Last revision: March 2011
This blog intends to provide web materials for the Open University courses S282 "Astronomy", S382 "Astrophysics" and SXR 208 "Observing the Universe".
For S282, please continue reading this post.
For S382, please click on the "S382" links on the right-hand side.
The SXR 208 page will be started soon, but you can already find some resources on observational astronomy in this page.
You can also check my other blogs by clicking on the list on the right-hand side of this post.
Please feel free to leave any comments, feedback, etc, which will be very welcome. As this page is compiled by a non-native speaker of English, any comments about linguistic incorrections would be specially welcome. All comments are subject to moderation, to avoid spam, trolls, etc.
Hope you'll find something here to enjoy!
For S282, please continue reading this post.
For S382, please click on the "S382" links on the right-hand side.
The SXR 208 page will be started soon, but you can already find some resources on observational astronomy in this page.
You can also check my other blogs by clicking on the list on the right-hand side of this post.
Please feel free to leave any comments, feedback, etc, which will be very welcome. As this page is compiled by a non-native speaker of English, any comments about linguistic incorrections would be specially welcome. All comments are subject to moderation, to avoid spam, trolls, etc.
Hope you'll find something here to enjoy!
CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE:
- General documentaries
- Podcasts
- Lectures
- Articles
- Blogs
- Youtube channels
- Other material
- Observational astronomy
- S282: BOOK 1: Sun&Stars
- S282: BOOK 2: Galaxies&Cosmology
- Astronuts:
- Music
- Literature
_____________________________GENERAL DOCUMENTARIES
● COSMOS: What better way to start than reviewing this amazing series which awoke the love for astronomy in so many kids in the 80s? The first link sends to a moving introduction by Ann Druyan, co-writer with Carl Sagan. Some of the following chapters can be found in Youtube too. And the whole series can be bought for just 15 euros (at least in Belgium): great value for 13 dazzling episodes plus the corresponding updates taped 10 years later. It is rather moving to see the change from the youthful Sagan in the 80s to his greying, sadder image in the 90s reporting so many new discoveries:
English with Spanish subtitles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClPShKs9Kr0● This is a really great site containing dozens of links to documentaries related mostly to science, although also to religion, politics, history, etc. Many hours of watching pleasure! Astronomy and cosmology are well represented. Thanks a lot to its author.
http://www.documentary-log.com/
● Another great site linking to free web documentaries. Its motto, "Welcome to your own campus", says it all. Thanks to its author as well.
Astronomy-related links to be found under "C" for "Cosmology".Many treasures can also be found in the left-hand side list of remarkable homepages. :
http://free-university-in-internet.blogspot.com/
● Lots of astronomy-related resources in "Portal to the Universe":
http://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/
● PODCASTS:
Why not listen to a astronomy-related podcast while commuting and rejoice in the vastness of the Universe instead of getting depressed about the grudges in our little planet? "Astronomy cast" offers for free hundreds of podcasts to listen online or download and is hosted by Fraser Cain, of Universe Today, and Dr. Pamela L. Gay, of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
http://www.astronomycast.com/
And here you can find the amazing "Astronomy media player", a list to all the astronomy-related podcasts worldwide (also in French, Portuguese, Spanish). It includes also links to four astronomy courses in American universities:
http://www.jodcast.net/amp/index.html
And more podcasts in:
http://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/podcasts/
One astronomical podcast a day was the aim of this site in 2009, and they will maintain it during 2010. Podcasts are "written, recorded and produced by people around
the world":
http://365daysofastronomy.org/
[Y, en español, estos podcasts del Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía y de la Nasa:]
http://www.jodcast.net/amp/traves.html#traves_154
http://www.jodcast.net/amp/ciencia_at_nasa.html
● The "Meta institute for Computational Astrophysics" (MICA), a scientific and educational institute based in the virtual world of Second Life, hosts a number of astronomy talks at the Stella Nova anfitheater of SL, on astronomical subjects such as exoplanetology, cosmology, astronomy etc. Besides the possibility of watching them in real "virtual" time, they can be dowloaded as mp3:
http://www.mica-vw.org/wiki/index.php/Popular_Talks#MICA_Popular_Talks
LECTURES
● (The following amazing course seems to have vanished from the web! If anyone finds a good link, please let me know and I'll be more than happy to include it again. I include a link only comprising 5 lectures and with strange visualization options).
Introduction to General Astronomy by Alex Filippenko* at Berkeley - "A description of modern astronomy with emphasis on the structure and evolution of stars, galaxies, and the Universe. Additional topics optionally discussed include quasars, pulsars, black holes, and extraterrestrial communication, etc." Enthusiastical Filippenko takes us through a syllabus comprising many topics of S283 and S282.
