Course Number: Astro 103

Course Name: Evening Star

Credits: 1 Cr

Instructor: Angela Zalucha

Contact information or website: azalucha@iastate.edu

PreReq: None

Associated courses: Astro 102 and Astro 120

Format: This course is entirely online.

General introduction to the course

• By the end, you should be able to explain to someone else what goes into planning a trip (crewed or uncrewed) to another planet.
• You should also be able to relate the apparent motions of planets among the stars, and the appearance of Venus in a telescope, to the arrangement of the solar system.
• You should have an understanding of the different ideas people have had about the arrangement of bodies in the solar system, and what kinds of evidence support our current view.
• You should understand the phases of the moon and have some basic vocabulary needed to describe the apparent motions of the Sun and planets in the sky. 
• You should have a rudimentary understanding of the physical principles that underlie planetary motion.