Students:  Syllabi are here.

Astronomy 330 Links 

(Listed by Chapter or Section)

Some links have notes after them highlighted in Red

 

Science - What it is!

The nature of Science  (This one is important if you want to understand how my tests work!)

http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/howscienceworks_01

About Skepticism and the Paranormal

http://skepdic.com/

http://www.skeptic.com

What harm does paranormal thinking cause?  Here's actual examples:

http://whatstheharm.net/index.html

Fallacies of argument

http://www.skepdic.com/ticriticalthinking.html

http://www.freewebs.com/thinkingstraight/Fallacies.htm

Test yourself - watch this & count the number of B-ball passes... then watch it again

http://viscog.beckman.illinois.edu/flashmovie/15.php

What can you trust on the Web?  (Look at the table at the bottom)

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/crlnews/1998/jul/teachingundergrads.cfm

Conspiracy “theories”

http://skepdic.com/illuminati.html

Other weirdness

http://www.crank.net/science.html

 

Aliens on My Mind

Skeptical views of UFO claims:

http://www.debunker.com/ufo.html

http://www.krysstal.com/ufos.html

    - The Philip Klass files (a critical UFO researcher): 

http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/archive/category/the_skeptics_ufo_newsletter

    - Everything you ever wanted to know (no matter how depressing) about Billy Meier: 

http://www.iigwest.org/investigations/meier/

Roswell

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/roswell_incident_and_project_mogul

http://skepdic.com/roswell.html

Problems with alien abductions:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aliens/

   - Fire in the Sky and Travis Walton (A hoax?) 

http://www.debunker.com/texts/walton.html  

   - The Strange Case of Sr. A. Boas that took abductions to a whole new level:

http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/UFOs/boas-abduction.htm

    - Betty and Barney Hill 

http://www.thetriangle.org/news/2005/04/15/SciTech/Ufo-couple.Use.Story.To.Spark.Alien.Abduction.Fear-926219.shtml

   - Sleep Paralysis and Alien Abductions  

http://www.skepdic.com/sleepparalysis.html

    - False Memory Syndrome 

http://skepdic.com/falsememory.html

http://www.fmsfonline.org  

Protection from Alien Abductions?  Can't decide if this is for real or not:

http://www.stopabductions.com/

For if you encounter them:

http://wearethecreeps.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/363022040d05322b9bbd04cf7a0f7385.gif

Were aliens here in the past?  Check out:

http://skepdic.com/vondanik.html

    - Where von Däniken likely got his ideas from… 

http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/04-04-26.html

 

The Cosmos

Applet - Nuclear fusion

http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/sunsolarenergy.html

Scale of the Universe (Powers of ten) 

http://www.cern.ch/CERN/Microcosm/P10/english/P0.html  

Lookback Time

http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/intro/lookbacktimesim.html

Small Scales

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/

Virgo Group

http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/virgo.html

Cosmic Calendar

http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/universe/itsawesome/cosmiccalendar/page2.html

Solar System origins

http://www.nineplanets.org/origin.html

 

Earth's Geology and Climate

Good Overviews:

http://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/main_frames.html

Types of rocks:

http://wapi.isu.edu/Geo_Pgt/Mod03_PlanetaryEvo/mod3_pt2.htm

Minerals

http://geology.csupomona.edu/alert/mineral/minerals.htm

Fossils

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/fossils/succession.html

Geologic Time Scales

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/Geologictime.html  (Go down the page a bit)

Radioactive Half Lives

http://www.gcse.com/radio/halflife2.htm

Earth's interior

http://jersey.uoregon.edu/~mstrick/AskGeoMan/geoQuerry8.html  

Plate tectonics

http://www.seismo.unr.edu/ftp/pub/louie/class/100/plate-tectonics.html

    - Plate motions on Earth, past and future

http://www.scotese.com/pangeanim.htm

http://www.scotese.com/futanima.htm

Recent Earthquake Info

http://www.data.scec.org/recenteqs.html

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_big.php

Volcano Activity Finder

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/find_regions.cfm

“Greenhouse” effect vs. Global Warming

http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadGreenhouse.html

CO2 cycle

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Water/co2_cycle.html  

Global Warming

    - Global Warming and the CO2 cycle

http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/C/CarbonCycle.html

    - The science behind it:

http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

http://www.climatehotmap.org/

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/

    - A global warming denial: 

http://www.john-daly.com/  

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/06/4_stages_denial.php

    - Responses to warming deniers:

http://www.astronomynotes.com/solarsys/s11b.htm

        - Effects of sea level rise:

