE of Kodiak, Alaska ( Seismogram
) Seismic
activity in past 24 hours as measured by the CMB station.
Another
appeal for students to join the Discussion
Group (Alternate Wednesdays starting January 31, 5:30-7:00PM,
place to be announced).
January
18, 2018: Until
recently, we thought that the heaviest metals (measured in terms
of their atomic weight) like gold and platinum were produced in
ordinary typeII supernoval explosions. Now, we know that
significant quantities and possibly almost all of these heavy
metals are produced in neutron-neutron star mergers –
kilonovae!
Formation
of the heaviest elements
This
evening, the annual Anna I McPherson lecture in Physics, this
year by Alan Guth, is to be held at 6:30 in Leacock 132:
Inflationary
Cosmology:Is Our Universe Part of a Multiverse
January
16, 2018: Social
Psychology Research Group will
attend the beginning of class to recruit students for their
research projects.
A
recent re-study of the Zag and Monahans meteorites made the news
last week: Ingredients
for life revealed in meteorites.
A backstory: Water-bearing
salt crystals come from dawn of solar system and
earlier: Murchison
meteorite
Seismic
activity in past 24 hours as measured by the CMB station.
Sunday's
event: M
7.1 - 40km SSW of Acari, Peru (Seismogram)
January
11, 2018: At
the end of today's class, I would like to discuss the “possible”
Discussion Group that was offered as an option for term work in
the course syllabus.
January
9, 2018: The
course starts today. Please attend the first lecture.
On
January 16, the Social
Psychology Research Group will
attend the first class to recruit students for their research
projects.
December
15, 2017: Later
in the course, we shall be discussing ExoPlanets,
planets in orbit about other stars. During this past week, a
news story describes the Kepler
90 system,
a stellar-planetary system 2600 light-years distant. In
November, another, Earth-like planet Ross
128b was
discovered at 11 light-years distance.
If
you explore this website before the course begins, I suggest
that you might find some interest in this introductory video by
BBC: Different
Worlds
__________________________________________
-
News
and highlights – 2017
For
August 21 and the eclipse: Take
care not to damage your eyes. Look to this website:
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety
You
might choose to watch it safely online:
https://www.space.com/37736-total-solar-eclipse-2017-live-streams.html
July
29, 2017: If
you can arrange it, you might try to intercept the Total
Eclipse of August 21.
If you have a clear day, I promise that you will have a
memorable experience. I have seen one total eclipse, in 1999,
and it was one of the natural phenomenon events of my life. If
you are flexible in your travels, you might choose a site with a
low probability of cloud cover. Consider eastern Oregon,
Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri or Tennesee: %
cloud cover. For
those not able to travel to Wyoming, your might watch the
eclipse online; there will be many sites offering online
viewing.
On
another issue, the Deferred/Supplemental
exam in
this course will be held on August
21 at 9:00AM in Bronfmann 002, the
day of the eclipse. Neither
I nor any of the TAs are able to attend the exam. Check the
MyExams
page
on the McGill website for any possible changes to this schedule.
You might be able to see a partial eclipse immediately after the
exam. Do
not look directly at the Sun during the eclipse, even with very
dark sunglasses. You
should be able to find proper “eclipse glasses”
somewhere in the city. Often, these are given away for free for
advertisement.
May
10, 2017: An
interesting simulation based on the Trappist-1 system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLAhHS1m_4zqRl4yZNniKh8VGYmEe9CmlH&v=7i8Urhbd6eI
May
5, 2017: The
grades for the individual parts of the course are now in. Even
though the numerical grades are “poor”, letter
grades have been generously accorded. That is, grades have been
severely curved. I post, as well, your ranking among the 146
students who completed the course. I have assigned A
grades
to top 21% of students and A-
grades
to next 28%. Almost 50% of students have been given A
or
A-
grades,
a scaling that might be seen as too generous for the Faculty of
Science. The median grade is B+.
I am not willing to further up-scale grades and I suggest that
no formal regrading of the exam is likely to improve your mark.
I am as generous as we come. By simple numerical grade many of
you would be seen to fail the course but the grading to
numerical grades on the exam has been, in my view, overly
severe.
April
17, 2017: While
it will be far too dim to see with the naked eye, Apollo
asteriod 2014 j025 will
pass close to Earth on April 19.
April
11, 2017: All
the term papers that we know of have been graded and returned to
you with an interim grade and comments. I had expected some
other papers as well. Some students came to me during the term
to ask if they could write papers on musical compositions, offer
an essay as a musical composition of their own or, in other
modes, compose poems or Haikus. If you sent me such papers, I
don't have them. Resend them to terrestrial.planets@gmail.com
I will personally grade them over the holiday weekend.
