Astronomical Instrumentation Laboratory ASTR 3560 Spring 2019 MWF

Astronomical Instrumentation Laboratory ASTR 3560 – Spring 2019 – MWF 9: 20 – 10: 50 am – Duane D 318 • • • Learn fundamentals of astronomical instrument design in a hands-on lab setting Work in teams to design, build, and test an optical spectrometer. Learn elements of mechanical design, optics, electronics, data acquisition, and instrument control relevant to astronomical instrumentation. Develop skills to predict and analyze instrument performance. Learn to assess your project status and plan accordingly. Build confidence doing a major project from beginning to end to develop confidence that will carry over into the workplace or graduate school. Satisfies non-sequence Astrophysics Track Part B: Upper Division Coursework requirements and General Astronomy Track Part C: Advanced Course Work credit requirements.

Parallels: Proto-Planetary Disks and rings 27 November 2018

Origin of the Solar System • It’s a fundamental problem in astronomy • We must explain the characteristics of our own system, and of planets around other stars • Elements were made inside stars • Stars formed from giant molecular clouds • Planets form in a disk around the protostar • Giant planets form from accretion onto cores • Terrestrial planets are only the cores

Characteristics of our Solar System • • • Regular planet orbits Planets are closely spaced Terrestrial and Jovian planets Asteroids and comets leftover Satellites and rings imitate a miniature Solar System

Is our Solar System a “typical” planetary system? © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

Figure 13. 14 © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

Stages in planet formation • Dust collects in the mid-plane of the protoplanetary disk • Grows by mutual collisions: ‘accretion’ • Planetesimals (about 1 km across) grow and collide • Giant collisions are the final stage • Giant planet cores are bigger outside the frostline: they attract gas to become gas giants like Jupiter • Star ignites: the gas and dust blown away

Leftovers • Near the Sun (inside frost-line, also known as snow line or ice line) rocky objects become asteroids • Far from the Sun (outside frost-line) icy objects form the comets and Kuiper Belt Objects