Astronomy 121 Reading Material

Section I: The Sky

Observing the Sky

1. Celestial Sky Overview
2. Basic observations
3. Navigation
4. Alt-Az simulator
5. Altitude calculator
6. RA-Dec simulator
7. Alt-Az to RA-Dec Demo
8. Star Motion Simulator
9. Sun motion Simulator
10. Seasons
11. Earth Seasons Simulator
12. Constellations and Seasons
13. Measuring Angular Distance with Your Hand

Observing the Moon

1. Phases of the Moon
2. Eclipses
3. Moon Inclination Simulation
4. Lunar phases Simulation
5. Lunar Eclipses
6. Solar Eclipses
7. Eclipse August 2017!

Section II: Ancient Astronomy

1. Air, Earth, Fire and Water
2. Naked Eye Observations
3. The Universe of Aristotle
4. Measuring the Radius of the Earth
5. The Ptolemaic Moment

Renaissance

1. Towards a New World Model
2. Galileo and the Telescope
3. Phases of Venus Simulation (Actual phases)
4. Ptolemaic Phases of Venus Simulation (False model)
5. Tycho and the Parallax Experiment

Kepler

1. Kepler
2. Elliptical Orbits
3. Kepler's Laws
4. Kepler's Third Law Calculator
5. Kepler's Laws Simulation
6. General form of Kepler's 3rd law (You don't have to read the entire page. The general form is the 2nd equation on the page) 

Newton

1. Newton Explains it All
2. Force Calculator

Section III: Solar System Characteristics and Formation

1. Orbital Properties of Solar System
2. Planetary Position Simulator
3. Solar System Overview
4. Methods for Finding Planet Density 
5. Characterization of Surface Features
6. Volcanism, Tectonics, Erosion
7. Formation of Solar System

Section IV: Terrestrial Objects

Moon

1. Formation of the Moon
2. Exploration of the Moon
3. JFK Speech "We Choose to go to the Moon"

Mercury

1. The Planet Mercury 
2. Messenger Images of Mercury

Venus

1. The Planet Venus
2. Magellan Venus Images
3. Venus Surface Feature
4. Venera Venus Images

Earth

1. The Geologically Active Earth
2. Drivers of Plate Tectonics
3. Oldest Earth Rock! 4.4 Billion years old

Mars

1. All About Mars
2. Life on Mars
3. Mars' changing tilt
4. Curiosity
5. Mars as Art! (pretty pictures)

Asteroids and Mass Extinction

1. The Asteroid Belt
2. Dawn Mission: Ceres and Vesta
3. Mass Extinctions and Impact Events
4. 16 Biggest Craters in Solar System
5. Crater Simulation - Morbidly fun

Section V: Gas Giants and Kuiper Belt Objects

1. Thermal Heating from Gas Giants 

Jupiter

1. All About Jupiter
2. Jupiter Emission
3. Juno Mission: The movie trailer
4. Images from Juno
5. Juno Mission
6. Jupiter's Magnetic Field
7. Eerie Jupiter Sounds
8. More Jupiter Sounds
9. The Galilean Satellites

Saturn

1. All About Saturn
2. Hurricane on Saturn
3. Cassini Mission
4. The Moons of Saturn
5. Hydrocarbon Lakes on Titan
6. Huygen's Landing on Titan v1
7. Huygen's Landing on Titan v2
8. Dunes of Shangri-La
9. Tiny Enceladus May Hold Ingredients of Life

Uranus and Beyond

1. Uranus and Neptune
2. Moons of Uranus, Neptune and Kuiper Belt Objects
3. Pluto!
4. Another planet???

Section VI: Extra Solar Planets and Life

Exoplanets

1. Extra Solar Planetary Systems
2. Exoplanet Catalog
3. Mini-Neptunes
4. Transit Simulator
5. Radial Velocity Simulator
6. Proxima Centauri

Atmospheres and Life

1. Formation of Planetary Atmospheres
2. Biochemical Evolution in the Oceans
3. Oxygen Addition to our Atmosphere
4. Is there Intelligent Life on the Earth?