Today's
class is devoted to answering your questions about the course or
about anything else that concerns you. Following this class, the
final Discussion
Group will
be presented by Sarah Worndle in FDA 348 at 5:00PM.
April
6, 2017: Today
will be the last lecture of new materials. Next Tuesday's
session will be offered as a Q&A session in this classroom.
Discussion
Group today
will be given by Philippe Drouin; next Tuesday, Sarah Worndle
will present. Both sessions are, as always, in Room 348 of the
FD Adams building.
The
final exam is scheduled for April
27th
at
9:00AM in the Main Gymnasium of
the Currie sports complex. Look to the preview
of the final exam.
The
term papers with a preliminary grade should be returned
to you with comments by e-mail by Wednesday of next week. Grades
may be increased when the average grade of the quizzes is
finally known.
The
current and last Quiz#5 is available until April 27th
at 9;00AM. I suggest that you pre-study for this quiz, do it
once and then recognizing what questions you found difficult,
study the relevant material and do the quiz a second time. The
grade will form as the average of the two grades.
April
3, 2017: I
attach links to two stories that are, at least, marginally
relevant to our course: New
hot spots on Enceladus ,
Newfound
rocks may be progeny of primordial crust
March
28, 2017: A
preview
of the final exam that
is scheduled for April 27 at 9:00AM. Discussion
Group today
will be led by Bei Wang. His topic will be related to
seismology.
March
16, 2017: Term
papers are due today! You can send them to me by e-mail at
terrestrial.planets@gmail.com
in *.pdf (preferred as this will preserve your format) or *.doc,
*.docx, *.odt forms. For
those doing something to be presented as media, try to export
your media files in some common form. Usually VideoLan
will
read and play anything but uncommon formats still might not be
readable – for example I have no way of reading Avid,
Steinberg or Nuendo proprietary formats. These “professional”
audio/video production and editing programs do, however, allow
for files to exported in common formats.
This
week's PowerPoint (TP-Week-9.pptx) is extremely large (460MB)
with several internal videos. I shall post a no-videos version
of this week's lectures and separately package the
video-containing slides in a videos-only version for you.
March
14, 2017: Having
talked with my TAs who are, presently, busy with their
preparations for their annual Departmental seminar offerings, I
have arranged for the next Discussion
Group to
be held on Tuesday, March 21 (Nicholas Gaillard). The next,
following, (Bei Wang) will be held on March 28, another
(Philippe Drouin) is unscheduled but the final one is on April
11 (Sarah Worndle).
Note
that I am expecting the term papers from those who are writing
one for 30% of grade on Thursday, March 16. Knowing well that
some of you have left this to the very last moment, I suggest a
couple of themes that you could, with 8 or 10 hours of
concentrated thought and writing follow: An anthropological
theme: Lisa
Messeri on how space rocks become places
and
another on a TV-sitcom theme: The
image of scientists in The
Big Bang Theory
March
7, 2017: I
would like to cancel the graduate-student presentation in
Discussion
Group this
week. I have a James McGill Society meeting tonight and I intend
to attend the Anna
I. McPherson Lecture in Physics on
Thursday. This lecture series often brings in Nobel Laureats to
lecture on their contribution to Physics. This year, it may be
that the lecture anticipates the 2018 Nobel Prize. Hundreds of
physicists were involved in the discovery of gravitational waves
and while it is not certain, I expect that Rainer
Weiss,
Kip
Thorne and
Ronald
Drever (along
with the LIGO consortium) will win the Nobel Prize in Physics to
be awarded in February 2018.
The
lecture: Exploring
the Universe with Gravitational Waves – Rainer Weiss I
strongly encourage all of you and especially those of you who
were participating in the
Discussion
Group to
attend. I
shall briefly prepare you to understand GWs in a shortened
Discussion
Group session
on March 9.
We could then walk over to the lecture together at 6:00 in order
to get a seat.
Note
that online Quiz
#3 is scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday March 8,
between 9:00AM and midnight.
February
23, 2017: The
big NASA exoplanet announcement that we were waiting for: NASA
Telescope Reveals Largest Batch of Earth-Size, Habitable-Zone
Planets Around Single Star
February
21, 2017: A
NASA press conference, online tomorrow: Nasa
to host major press conference on 'discovery beyond our solar
system' Link
to NASA-TV.
We
shall have another Discussion
Group on
Thursday, February 24 at 5:00PM in FD Adams 348. Benjamin Keenan
will present on formation of the Moon.
February
16, 2017: We
will go over yesterday's quiz and then finish up the weekly
lecture set.
