Please feel free to contact me, if you have any problems whatsoever in this course - or if you're doing well, and just want to talk about the wonders and mysteries of the Universe. This is a private school: it's in our interest, and we care, that you do well!

Course Description (from the 1999-2000 University Catalog): (3 credits). A study of the Solar System and its member planets, moons, rings, and small bodies: their formation, dynamics, chemistry, atmospheres, surface features, interiors, and magnetic fields. Results of recent space probes are presented in a comparative study of the Solar System's members.

Course meeting times and location: TR 2:00-3:15 p.m. in Room A106, Skurla aviation building

Course texts:

Required:

• The New Solar System, 4th edition, J. Kelly Beatty, Carolyn Collins Petersen, and Andrew Chaikin, editors (also called TNSS)
• Pale Blue Dot, by Carl Sagan (also called PBD)
• The NASA/JPL Basics of Space Flight Learners' Workbook (free online), by Dave Doody and George Stephan

Recommended:

• Moons and Planets, 4th ed., by William K. Hartmann
  
• Universe, 5th ed., by Kaufmann and Freedman
  

All should be available in the campus Bookstore, except for the JPL Basics of Space Flight Learners' Workbook, which is free and available online.

Most, but not all, students in this course had SPS 1010 (Introductory Astronomy) last semester, in which we used the text Universe, 5th ed., by Kaufmann and Freedman. I will assume everyone has read Chapters 3 (Eclipses and the Motion of the Moon), 4 (Gravitation and the Motions of the Planets), 5 (The Nature of Light and Matter), and 18 (The Sun). If you haven't done this reading, do it as soon as possible. I will put copies of the material on reserve at Evans Library. Much, but not all, of this is also covered in the JPL Basics of Space Flight Learners' Workbook.

Some of K&F's best chapters are the ones on the Solar System, but the perfect text, for this course was just released in 1998 December. It's the long-awaited 4th edition of The New Solar System by Kelly Beatty et al. It began as the classic reference of the golden age of planetary exploration of the 1970s. All space enthusiasts must have this book on their shelves!

Another required text all space enthusiasts should have anyway is Pale Blue Dot, by Carl Sagan. Last semester in Freshman Seminar, we read another of his books, The Demon-Haunted World. I think Pale Blue Dot is much better, perhaps his best writing ever. Spaceflight is expensive, and will have to be supported by governments for a long time to come. It therefore bears examining the question: Why do this? Pale Blue Dot is the most thoughtful and intellectually honest modern examination of this.

The third required text, the NASA/JPL Basics of Space Flight Learners' Workbook, is something all space enthusiasts should work through. We'll therefore do so, early in this course.

If the Sun Dies, by Oriana Fallaci, deserves mention as well. I've put it on Evans Library reserve. All space enthusiasts should read it from cover to cover, it's a literary gem!

Also on reserve at Evans Library: All students should have a look at all of these,