* Professor of the Year Award 2006, sponsored by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and administered by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
http://www.yovisto.com/lecture/1741
● In the sad absence of Filippenko (see above), Berkeley offers these other Astronomy courses, which I haven't tried yet:
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/series.html#c,d,Astronomy
● A lot of other online lectures, together with the Filippenko ones above, can be found in this German link (two of them in German):
http://www.online-vorlesungen.de/Videos/Astronomie_und_Astrophysik/
● Many astrophysics videos and podcasts of the University of
California TV (which I'll try to classify under the corresponding OU
chapters as the year goes by) under:
● Some MIT Astronomy courses, containing assignments, exams and their solutions and some videos:
● Astrophysical chemistry by Harry Kroto in the Vega website
Haven't watched them yet; at a first sight, they look quite tough, but
they could be interesting after having finished S282.
ARTICLES
● A very large repertoire of astronomy articles in Spanish
[Un repertorio muy amplio de artículos de astronomía en español:]
BLOGS
● This blog of a former S282 student contains links to
materials that are interesting for the first few chapters of S282.
Thanks a lot to its author!!
http://www.catzwhiskerz.org.uk/openuni/sciences/s282/
materials that are interesting for the first few chapters of S282.
Thanks a lot to its author!!
http://www.catzwhiskerz.org.uk/openuni/sciences/s282/
● A blog in Spanish full of interesting resources:
[Un blog en español lleno de cosas interesantes en el campo de las ciencias.]
http://www.sopadeciencias.es/categoria.php?id=11
● Rob Knop's (Quest University, Canada) blog "Galactic interactions", o (see also under "Other material" for his website):
http://scientopia.org/blogs/galacticinteractions/
● "Starts with a bang", winner of the 2010 physics.org "Best Blog" and "Public" awards
http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/
● Rob Knop's (Quest University, Canada) blog "Galactic interactions", o (see also under "Other material" for his website):
http://scientopia.org/blogs/galacticinteractions/
● "Starts with a bang", winner of the 2010 physics.org "Best Blog" and "Public" awards
http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/
YOUTUBE CHANNELS
● Youtube channel of a Sacramento University teacher in
astrophysics (V Margoninner):
http://www.youtube.com/user/vmargoniner
Gentle explanations of topics like Hertzprung-Russell diagram, expansion
of the Universe, black holes, etc. Very nice!
astrophysics (V Margoninner):
http://www.youtube.com/user/vmargoniner
Gentle explanations of topics like Hertzprung-Russell diagram, expansion
of the Universe, black holes, etc. Very nice!
● Another teacher's channel (Libby Ann), consisting mainly of text slides with voice:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=LibbyAnn1#p/u/44/GoTAYnb668M
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=LibbyAnn1#p/u/44/GoTAYnb668M
● David Wittman channel in youtube . Short (5 m.), non mathematical
explanations of astronomy concepts (distances and sizes, spectral
lines, rotation of Galaxy, Big Bang nucleosynthesis).
● Zuke696's channel in YouTube, containing a wealth of astronomy (and evolution) related documentaries:
OTHER MATERIAL
● VERY interesting site of the University of Nebraska, including outlines, online quizzes, animations of many of the S282 (and S283) topics.
Their motto: to prevent, through many different types of innovative materials, the following from happening:
"Information passing from the notes of the instructor to the notes of the
student and through the minds of neither.”
student and through the minds of neither.”
● WOMEN IN ASTRONOMY: Judging by the attendance at my local astronomy club, we women are a minority among astronuts, so maybe a reminder of those of us who went before can be instructive. This is a list of resources on women astronomers of the past and present:
http://www.womanastronomer.com/women_astronomers.htm
- Proceedings from 2009 Women in Astronomy Conference:
To view the entire WIA proceedings document, visit:
http://wia2009.gsfc.nasa.gov/
● A list of astronomy, gravitation and cosmology-related materials compiled by the Universidad Nacional of Colombia. Included in a more general list of physics-related materials in the web:
http://www.virtual.unal.edu.co/cursos/ciencias/internetphysics/docs_curso/gravitacion.html
● Rob Knop's astronomy educational page, from this Canadian professor of astronomy and Second Life lecturer. PDFs, slides, links to lectures, a lot of interesting material:
http://www.sonic.net/~rknop/php/astronomy/ed.php
● Physics.org 2010 web awards (best blog, magazine, podcast, Q&A site, revision site, etc):
http://www.physics.org/featuredetail.asp?id=52
● Rob Knop's astronomy educational page, from this Canadian professor of astronomy and Second Life lecturer. PDFs, slides, links to lectures, a lot of interesting material:
http://www.sonic.net/~rknop/php/astronomy/ed.php
● Physics.org 2010 web awards (best blog, magazine, podcast, Q&A site, revision site, etc):
http://www.physics.org/featuredetail.asp?id=52
OBSERVATIONAL ASTRONOMY
● A very nice youtube channel for observation of the sky each week (from Denver, alas, but the images are great)!!