February
14, 2017: Discussion
Group: Peter
Crockford will introduce the story of Snowball Earth and the
atmosphere of the proterozoic era: 5:00PM today in FD Adams 348
Quiz
#2 is
ready for you starting tomorrow morning at 9:00AM and remaining
open until midnight. You only get one try for this and the
following two quizzes. For the 5th
quiz,
the final review quiz, you get two tries and the grade is formed
of their average, but more of that later in the term.
The
date and time for our final exam is now set: EPSC
180 01
The Terrestrial Planets 27-Apr 9:00 Rooms
have not yet been assigned but you can find the room (probably
the Fieldhouse at the Currie Sports complex) here starting on
April 3: http://www.mcgill.ca/students/exams/
A
new study suggests that Proxima
b,
the Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri is probably
not a good candidate for life.
February
9, 2017: Discussion
Group: Our
first discussion group was not well attended but we are
scheduling another for Tuesday, February 14 at 5:00PM in FD
Adams 348. Peter Crockford will present a short lecture on
proterozoic Earth, the Snowball Earth hypothesis and
oxygenation.
February
7, 2017: While
it might be somewhat obscure to you, you might get something out
of this news story about Einstein's cosmologies: Albert
Einstein and the origins of modern cosmology
The
turnout for our first discussion session last week was “thin”.
Are we/you still interested? I think the story and discussion
went well but we were few.
February
2, 2017: We
shall start today's lecture with a review of yesterday's quiz.
February
1, 2017: The
quizzes are now open for you. You can do today's quiz twice and
your better grade will be recorded. You can access the online
quizzes through myCourses and our Terrestrial Planets pages.
Click on Quizzes in the top banner or under the Calendar in the
Upcoming Events. OSD students should only see the OSD version of
the quiz; other students only see the non OSD version.
Nature,
one of the most important publishers of science research, has
started publication of a new journal, Nature
Astronomy.
In the first issue, an interesting paper that discusses the
movement of our local group of galaxies through expanding space:
The
Dipole Repeller.
January
31, 2017: The
first quiz is sheduled for tomorrow. It is accessed on-line via
the myCourse website. You can do this quiz twice; the best of
two grades will be recorded. There will be 4 more quizzes, one
every second Wednesday following that of tomorrow. At the end of
today's class, I will take you to the quiz website to show you
how easy it is to access the quiz.
To
start today's session, I would like to take 20 minutes to
explore An
Atlas of the Universe with
you.
I
also refer you to a site that assembles a nice summary of our
Solar System and the larger Universe: Space-facts.com
We
will tour this site in Thursday's lectures. You might preview
it.
Discussion
Group: Our
first session will take place in FD Adams 348 at 5:00PM on
Thursday. Charlie Beard will be discussing volcanoes. This topic
anticipates what we will be discussing in class lectures in
March.
January
24, 2017: Next
week, we begin to look at the formation of our Solar System and
other planetary systems. This is topical science. Thousands of
ExoPlanets have been detected and now we search among them for
those that might harbour life of some form. Methods for
detecting evidence of life are rapidly evolving; mostly, they
deal with a bias to rocky planets that stably orbit stars at a
distance that allows for water on the surface... we are looking
for planets in the “habitable zone”... Two recent
nearby systems seem to show such planets: Wolf
1061 and
Proxima
b.
If you are looking for a topic for a term paper should you
decide to write one, ExoPlanets and the search for life on them
might be interesting to you.
Discussion
group: Current
list
In
the next days, we shall explain how we have determined the size
and age of the Universe. In the meantime, I refer you to a
website that leads in to these lectures: An
Atlas of the Universe
January
19, 2017: I
am still looking for participants for a discussion group.
Scientists
Predict Star Collision Visible To The Naked Eye In 2022:
https://goo.gl/XdL7XI
Would
this form a supernoval explosion? Probably:
http://tinyurl.com/hyvbsla
January
17, 2017: My
TAs and I are offering a discussion group which can count toward
your term-work mark. We propose to offer 8 discussions during
the term, starting in two weeks. We need a time and place and I
shall arrange that but more than time and place, we need
participants. I would like to require a minimum of 12
participants. We should be able to handle 30. At the end of
class, today, I would like to recruit students who would like to
join in on the discussions.
We
are now beginning to look to the stars and as an aid to finding
the stars that we will talking about in the next two weeks, I
refer you to John Walker's “Your
Sky”.
As an alternative, you might download “Kstars”
which
is available for 64-bit Windows and for Linux systems. It
usually comes preloaded with Linux.
Last
week, I asked you to watch the Moon over the next weeks to
recognize when it rises and sets and its changing phases. We
have just passed Full Moon phase and are now in its “waning
gibbous” phase.
I would also like you to look to the sky early this evening just
after sunset; Venus is high in the sky and near maximum
brightness. It is aboutt 10x brighter tonight than any star in
the sky.