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/slrviewer/index.html

 

The Nature of Life

Why is carbon so important in life?

http://www.theguardians.com/Microbiology/gm_mbm13.htm

Silicon based life

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/siliconlife.html

Evolution

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/index.html

Strong Criticism of young-; creationism

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000D4FEC-7D5B-1D07-8E49809EC588EEDF  

http://www.noanswersingenesis.org.au/index.htm

Small scales

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/

DNA

http://www.biologycorner.com/bio1/DNA.html

A catalog of ALL life

http://www.eol.org/

Extremophiles

http://www.theguardians.com/Microbiology/gm_mbm04.htm

 

Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth

Tree of life

http://tolweb.org/tree/  (Extensive and good)

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/alllife/threedomains.html

Panspermia

http://www.genarts.com/karl/panspermia.html

The Cambrian Explosion

http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Paleobiology/CambrianExplosion.htm

Mass extinctions

http://hannover.park.org/Canada/Museum/extinction/extincmenu.html  

http://park.org/Canada/Museum/extinction/massextinc.html

    - Known impact craters on ;

http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/CINameSort.html

    - The Tunguska Event in 1908

http://www.psi.edu/projects/siberia/siberia.html

    - Stopping it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_deflection_strategies 

    - Mining asteroids for Fun & Profit

http://www.permanent.com/

    - Figuring out the risks:

http://killerasteroids.org/impact.php

Human Evolution

http://www.archaeologyinfo.com/species.htm

http://www.becominghuman.org/node/interactive-documentary (Awesome resource!)

http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/projects/human/#

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/humans/index.html

 

Life in the Solar System

Liquid water / liquid something

http://www.theguardians.com/Microbiology/gm_mbm03.htm

Resolving power of telescopes

http://www.pk3.org/Astro/index.htm?scopes_resolution.htm  

Spectra 

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/light/absorption.html

Mercury pictures 

http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/choices/mercury1.htm

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/multimedia/index.html

http://www.nineplanets.org/mercury.html

Venus pictures

http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html

    - What happened to Venus?

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/nov27/nov27.html  

http://www.astronomynotes.com/solarsys/s9.htm

Lunar (Moon) pictures

http://www.nineplanets.org/luna.html

Jupiter pictures

http://www.nineplanets.org/jupiter.html

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-jupiter.html

Saturn pictures

http://www.nineplanets.org/saturn.html

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-saturn.html

Uranus pictures

http://www.nineplanets.org/uranus.html

http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/choices/uranus1.htm

Neptune pictures

http://www.nineplanets.org/neptune.html

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-neptune.html

Pluto pictures 

http://www.nineplanets.org/pluto.html

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-pluto.html

Comets (with pictures)

http://www.nineplanets.org/comets.html

Track our space probes

http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/

 

Mars

Mars pictures:

http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html

http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/choices/mars1.htm

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-mars.html

http://barsoom.msss.com/moc_gallery/index.html

   - The most detailed and easy to navigate Mars montage yet:

http://jmars.mars.asu.edu/maps/?layer=thm_dayir_100m_v11

Percival Lowell and his "canals"

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M/Marscanals.html

The “Face” on Mars  

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/face.jpg

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/mgs_cydonia1_processed.jpg

The farce of "the Face"

http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/hoagland/face.html  

    - Zoom into the "Face" on Mars!

http://www.astronomynotes.com/solarsys/face-zoom.htm

Water on Mars

http://www.msss.com/http/ps/channels/channels.html  

http://www.nasm.si.edu/ceps/etp/mars/surface/water.html

Life on Mars?  

http://www.pbs.org/lifebeyondearth/alone/mars.html  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/life/looking/mars.shtml

    - Viking Experiments

http://cmex.ihmc.us/cmex/data/MarsEssy/life/life.htm (Scroll about halfway down)

Space probes to Mars, past and future 

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chronology_mars.html

Mars Society, advocates for colonizing Mars

http://www.marssociety.org/

See what a terraformed Mars looks like:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~mfogg/gallery.htm

http://www.xs4all.nl/~fwb/rgb1440.jpg  

 

Life on Jovian Moons

See what icy moons are made of:

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/glossary/icy_moon.html&edu=elem

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/jupiter/moons/general_composition.icy.html

Tidal heating

http://www.astro.washington.edu/larson/Astro150b/Lectures/TidalForces/tidalforces.html

Io pictures

http://www.nineplanets.org/io.html

Europa pictures  

http://www.nineplanets.org/europa.html

    - Life in Europa?

http://whyfiles.org/060moons/europa.html  

Ganymede pictures

http://www.nineplanets.org/ganymede.html

Callisto pictures  

http://www.nineplanets.org/callisto.html

Titan pictures

http://www.nineplanets.org/titan.html  

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/?subCategory=10

    - Life?

