Astronomy Minute Plus
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2021
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Most current textbooks are not a good match to the interests and capabilities of the students. They each present a highly comprehensive survey of the field for non-science students, which means they are usually too long and detailed for the typical one-semester or one-term introductory astronomy course at the college level. Furthermore, the texts tend to be heavy on facts and less so on concepts. Students retain little to none of the content that is taught in the classes.
Astronomy Minute Plus focuses on the concepts and presents only the most relevant and most important facts of a particular topic as part of the content of the book. For example, there is no need to detail the entire life of a particular astronomer from the past or spell out all of the details of what we know about each planet in the Solar System. Students only want to know (and, more importantly, will only retain), what they NEED to know about these particular topics, and the professor or instructor of the course is in the best position to decide what information students should be retaining from the course after the course is completed.
This eBook is based on the author’s podcast “Astronomy Minute,” which was designed to explain concepts of astronomy along with associated principles of math and physics, as well as science as a whole in order to provide listeners with succinct episodes focused on specific topics.
The publication’s content answers questions such as “What do I need to know…” or “Which notable objects are in the constellation of…”. Each chapter is self-contained and can be enjoyed in any order. This e-book is an outgrowth of the Astronomy Minute podcasts, hence the title “Astronomy Minute Plus” and thus retains many of the features incorporated into the podcasts. The author has added graphics, animations, and pre-tests to enhance the educational value of the podcasts for college students.
Chapter 1: Basics of Science and Mathematics
Chapter 2: Basics of Astronomy
Chapter 3: Basics of Physics
Chapter 4: Basics of Astronomy
Chapter 5: The Celestial Sphere and Telescopes
Chapter 6: Constellations and their Celestial Objects
Chapter 7: History of Western Astronomy
Chapter 8: The Sun, the Solar System, and Extra-Solar Planets
Chapter 9: Stars and Stellar Evolution
Chapter 10: Interstellar Medium and Star Formation
Chapter 11: Galaxies, Cosmology, and the Universe
Appendix 1: Philosophical Musings
Appendix 2: The Profession of Research Astronomy
After receiving his Ph.D. in Astronomy at Yale in 1992, Ata Sarajedini spent five years as a postdoctoral researcher and a Hubble Fellow at Kitt Peak National Observatory and San Francisco State University. He was an assistant professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT before moving to the University of Florida in 2001 where he attained the rank of Professor and Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He then served as Dean of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science at Florida Atlantic University before being appointed as the Bjorn Lamborn Endowed Chair in Astrophysics in 2020. His research is focused on resolved stellar populations in Local Group galaxies. These include field stars, open and globular clusters in the Milky Way, M31, M33, the Magellanic Clouds, and numerous nearby dwarf galaxies. He serves as a Scientific Editor for the Journals of the American Astronomical Society and also currently serves as the scientific advisor to the long-running South Florida PBS television series, “Star Gazers,” that airs nationally each week.