January
12, 2017: The
Social Psychology Lab is looking for recruits. A group will be
here this afternoon to recruit interested students:
Recruitment
poster , in
*doc form here: Recruitment
poster
Are
you doing any research in your other courses? Here is an
opportunity to publish results: MSURJ
January
10, 2017: During
the last class, I showed a video entitled “Cosmic
Collisions”, one which described the currently common view
of the Moon's formation. A new model has been argued to describe
the formation: A
multiple-impact origin for the Moon A
precis of the study is offered here: Moon
may have formed from flurry of impacts on the ancient Earth
January
6, 2017: I
refer you to another obituary
for Vera Rubin,
one that briefly explains her important role in astronomy and
astrophysics. In preparation for the course, you might download
Java
(be
careful in using it because it can open a backdoor to your
computer files) so that you can access a couple of sites that I
often use in class. One that might interest you is the NEOP
(Near
Earth Object Program) site which offers orbital animations via
Java of orbits
of
possibly dangerous near Earth objects... asteroids and comets
that come close to Earth.
January
5, 2017: Course
introduction: FD Adams Auditorium, 2:35PM.
December
30, 2016: This
year, I shall move from using *.pdf files during lectures to
summary PowerPoint slidesets. I shall post them before each
class on the “Notes and materials” page linked in
the banner above. I shall try to limit the number of PowerPoint
slides to fewer than 20 per lecture and leave some room for
questions after class. I shall, as always, begin the classes
with some discussion of this very page (News and highlights) and
then move into the lecture slides. I would hope to hold the the
lecture slide story to less than 1 hour during each class. The
lecture and PowerPoint slides will quite closely follow the
Noteset;
you might follow this Noteset for explanation and amplification
of the class story.
December
27, 2016: Obituary –
Vera Rubin:
Vera Rubin's work confirmed that galaxies contain more mass than
can be accounted for by baryonic (i.e. ordinary) matter. You
might look into this on-line video to learn something of her
story: Most
of the Universe is Missing .
I shall show this video in the course in early March. Also in
early March, I shall discuss the work of another astronomer,
Andrea
Ghez.
She determined the mass of the “black hole” at the
centre of our Milky Way. You might look to this video for
something of that story: Supermassive
Black Holes .
December
20, 2016: In
a few weeks in this course, we come to gravity and “evidence”
for “dark matter” in the Universe. A new theory by
Erik
Verlinde appears
to show that there is no need of dark matter to explain the
orbital speeds of stars in Galaxies. I cannot claim to
understand the theory but it has passed its first predictive
test. Perhaps your young, powerful minds can pick up this thread
of Physical Theory: Emergent
Gravity and the Dark Universe.
December
18, 2016: The
course websites are now under construction for the first
day of class, January 5, 2017.
You might look to news items from last year's course below to
get an idea of how the story might unfold.
For
August 21, 2017: Next
year, on August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse path will cross
North America. Montreal is not on the shadow path of totality
but you might arrange to find your place along the path: Eclipse
of 2017-08-21 .
Your next opportunity to witness a total solar eclipse in North
America will follow on April 14, 2024. Its path of totality will
pass just south of Montreal. There are few
other good opportunities in
the current decade. During the 2021-2030
decade you
might find several more opportunities.
October
14, 2016: In
the 2016 version of the course, I argued that there are probably
400 billion galaxies in our Universe. A new
study suggests
5 times that number, 2 trillion!
-
__________________________________
-
News
and highlights – 2016
October
14, 2016: In
the course, I argued that there are probably 400 billion
galaxies in our Universe. A new
study suggests
5 times that number, 2 trillion!
May
4, 2016: After
dealing with some problems with the myCourses calculations of
grades, I think the grade charts are up-to-date and correct.
Numerical grades were, as always, severely curved before letter
grade assignments. Your letter grade is probably much higher
than you might have expected in accordance with the numerical
grade. Your letter grade has been uploaded to Minerva. You
should be able to see it there, officially, tomorrow morning.
As
for grade distribution: 28 A,
31 A-,
25 B+,
32 B,
24 B-,
11 C+,
6 C,
1 D.
If the student who received the D
grade
took the course S/U (pass-fail), the grade will be reassigned as
U
by
Minerva. Grading has been extremely generous; grades were curved
substantially to obtain a McGill-appropriate letter grade
distribution. You might note your Rank
of 158;
this is probably your best measure of performance relative to
other students.
A
student may appeal for a formal
regrading through
Service Point. I would have no part in the regrading. I suggest
that it could be risky to ask for a regrading as the professor
who does the regrading can also decrease a grade.
April
21, 2016: Next
year, on August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse path will cross
North America. Montreal is not on the shadow path of totality
but you might arrange to find your place along the path: Eclipse
of 2017-04-21 .