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/life/Titan_environment.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/life/looking/titan.shtml

Triton pictures

http://www.nineplanets.org/triton.html

    - Life?!?

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/life/Triton_environment.html

 

Habitability

Habitable zones

http://www.solstation.com/habitable.htm (Long)

http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/AST101/habzone.html

http://astro.unl.edu/naap/habitablezones/animations/stellarHabitableZone.html

End of the Universe  

http://www.pbs.org/deepspace/timeline/

 

Habitable Worlds Around Alien Suns

Applets - Extrasolar planets & Stellar properties

http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/extrasolarplanets.html

http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/stellarprops.html

Spectra of stars

http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/spectra.html#sequence

Habitable zones (again)

http://www.solstation.com/habitable.htm (Long)

http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/AST101/habzone.html

Stars near the Sun

http://www.solstation.com/orbits.htm

http://www.chara.gsu.edu/~riedel/10pc2011.html (Several Animations Here)

Doppler effect 

    -Source

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/applets/doppler.html

    -Observer 

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/applets/doppler2.html

    -Applet 

http://www.phys.hawaii.edu/~teb/java/ntnujava/Doppler/Doppler.html

Extrasolar systems 

http://exoplanet.eu/catalog.php (Get today’s exo planet count)

http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/

http://media4.obspm.fr/exoplanets/base/index.php

http://www.planetary.org/exoplanets/list.php

    - How we find exoplanets

http://astronautica.com/detect.htm

    - Exoplanets crossing (transiting) their stars

http://www.iac.es/proyect/tep/transitmet.html  

    - Make your own planetary system!

http://www.alienearths.org/online/starandplanetformation/planetfamilies.php

    - Exoplanet art

http://extrasolar.spaceart.org/extrasol.html 

 

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Drake Equation

   - Drake Equation calculators (also different forms of the Equation) 

http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html#Try

http://www.classbrain.com/artmovies/publish/article_50.shtml

http://frombob.to/drake.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/drake-equation.html

http://www.scigames.org/

Convergent evolution

http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Evolution/convergent_evolution_examples.htm

Encephalization quotient

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaur/glossary/EQ.shtml

Bandwidth  

http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20050422044510/http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/about_seti/about_seti_at_home_4.html

Water Hole

http://www.setileague.org/general/waterhol.htm

LaGrange points

http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/mission/observatory_l2.html

Radio SETI

http://www.seti.org/ata/how-it-works

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/seti1.htm (Lots of ads)

    - The "Wow" signal

http://www.bigear.org/6equj5.htm  

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-wow-signal

    - Help find alien radio signals with SETI @ Home

http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/  

Optical SETI

http://www.coseti.org/

 

Interstellar Travel

Escape Velocities

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vesc.html

Interstellar travel

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/technology/warp/warp.html

    - Mining asteroids:

http://www.permanent.com/

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/colonize_why_011008-1.html  

Special Relativity - time dilation

http://www.walter-fendt.de/ph14e/timedilation.htm

http://www/physicsclassroom.com/shwave/tdilate.cfm

http://www/physicsclassroom.com/shwave/contract.cfm

 

The Fermi Paradox

The Fermi Paradox 

http://news.discovery.com/space/a-mathematical-twist-on-the-fermi-paradox.html

http://forgetomori.com/2007/ufos/fermi-what-paradox/

http://www.fermisparadox.com/Possible-answers-to-fermi-paradox.htm

    - A humorous take:

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/09/500x_20100918.jpg

von Neumann machines

http://www.srm.org.uk/introduction2.html  

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/V/vonNeumannprobe.html

Space Colonization

http://www.hudsonfla.com/spaceviewinner.htm

http://ssi.org/

http://www.nss.org/settlement/

The Singularity 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

 

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