Space Research 1

BGU Physics Department

Space Research 1
203-1-1301

Lecturers in charge:
Prof. David Eichler
Office hours: Tuesday, 13:00-14:00
Amir Golan
Office hours: Mon/Wed, 10:00-12:00

Lecture Hours: Tuesday 14:00 - 17:00 @ 34/114
Tuesday 17:00 - 18:00 @ 32/207

Course Objectives:

To learn the methods of space research
To understand and apply the scientific method
To practice critical thinking
To learn physics
To gain perspective about ourselves, the planet earth and our universe

Scientific Thinking
Scientific investigation requires you to:

Ask questions: How, where, why,..
Be objective
use deductive and intuitive reasoning
Make quantitative calculations

Course Topics:

Distance measuring and coordination
Telescopes
Gravity
Particles in EM field, Radiation processes
Spaceship earth, green house effect, extraterrestrial life
The solar wind and the heliosphere

Lectures:

class 1 - Coordination of space and basic distance measures [pdf, ppt]
class 2 - The electromagnetic spectrum, Emission/Absorption spectrum, and their use in distance measurment[pdf,ppt]
class 3 - Telescopes (radio, IR, visible, UV, X-Ray, Gamma Ray)[pdf,ppt ]
class 4 - Scattering in rarified gas [pdf, ppt]
class 5 - Atmospheric scintillation [pdf , ppt]
class 6,7 - Particle motion in EM field and radiation processes [pdf,ppt]
class 8,9 -The solar wind and the heliosphere [pdf,ppt]
class 10,11 - Spaceship earth. Green house effect[links]
cless 12 - Extraterrestrial life
class 13 - Order of magnitude physics

Class Exercises:

class 1 - Distance measuring technics
class 2 - The electromagnetic spectrum and atmospherical absorbance.
class 3 - Emission/Absorption spectrum and black body radiation
class 4 - Radio telescopes and the relation to the "quantum world"
class 5 - Thompson and Rayleigh Scattering
class 6,7 - Particle motion in EM field
class 8,9 - The solar wind and the heliosphere
class 10 - Spaceship earth
class 11- Green house effect
cless 12 - Extraterrestrial life
class 13 - Order of magnitude physics

Useful links, Recommended reading and other on-line material

Class Textbooks:

Van der Hucht K.A., Vaiana G., editors: New Instrumentation for Space Astronomy, Pergamon, Oxford 1978; QB 86.N48 1977
Stecker F.W., Trombka J.I., editors: Gamma-ray Astrophysics, NASA 1973; QB 460.G35
Bernacca P.L., Ruffini R., editors: Astrophysics from Spacelab, Reidel, Dordrecht 1980; QB 460.A88
Giacconi R., Gursky H.: X-ray Astronomy, Reidel, Dordrecht 1974; QB 472.X2
The physical universe: an introduction to astronomy / Frank H. shu; QB 43.2.S54 1982

Home Work	Class Exercises & Home work solutions
Ex.1	Solution1
E x.2	Solution2
Ex.3	Solution3
Ex.4	Solution4
Ex.5	Solution5 additional material
Ex.6	Solution6
Ex.7	Solution7
Ex.8	Solution8

You can follow your submissions.

Final Exam:

You should bring to the exam a calculator.
The exam will cover all of the material that was given in class and in home work.

Course Policy:

Exercises will be given in class, and are due a week later.
The exercises should be submitted electronically, on /SUBMISSIONS/SpaceRes1. [instructions]
The submitted exercise file, should be in pdf, html, or doc.
The file name must begin with an "E" and followed by your ID no. [example: E354887112.pdf]

The file itself must contain:
Title
The problem
The solution

Selected exercises will be solved in class the folllowing week.

Last updated: Feb. 26, 2007 by Amir Golan