April
14, 2016: Last class! Term
papers have been reviewed and commented upon. I shall return
them to you individually via e-mail starting tomorrow. They are
all in *.pdf format and the comments are best readable through
the Adobe Acrobat Reader. I use version XI-11.0.14. Adobe
Acrobat DC also works well. These are freely available for most
operating systems... I link you to download sites for both:
Adobe
site.
Until the termwork for students who have completed the quizzes
is assembled into a grade, I can't give you your final grade.
There is a cryptic grade noted but that doesn't clearly
correspond to the grade you will receive. The average grade on
the term papers should be about 26/30 and range between 24/30
and 30/30.
A
final step in studying for the final exam: Watch this BBC
Horizon video (here
in 4 parts).
April
11, 2016: A
recent article in Physics
Today discusses
the prevalence of 60Fe
in ocean basin rocks. This isotope is only produced in quantity
in supernoval explosions. This
article suggests
that Earth has been within at least 100 parsecs of a supernoval
explosion within the last 10 million years.
April
8, 2016: Drop-in
Tutorial Session:
from 10:00AM
through the late afternoon (5:00PM) in
FD Adams 232 on April 18. I shall break for lunch! I shall offer
another late afternoon/evening session for those who can't make
this Monday session. I shall ask for a room for the afternoon of
April 19.
April
7, 2016: What
will the final exam look like? Here is a preview of 4 questions
that will appear on your final exam: Final-2016-preview
April
4, 2016: I
have posted the Quiz#5 for Wednesday, April 6. This last quiz
will remain open until the morning of the final exam. It may be
best if you do not do it until you have done some preparation
for the final exam. The quiz can be done twice and the average
of the two grades will be listed in contribution to term work.
In the meantime, you have access to the Prefinal Review Quiz.
Here you will find about 65 questions and you can do this quiz
as many times as you like. The grades for this quiz are not
recorded.
As
soon as I can get a reservation for a room in my department for
one full day during the week of April 18, I will schedule an
all-day drop-in tutorial session. You are welcome to join the
tutorial at any time during that day and ask whatever questions
might be troubling to you. I will have to accept whatever day I
can get but as we are remaining open all day, even those of you
who might have an exam on the chosen day should be able to find
a part of that day that serves you. I might try to open another
evening session on April 26 if there is substantial interest
from the class.
A
short news-blog item on Enceladus...
March
29, 2016: The
quiz, Quiz #4 which was delayed from last week will be on-line
tomorrow. Quiz #5 will open next Wednesday, April 6 and will
remain open until the morning of the final exam: EPSC
180 001 The
Terrestrial Planets Apr
28 9 am
Last
day, I opened the BBC Horizon video “Most
of the Universe is Missing”.
I shall continue it today. It seems that the site I linked on
the Course overview page has been blocked by BBC for reasons of
copyright violation. Still, you can follow it (in poorer
quality) on the online lecture site. Also, a version of the
video is still available on YouTube
and
on the DailyMotion
site.
March
21, 2016: I
have informed everyone in the class by e-mail that tomorrow's
quiz, Quiz #4, is delayed until March 30. Quiz #5 will still be
open on April 6 and remain open until 9:00AM on April 28, the
date and time of our final exam.
For
some storied news: Two
comets will make the closest flyby of Earth in decades this week
Unfortunately,
neither will be visible to the naked eye.
March
17, 2016: This
is the due-date for your term papers if you are doing one. As I
have accepted to allow submissions by some students to be
delayed until Sunday night, I extend this delay to everyone of
you who are doing the paper. Note that the paper is to be
submitted on-line by e-mail to terrestrial.planets@gmail.com
in
*.pdf form (preferred) or *.doc or *.docx form.
A
few weeks ago as the Dawn probe was approaching Ceres, the
largest asteroid in the asteroid belt, a white spot was imaged
on its surface. Spectroscopy of the reflected sunlight has
allowed the identification of the white surface: MgSO4.
Video
of
rotating Ceres. Also, a video of the Huygens
descent onto Titan.
March
15, 2016: I
am expecting your term papers from those of you who are doing
them on March 17 – Thursday. Please e-mail them to
terrestrial.planets@gmail.com
in
*.pdf form (preferred) or *.doc or *.docx form.
Are
you lost concerning a topic ... you don't have much time. Still,
you might look to some of the news items on this page. Here is a
current one: ExoMars
Mission and
another: Methane
on Pluto .
March
10, 2016: We'll
go over the midterm and then move on to the planets and moons I
haven't yet discussed: Ceres
(dwarf planet representative of the main asteroid belt), Jupiter
(with moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto), Saturn (with
moons: Titan, Enceladus), Uranus, Neptune (with moon: Triton),
the dwarf planet Pluto
March
8, 2016: Study
break is over; I hope you took advantage of it to catch up on
work as well as finding time for some relaxation. Now, the
course runs through its last phase leading to the final exam.
