Explorations: Introduction to Astronomy ISE

Tom Arny is an Emeritus professor in the Astronomy Department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He was associated there with the Five College Astronomy Program(comprising faculty from U-Mass, Amhurst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, and Smith Colleges). Dr. Arny received his undergraduate degree from Haverford College and his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Arizona. In addition to his interest in astronomy, he has a long-standing fascination with the natural world: weather (especially atmospheric optics such as rainbows), birds, wildflowers, and butterflies. Visit Dr. Arny's website at: http://www.astro.umass.edu/~arny/astro100.html Steve Schneider became interested in astronomy at the amateur level when he was a child. He studied astronomy as an undergraduate at Harvard and obtained his Ph.D. from Cornell. His dissertation work received the Trumpler Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and he was named a Presidential Young Investigator. In addition to teaching introductory astronomy, he works closely with science teachers, presenting workshops and special courses. He also loves to draw and paint.

Preview: The Cosmic Landscape
Chapter 1: The Cycles of the Sky
Chapter 2: The Rise of Astronomy
Essay 1: Backyard Astronomy
Chapter 3: Gravity and Motion
Chapter 4: Light and Atoms
Essay 2: Special and General Relativity
Chapter 5: Telescopes
Chapter 6: Earth
Chapter 7: The Moon and Tides
Essay 3: Keeping Time
Chapter 8: The Terrestrial Planets
Chapter 9: The Giant Planets
Chapter 10: Small Bodies Orbiting the Sun
Chapter 11: Planetary Systems
Essay 4: Life in the Universe
Chapter 12: The Sun, Our Star
Chapter 13: Measuring the Properties of Stars
Chapter 14: Stellar Evolution
Chapter 15: Stellar Remnants: White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars, and Black Holes
Chapter 16: The Milky Way Galaxy
Chapter 17: Galaxies
Chapter 18: Cosmology