● SXR208 related, although also useful for practical activities of S282:
"Amateur Astronomy for beginners": how to use a planisphere, how to choose a telescope, and other topics of practical astronomy, by "True Martian". The first chapters must be listened to with headphones, since the sound is poor.
BOOK 1: Introduction to Sun and Stars
● How to use the planisphere:
CHAPTERS 1 and 2: THE SUN
● The Sun
BBC
Mega-video: stops after 54 min, must wait another 52
Divulgative
Among other topics: nuclear power, magnetism of the Sun, space weather
Watched nov 09
● Sun- Earth Connection in the space Era
Montana University Professor.
Parts of the Sun, Magnetism, solar spots, differential rotation, auroras,
CMEs.
Plenty of graphics, some of them coincident with OU material
Easy, though scientific level
Watched nov 09
● Solar neutrino problem (6 min, Margoniner)
● Spectroscopy
Provided by Coast Learning Systems. 3 parts, 10 minutes each
● A very interesting podcast from the ever so fascinating "Are we alone? (SETI institute)" webpage about some topics of interest for Chaps 1&2 of S282 Book 1:
http://radio.seti.org/episodes/You_ve_Got_Sol_
ABSTRACT: "It’s the star of our solar system, but much about the Sun is still mysterious. Find out what a new NASA mission to our favorite fireball might discover about its super-hot outer regions.
Also, why the most common stars in the galaxy don’t shine thanks to nuclear energy as our Sun does. And, recreating Sol’s energy source on Earth at the National Ignition Facility.
Plus, an ex-Star Wars animator and photographer on how to film an atomic blast."
● A very interesting podcast from the ever so fascinating "Are we alone? (SETI institute)" webpage about some topics of interest for Chaps 1&2 of S282 Book 1:
http://radio.seti.org/episodes/You_ve_Got_Sol_
ABSTRACT: "It’s the star of our solar system, but much about the Sun is still mysterious. Find out what a new NASA mission to our favorite fireball might discover about its super-hot outer regions.
Also, why the most common stars in the galaxy don’t shine thanks to nuclear energy as our Sun does. And, recreating Sol’s energy source on Earth at the National Ignition Facility.
Plus, an ex-Star Wars animator and photographer on how to film an atomic blast."
CHAPTER 4: COMPARING STARS
● Herztsprung-Russell diagram:
8 min explanation about colour, size, age of cluster. Very clear. Not
downloadable. Vera Margoniner. Watched nov 09
Other Hertzsprung-Russell videos:
● Filippenko, Lecture "Mon 10/17": Measuring stars: Parallax, Binary Systems for mass measurements, Herztsprung-Russell diagram, Luminosity, Apparent Brightness.
Watched Jan 10
CHAPTERS 5 and 6 (FORMATION OF STARS/MAIN SEQUENCE)
● Filippenko, Lecture "Wed 10/19": Starbirth, Brown Dwarf, Hydrostatic Equilibrium, PP Chain, Main sequence
Watched Jan 10
● PP chain (Margoniner)
CHAPTER 8: DEATH OF STARS
● Elementary-level but very beautiful documentary, with stunning astronomical images. Narrated by William Shatner.
Watched Jan 10.
● Elements and supernovae
● "Monster stars and their temper tantrums", by Nathan Smith, Berkeley
(Mass loss processes in massive stars, ISM enrichment by supernovae)
CHAPTER 9: THE REMNANTS OF STARS
Walter Lewin, of Northwestern University, provides through the MIT
website a gentle introduction to white dwarfs, neutron stars, pulsars,
Jocelyn Bell, blackholes, Doppler shifts, etc. No maths!
and Lessons 12 to 15 and 22 in this same series (Stellar Mass Black
Holes, Pulsars, Supermassive Blackholes). “Frontiers/Controversies in
Astrophysics”, Yale Open. Enlightening, but one must be quite awake to
follow the quick calculations. Downloadable.
● Margoriner on black holes:
BOOK 2: Introduction to Galaxies and Cosmology
GENERAL
This great site contains under C (for “Cosmology”) a lot of links to
different videos, like Stephen's Hawkings “Universe”, some BBC videos
listed by Google (“Big Bang”), etc. Otherwise, the content in many other
fields is huge, try it!!