Today,
though not visible from the Montreal area, there will be a total
eclipse of the sun.
The Moon's shadow will pass across a narrow line between
Indonesia and the mid-Pacific. You can watch it live online on
NASA
TV tonight
at 8:00PM. You might also explore the NASA
Eclipses website.
Some
of you are going to write a term paper. While the course is not
intended as an exercise in writing papers – the paper is
optionally assigned so that you might address what interests you
– I do attach a model
description for
writing scientific papers. This is not original to me or to
McGill; it derives from a writing project at a small,
prestigious liberal arts college, Bates
College, in Lewiston, Maine. I am not expecting a paper as
elaborate as that that this model describes.
Elsevier,
one of the major publishers of academic papers, offers a very
short article on tips
for scientific writing by
Natalia Rodriguez that might be helpful.
February
25, 2016: Next
week is “Study Break”. And while you enjoy your
break, I suggest that you might actually do a little study work
on the course preceding the next study quiz of March 9. What we
are doing now, in class, the lectures of Feb. 23, Feb. 25 and
March 8 is to look to an overview of the planets – and
some moons – of our Solar System. Look to the online
lectures for the depth of understanding expected of you. You can
do this studying entirely on your own, spending perhaps 30-45
minutes on each planet or moon during the next two weeks. Where
do I suggest that you find informaton about the planets, what I
expect of you and more? WikiPedia is excellent on this topic:
The
Solar System From
this site (via link-photos) you can access almost all the
interesting objects in the Solar System. You might restrict your
search to these: Sun,
Mercury, Venus, Earth+Moon, Mars, Ceres (dwarf planet
representative of the main asteroid belt), Jupiter (with moons:
Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto), Saturn (with moons: Titan,
Enceladus), Uranus, Neptune (with moon: Triton), the dwarf
planet Pluto and a passing acquaintance with the Kuiper belt
objects.
I don't expect you to go into great depth; I don't expect much
detailed numerical data. If you do this, you should be well
prepped for questions relating to planets and moons on the next
two quizzes and on the final exam. I am not expecting memorized
detail; I am expecting some “acquaintance” with our
Sun, these planets and moons.
Enjoy
your break!
February
23, 2016: I
have tried to stress that our most favoured model of the
Universe, the Λ-CDM-Concordance
model, is unlikely to be our last word on the subject. Among the
many alternative models that might be brought to fit our
observations is one proposed by Christof Wetterich: Living
inside a black hole?
Our
final exam has been scheduled: EPSC
180 001 The
Terrestrial Planets Apr
28 9 am
February
18, 2016: Having
completed, those of you who did, the 2nd
quiz,
I shall go over it at the beginning of class. Performance
statistics.
For students who feel they are having trouble with these
quizzes, feel free to come to talk with me after class... I
shall finish early today!
February
16, 2016: Note
that tomorrow, Feb. 17, the second study quiz is open from
9:00AM to midnight. It will cover everything up to and including
today's materials.
For
interest (not for examination), “What is the largest star,
by mass, now known?” R136a1.
“What is the largest star, by diameter, now known?”
UY
Scuti.
On the evolution of stars: Clusters
presumed
to be have formed coincidentally.
February
11, 2016: To
those students who are intending to write a term paper for the
term-work grade:
Do
the study quizzes for practice even if you don't want them
counted for grade.
Consider
choosing a topic that somehow (your perspective) relates to the
topic of this course and at the same time to the program that
you are following or intend to follow for your degree. For
example, if your field is psychology or medicine, you might
choose a topic concerning the psychological or medical issues
related to long space missions to Mars and beyond.
You
are free to choose almost any topic and to present it in any of
several formats... even including musical compositions, for
example.
See
the website page that explains the term-paper requirements: The
suggested short essay/paper/critique question
A
major announcement concerning the physics of black holes and
gravitational
wave emissions
is expected today. Gravitational waves are seen as oscillations
on the very geometry
of space...
a periodic stretching and compressions in dimensions transverse
to their direction of travel. The scale of such variations that
are expected here, at Earth, is extremely small because the mass
motions that are expected to generate gravitational radiation
are either distant co-orbiting black holes or active
super-massive black holes at the centres of galaxies. The waves
appear as periodic shearing strains of space; LIGO is sensitive
to strains as small as ~10-23.
Gravitational wave astronomy might allow us to “see”
a
record of the early inflation of
the universe.
The
announcement
of
the discovery earlier today.
February
9, 2016: Death
by Meteorite? India
Tragedy May Be 1st in Recorded History. What are your chances?
