The Doppler Effect
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: The last two sections introduced you to many new concepts, and we hope that through those, you have seen one major idea emerge. Astronomers can learn about…
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Formation of Spectral Lines
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: We can use Bohr’s model of the atom to understand how spectral lines are formed. The concept of energy levels for the electron orbits in an atom…
The Structure of the Atom
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: The idea that matter is composed of tiny particles called atoms is at least 25 centuries old. It took until the twentieth century, however, for scientists to…
Spectroscopy in Astronomy
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Electromagnetic radiation carries a lot of information about the nature of stars and other astronomical objects. To extract this information, however, astronomers must be able to study…
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Objects in the universe send out an enormous range of electromagnetic radiation. Scientists call this range the electromagnetic spectrum, which they have divided into a number of categories.…
The Behavior of Light
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Coded into the light and other kinds of radiation that reach us from objects in the universe is a wide range of information about what those objects…
Eclipses of the Sun and Moon
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: One of the coincidences of living on Earth at the present time is that the two most prominent astronomical objects, the Sun and the Moon, have nearly the same apparent size in…
Ocean Tides and the Moon
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Anyone living near the sea is familiar with the twice-daily rising and falling of the tides. Early in history, it was clear that tides must be related to…
Phases and Motions of the Moon
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: After the Sun, the Moon is the brightest and most obvious object in the sky. Unlike the Sun, it does not shine under its own power, but merely glows…
The Calendar
LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: “What’s today’s date?” is one of the most common questions you can ask (usually when signing a document or worrying about whether you should have started studying…