“The topics covered in this course focus on cosmology. The course is
taught by Leonard Susskind, the Felix Bloch Professor of Physics at
Stanford University”. Interesting, although Professor Susskind's pen
sometimes flies over the white board while doing swift calculations
leaving you breathless! Downloadable.
CHAPTER 1: MILKY WAY
● Monthy Pyton Galaxy song (a bit of fun before starting this TOMB of a book!)
● The Universe: The Milky Way (5 parts)
Also in:
Divulgative, but plenty of scientific data
Shape of MW, Galactic centre, clusters, star formation, etc.
Alex Filippenko featuring.
Watched nov 09
● The massive black hole in the centre of the Milky Way (Margoriner)
DARK MATTER (for Chapters 1 and 8)
Charles Bailyn, in the series “Frontiers/Controversies in Astrophysics”,
Yale Open. Enlightening, but one must be quite awake to follow the quick
calculations. Downloadable.
“A panel of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists use
phenomena such as exploding stars and gravitational lenses to explore
the dark cosmos” (University of California TV)
Many other astrophysics videos and podcasts of the University of
California (which I'll try to classify under the corresponding lessons as
the year goes by) TV under:
CHAPTER 2: NORMAL GALAXIES
● Charming introduction to the topics included in this chapter by Professor Tracy Webb, of McGill University, Canada. Topics include: the 20s Shapley-Curtis controversy about "island universes" and the size of the Universe, Hubble Deep Field, Hubble types, a stunning Andromeda-Milky Way merger simulation, hierarchical galaxy evolution theory. Very clear and entertaining elementary level talk.
Watched Feb 2010
CHAPTER 3: ACTIVE GALAXIES
● Seyfert Galaxies
CHAPTER 6: BIG BANG COSMOLOGY
● This a long conversation between British biologist Richard Dawkins and American physicist Steven Weinberg which can be a good entertainment for a day off when studying this tough part of the course. They talk about a hundred different things related to physics, astrophysics, cosmology, evolution, religion, all of them fascinanting. Among others: universal constants and the possibility of the multiverse, inflation, multiple bigbangs, cosmic microwave radiation, quantum mechanics, science and religion, the teaching of biology and physics in the UK and USA.
http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=7415898632278016197#
● This is a elementary-level lecture (by Seth Shostak, of the SETI institute, at Stanford U) introducing in a very fun way many of the concepts of book 2 (standard candles, expansion, Big Bang, CMB). Also rewarding to watch for those of us already having taken the course, since it is a good feeling to realize how much of this is already more or less well-known material:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBuW-odYWy4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBuW-odYWy4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
● Divulgative level: "The expanding universe: The big Bang": Expanding vs. contracting Universe, distances, superclusters of galaxies, Hubble telescope, dark matter, WIMPS, fate of the Universe.
● "In the Beginning: Modern Cosmology and the Origin of Our Universe" by Matias Zaldarriaga, Institute for Advanced Study. Cosmic Background radiation, Inflation theory, etc.
and Lessons 17 and 18 of this same series.
“Hubble's Law and the Big Bang” with Charles Bailyn, in the series
“Frontiers/Controversies in Astrophysics”, Yale Open. Enlightening, but
one must be quite awake to follow the quick calculations. Downloadable.
CHAPTER 7: OBSERVATIONAL COSMOLOGY
Vera Margoriner on the expansion of the universe and Hubble's law.
CHAPTER 8: QUESTIONING COSMOLOGY
● Following Lessons of Charles Bailyn's: “Frontiers/Controversies in
Astrophysics”: 19, 20, 21, 23, 24
Vera Margoriner on evidence for dark matter through measurement of mass in clusters of Galaxies
● Ales Vilenkin (Tufts University) on the possibility of the multiverse
ASTRONUTS: Leisure for astronomy students!
MUSIC
- Tasmin Archer: Sleeping Satellite:
- A listing of astronomy-related music:
LITERATURE
"This is a selective list of some short stories and novels that use more or less accurate science and can be used for teaching or reinforcing astronomy or physics concepts"
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/scifi.html
Hi Gloria, just followed your link back from Facebook...I've bookmarked your page here - it looks really helpful, and I'm sure I'll return here many a time!! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI'm very glad you liked it and that you left this comment (the very first one I've got!!). I do hope to keep enlarging this blog now I've finished S282 and I'm trying to build up a sound physics and maths basis to continue into level 3 Astrophysics and Cosmology at the OU.
ReplyDeleteDear star child. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI am just starting s282 and wanted to say how much I appreciate you sharing this rich resource.
All the very best to you which ever corner of the cosmos you are in.
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