Chapman
and Morrison (1994)
February
4, 2016: On
the Thursday following each of the first 4 quizzes, we shall go
over the questions and answers at the beginning of the class.
The question-answer session should remain available via the
on-line video feed until the end of the course year.
February
3, 2016: I
came upon a YouTube video and a paper that might interest you.
Many of the topics that I try to discuss in class are opened in
the video and in the paper. I suggest that, if you have time,
you should play/read them to yourself. Both might well amplify
some of that that I try to explain in class. The video: Future
of the Earth after 1000 Million Years ;
The paper: Physicists
investigate the structure of time
Groundhog
day, 2016: This
Is the Entire Universe Squeezed into One Image. 'Hand
of God' Spotted by NASA Space Telescope.
January
29, 2016: Following
last day's lecture and in an effort to describe a “before”,
you might look to this YouTube video of the BBC Horizon program,
What
Happened Before the Big Bang.
Concerning
the wisdom and science of the ancients: Ancient
Babylonian astronomers calculated Jupiter’s position from
the area under a time-velocity graph
January
28, 2016: In
the next days, we shall explain how we have determined the size
and age of the Universe. In the meantime, I refer you to a
website that leads in to these lectures: An
Atlas of the Universe
January
26, 2016: You
may have noticed that the online video recordings of the
lectures are finally posted for last Thursday's lecture. There
have been “podium problems” in Leacock 132.
As
the recent news item on the late-stage red giant Betelgeuse
relates to our course material this week, I attach two
interesting links to current stories: Dying
Star Betelgeuse Keeps Its Cool ... and Astronomers Are Puzzled
and
The
Betelgeuse Supernova
January
25, 2016: Apparently,
there have been several problems with the LRS (Lecture Recording
System) that produces the on-line streams of the course
lectures. I, among others, have asked that the LRS technicians
look into the problem and recover last Thursday's lecture
recordings if possible.
January
21, 2016: Mike
Brown, he who campaigned for the demotion of Pluto to “dwarf
planet” status, now with collaborator Konstantin Batygin,
has published a paper in the Astronomical Journal that argues
for a large “Planet
X” in
orbit well beyond that of Pluto. Summary/news
item in
Science Magazine.
You
might look to the JPL (Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Solar
System Dynamics website
for orbital diagrams of objects throughout the Solar System.
January
19, 2016: Note
that today is the Add/Drop registration deadline for all Winter
term courses! March 8 is the very last day to withdraw from the
course.
With
clear skies and binoculars (say 7x50) or telescopes with a large
objective lens, you might be able to see Comet
Catalina during
the next few days. From our perspective, it appears to be
passing along the handle of the Big Dipper. Its orbit
through
the inner Solar System can be obtained on JPL's Solar System
Dynamics site.
I
recommend this sky map: John Walker's “Your
Sky” If
you have an iPad, Android tablet or SmartPhone, you might
download the SkyMap
app.
It will
show you the sky and even automatically orient you according to
your place and perspective.
As
Dawn
gets closer to Ceres,
the largest dwarf planet of the Asteroid belt, we are beginning
to learn a little more about the earliest formation of the Solar
System.
January
14, 2016: To
begin today's course, the uCope
team from Educational Psychology would
like to take a few minutes to recruit students for their
research.
I
missed showing you the close-approaching asteroid path of 2010BB
yesterday;
here is the calculated orbital path of today's closest
approaching large (~1km) asteroid: 337866
(2001 WL15)
January
12, 2016: The
course begins today in Leacock
132 at 2:30PM.
Please try to attend this first course in spite of the weather.
It is here that you will find out what is going on in the
course.
On
term work: I
shall offer one further option for term
work.
For those students who want some closer interaction with me and
their class colleagues, I would moderate a discussion group to
take place every second Tuesday or Wednesday (one day to be
selected) at 5:30PM and probably housed in FDAdams 232. For
those who choose the option for the term-work grade, the
contribution expected from you would be a 15-20 minute
PowerPoint (or equivalent) presentation to the discussion group.
The presentations would not be expected until March 17 or 18,
depending on the choice of best day. For those who opt to
participate, I would expect regular attendance.
A
close approaching asteroid today: 2010BB
There
are several interesting articles in the current (February) issue
of Sky
and Telescope science
magazine. Sky and Telescope is available online through our
library. You must have McGill ID or be secured on the McGill
InterNet node to access the journal. Later in the term, we shall
touch on the central region of our own galaxy, The Milky Way. A
newly hired colleague in the Department of Physics, Daryl
Haggard, has a very interesting article in the current issue;
look for Into
the Heart by
Haggard and Bower. Daryl is a professor in the Department of
Physics.
During
the opening moments of the course, a research group from
Psychology would like to offer you engagement in some of their
research projects: Social
Psychology Research projects
December
23, 2015: Getting
started!
