Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Students have a weekly online reading assignment (hosted by SurveyMonkey.com), where they answer questions based on reading their textbook, material covered in previous lectures, opinion questions, and/or asking (anonymous) questions or making (anonymous) comments. Full credit is given for completing the online reading assignment before next week's lecture, regardless if whether their answers are correct/incorrect. Selected results/questions/comments are addressed by the instructor at the start of the following lecture.
The following questions were asked on reading textbook chapters and previewing presentations on the Milky Way's shape, size and composition and spiral arm structure and formation.
Selected/edited responses are given below.
Describe something you found interesting from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally interesting for you.
"The sheer amount of predicted stars in our galaxy is interesting because among all of there must be one that is completely unique in every way, something so insane that we couldn't begin to understand it."
"I have always wondered how scientists can describe the shape of the galaxy we live in so it was interesting to read about how it is known."
"I found the different methods of mentally visualizing our galaxy very interesting. Obviously since the galaxy is so massive and we cannot view ourselves and only others it is interesting that we can base what our galaxy looks like off of these particular methods."
"The fact that we have only recently discovered that we are not in the center of the galaxy. And I love that the word 'galaxy' is a derivative of 'milk.'"
"I thought it was super fascinating how the only stars we see that are from our galaxy are located in a stream across the sky. I know that may sound basic, but too me that is super cool."
"I think that all of the ways that we can use to map our galaxy is kind of cool."
"I enjoyed learning about dark matter and how the difference in rotations of galaxies can give you info on how much mass/gravity is spread out through the galaxy."
"Something I found interesting from the presentation previews was that stars in our Milky Way orbit at the same speed in the outer and inner layers of our galaxy. I found this interesting because I didn't know that dark matter is what made this happen."
"I thought it was really cool to learn that there are different formations of stars in certain areas of the Milky Way. Type II supernovae create new star formations in the spurs and pulling in and colliding with dwarf galaxies creates them in the arms. This was cool because before this class I thought stars were all made the same way, and before this section I didn't think there would be much differentiation depending on where they were located within a galaxy."
Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
Something confusing to me was the mass of the galaxy. How did people back than have capability when trying to figure out an estimated measurement? What was needed to figure out the accurate results for the mass of the galaxy?"
"Global cluster positions."
"Can spacetime curvature be manipulated? Are planets, black hole, stars etc the only ones that can do this?"
"I am not quite sure why the spiral arms exist at all. What does the presence of spiral arms say about a galaxy's nature or surroundings?"
"I still don't really understand how exactly the Milky Way pulls in dwarf galaxies. I'm assuming it (obviously) has something to do with gravity, but I would like to know more about the how and why."
"I did not understand the section on what would initiate a density wave in the Milky Way and how that related to the traffic jam example."
"With density waves, how long, in general, do they take to 'smooth out?'"
"I found the motion of and the speed of 'traffic jams' in the presentation presentation a bit confusing."
"Persistence of vision."
"othing was particularly confusing. How can we know the shape of the Milky Way when we are in it?"
In your experience, how much of the "Milky Way" (the band of faint stars across the celestial sphere) have you been able to see in the night sky?
As much as can be seen with the naked eye. *********** [11] Not very much. ******** [9] Barely seen it. *** [3] (Never been able to see it.) * [1] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) * [1]
Using the most powerful light-gathering optical telescopes in the darkest skies, __________ of the stars in our entire galaxy can be observed from Earth.
1%. ***** [5] 5%. ****** [6] 10%. ******* [7] 50%. ***** [5] 100%. [0] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) ** [2]
If you did not have access to a mirror while camping, what could you do to find out whether or not you're having a bad hair day?"By using what's around you, such as water to see your reflection."
"Have a friend tell me, one who I knew would be brutally honest with me."
"You could look at yourself with your phone."
"Look around your peripheral view to see if any hair is sticking out."
"I would probably feel out the parting in my hair and pat it down after parting it. My hair is quite simple so I really don’t need to do much with it."
"STEP 1: Lift one hand into the air. STEP 2: Quickly place hand onto head. STEP 3: Take a chill pill."
"I would just wear a beanie the whole time. Problem solved."
Look at PimpStar Rims (*.html) for cars, or MonkeyLectric Rims (*.html) for bikes. Briefly explain how they work.
"A microprocesser tells what light to be on or off and what color to be at a certain time while its rotating around the rim."
"Both of these examples are spinning LED lights that blink while they are moving to create patterns. It is called the persistence of vision."
"They work because as the wheel goes around, something triggers the lights (just as gas and dust trigger star formations, causing a traffic jam), and then they go off again as the trigger relaxes."
"Like they said, 'voodoo.'"
"Not sure."
Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"Do you want to pimp out your car wheels with LEDs P-dog?"
"Can you please explain the PimpStar wheel system some more?"
"I found that the PimpStar rim analogy to be very useful."
"Where do I buy these rims?"
"I think I'll put some of those rims on my Prius...really spice it up."
"I like your rims on your bike, they are pretty cool!"
"Do you even bike at night, bro? With a sweet set-up like that you have to bike at night!"
"Please discuss more of dark matter! Thank you."
"Are we having another midterm?" (Yes, after Thanksgiving week.)
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