If
you have Java loaded as suggested, below, and have explored the
NEOP site, you might find some interest in some studies into the
hazard that Near Earth Objects (mainly Earth-orbit crossing
asteroids) and possible comet strikes present. The original
paper published in Nature
by
Chapman
and Morrison (1994)
that focussed our concerns and which directly led to NEOP has
very recently been followed up by Napier
et. al.
(2015)
with respect to cometary impacts. If you are planning to write a
paper for the course, this may be be an interesting topic; it
involves planetary science, sociology, history and politics.
RadioLab
a
program produced by WNYC produced an episode relating well to
the danger of asteroids: Dinopocalypse.
Catch it.
A
summary list of articles related to the Chicxulub impactor in
Science
Magazine
(the
major journal published by the American
Association
for the Advancement
of Science):
The
Chicxulub Asteroid Impact and Mass Extinction at the
Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary (multiple
authors).
December
17, 2015: The
course website is still under construction. It will be together
by January 5. In preparation for the course, you might download
Java
(be
careful in using it because it can open a backdoor to your
computer files) so that you can access a couple of sites that I
use in class. One that might interest you is the NEOP
(Near
Earth Object Program) site which offers orbital animations via
Java of orbits
of
possibly dangerous near Earth objects.
-
News
and highlights – 2015
Note
that the archive of this news page following January 20 has been
lost?
January
20, 2015: Relevant
to our current story, you might find some interest in this
YouTube video: The
Birth of Planet Earth .
Especially pay attention the story of Jonathan O'Neill's
(McGill) discovery of the faux-amphibolites of Nuvvuaggituk
(starting about 21:30) argued to be the oldest rocks on Earth.
An
advertisement: Love146
Those
who are participating in the Discussion Group might look now to
For
Discussion January 28
January
15, 2015: Our
first “Discussion Group” will take place on
Wednesday, January 28 in F.D. Adams 348 at 5:30 (perhaps
continuing to 7:00). If you are interested but, so-far, not
committed, come to that first session.
In
the next days we will be coming to learn about the scale and
observable content of our Universe. You might explore this site
to learn something of scale, numbers of stars and numbers of
galaxies: An
Atlas of the Universe. As
we shall be referencing some stars in the next couple of
lectures and you might like to find these mentioned stars in the
night sky, I recommend this sky map: John Walker's “Your
Sky” If
you have an iPad or Android tablet or SmartPhone, you might
download SkyMap
which
will show you the sky and even automatically orient you
according to your place and perspective.
January
13, 2015: I
have been unable to see Comet
Lovejoy.
Have any of you managed to see it? Terry Lovejoy has discovered
several comets that have been assigned with his name. This
video shows
one from 2011 passing close to the Sun.
I
would like to tie down the Wednesday “Discussion group”
this week. I would like everyone who would like to participate
to e-mail the course mail box: terrestrial.planets@gmail.com
.
January
8, 2015: The
online audio/video records of last year's (2014) course are
archived here:
http://lrs.mcgill.ca/ListRecordings.aspx?CourseID=9586
January
7, 2015: It
isn't extremely cold at my house today (~-12C) but I checked the
Weather
Network's
forecast for their expectation of the extreme cold of tonight.
While doing so, I came upon their “Question
of the Day”.
Most people and the questioner got the answer wrong. I promise
that in our quizzes and exams, especially multiple-choice
questions, I will give you clear choices but without the “I
don't know” option.
In fact, the question just as asked could well appear on the
quizzes or exam. “How
heavy is planet Earth?”.
January
6, 2015: The
course begins today in Leacock
132 at 2:30PM.
Please try to attend this first course in spite of the weather.
It is here that you will find out what is going on in the
course.
On
term work: I
shall offer one further option, one that has not, so-far, been
listed on the syllabus, for term
work.
I shall propose that for those students who want some closer
interaction with me and their class colleagues, I would moderate
a discussion group to take place every second Tuesday or
Wednesday (one day to be selected) at 5:30PM and probably housed
in FDAdams 232. For those who choose the option for the
term-work grade, the contribution expected from you would be a
15-20 minute PowerPoint (or equivalent) presentation to the
discussion group. The presentations would not be expected until
March 17 or 18, depending on the choice of best day. For those
who opt to participate, I would expect regular attendance.
December
26, 2014: The
link to the current year's on-line recordings should be here
when available, probably from Jan. 7:
http://lrs.mcgill.ca/ListRecordings.aspx?CourseID=11290
December
20, 2014: The
first lecture of the course is scheduled for January 6 at 14h30
in Leacock 132. Until then, this page remains “under
construction”.
-
January
1, 2015:
News
from the 2014 and previous sessions.
-
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