Astronomy 210, spring semester 2020
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
eclipses, and an preliminary overview of the
history of astronomy.
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."Eclipses. I never really took the time to realize there was more than one. Finding out there's more and that they can look different really blew my mind."
"Differences between lunar and solar eclipses. A lunar eclipse is when the moon passes through Earth's shadow and a solar eclipse is when the moon casts its shadow on Earth. I was aware of the existence of eclipses but not the types of it."
"How a lunar eclipse turns the moon into a copper-red color and how the lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves through the shadow of the Earth. I found this interesting because I remember seeing the Moon making this beautiful color in the sky but I didn't know why it did that before reading this chapter in the text."
"I found the reason why eclipses don't happen every month interesting. Even though you know an eclipse happens when the sun aligns with the moon or the sun, moon, and Earth align, you don't really think about why they don't happen every month."
"That solar eclipses are predictable."
"During a solar eclipse, if you look at the sun, if you wear sunglasses it can still cause damage to your eyes."
"I still find it interesting that you can't look at a solar eclipse. We're taught that we shouldn't look at the sun so technically we shouldn't look at the eclipse. It's one of those things that you know you shouldn’t do but don't really think much of why."
"How a shadow from an eclipse is consisted of two parts the umbra and penumbra. This whole time I thought it was one big shadow that covered the total surface."
"It took two thousand years for astronomers to eventually come to the conclusion that the geocentric model was wrong. So many incorrect and completely wrong calendars over those years and then Copernicus and others finally fixed it."
"How long ago the first astronomers made their mark on history. This is insane to me because despite their lack of technology and prior knowledge they were able to make ground-breaking discoveries."
"Copernicus 'challenging belief in the locations of heaven and hell' to disagree with Aristotle's model of the universe. I found this interesting compared to now because of how easy it is to disagree with someone else regardless of 'beliefs,' we have more freedom of expression today."
"That a 'disprover' is someone who tears things down--an astronomer who argues against a previously-held model of planetary motion."
"That astronomers of the past found ways to explain things that worked, but were ultimately proved wrong."
Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why
this was personally confusing for you."I was very confused on some of the explanations of the eclipses maybe it was just the wording."
"Shadow zones and differences between lunar eclipses and solar eclipses."
"I can't wrap my head around the penumbra and umbra."
"The phase of the moon is in for different types of eclipses."
"I remember when the partial solar eclipse happened a few years ago, there were posts all over the internet of crescent-shaped images of the sun cast by leaves and stuff but I don't really get why."
"The difference between lunar eclipse and solar eclipse was confusing to me because I don't quite understand the difference between the two. I also don't understand the difference between the total solar eclipse compared to partial and annular."
"I find it confusing how and when an eclipse will happen and why it happens, and why not every full moon is a lunar eclipse."
"My source of confusion is often in visualizing how things look spatially, and this chapter was no exception. I knew planets appeared to move backwards in the sky sometimes and that it had to do with how our orbit varies from theirs, but its hard to think of how that would look without an animated GIF."
"What was confusing that the scientists in Tycho's time had no telescopes or anything of the like, but they would still make their own observations."
"The astronomers. I have never personally been good at remembering names and dates. Remembering seven different people seems a bit confusing."
"I would like to understand the history of astrology more, it kind of turned into a mess in my brain. When trying to remember on the spot, who is a disprover or a mover, or who is scientific or nonscientific, it's difficult for me to distinguish between the astrologists. It was also kind of confusing to me their ways of doing things and how they created what they did. I'm not sure if it's shown anywhere how they figured out what the universe looked like or how they envisioned it so well without technology, it would be really cool to know."
A friend of yours has a birthday on March 30. According to your starwheel, the sun would have been located in front of which zodiac sign on that date? (Ignore daylight saving time.)
| Aries. | * [1] |
| Taurus. | [0] |
| Gemini. | [0] |
| Cancer. | [0] |
| Leo. | [0] |
| Virgo. | ** [2] |
| Libra. | * [1] |
| Scorpio. | [0] |
| Sagittarius. | [0] |
| Capricorn. | [0] |
| Aquarius. | * [1] |
| Pisces. | *********************** [23] |
| (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) | **** [4] |
I believe astrology is able to make accurate predictions about my future. (This is a follow-up question.)
| Strongly disagree. | * [1] |
| Disagree. | *********** [11] |
| Neutral. | ***************** [17] |
| Agree. | *** [3] |
| Strongly agree. | [0] |
Briefly discuss what you know now (that you didn't know before) that may (or may not have) affected your earlier opinion regarding your belief/disbelief in astrology. (This is a follow-up question.)"There are way more astrology signs than I thought.
I know now that the time periods for each sun-sign are based off old positions for constellations recorded in ancient times. So the ridiculous personality traits attached to each sun-sign aren't even based off the right constellations for those birthdays."
"I already knew about how because of the way the months are going each time there will be a new horoscope.
I still don't think the stars are fortune-tellers but I did learn it takes the moon a month to go around Earth."
"I knew that astrology had to do with your sign and all that but im surprised its more to do with the moon and sun-signs."
"I didn't know that there were more than three types of eclipses."
"Something I know now that I didn't before was figuring out our actual zodiac signs. The internet is off by 20 days each sign. To find your sign you line up your birthday with noon on your starwheel and which ever is in the line of the sun going from south to north, that's your zodiac sign."
"Personally nothing stood out as something I really didn't know before, I still remain neutral on the subject. I don't really believe that astrology is going to sway my beliefs much."
"After learning more about zodiac signs about timing in the sky, I changed my opinion to being neutral on this question. I think that astrology could have accurate predictions about my future after learning more about zodiac signs and what there is out there that describes people born in a specific month."
"Before this lesson I didn't understand the differences in the types of eclipses, I figured they were all the same. Understanding how they work and why they occur makes much interested in viewing an eclipse."
"I'm honestly still pretty neutral on it. It is still interesting but I haven’t had a point where I’m like, 'Yeah, this is totally predicting the future.'"
"I have learned that horoscope astrology signs are off and I am actually a taurus. It hasn't really changed my beliefs but it's cool to learn about."
"Something that I didn't know that I know now is how scientists don't update the zodiac signs to the correct dates and months due to the movement of the constellations. It has not affected my opinion on astrology at all i'm still neutral."
"Something I know now is that our zodiac signs are slightly different than what actual constellations our birthdays on the internet assigns. For example how I am considered a libra, however the sun is not located in front of that on my birthday, it is actually located in front of Virgo. This somewhat affected my opinion making my disbelief opinion stronger simply because what is said online is already incorrect based on what the star wheel tells us, which makes it harder for me to believe."
"I am not sure how to answer this question, I just know how it can't predict the future but there is some coincidences sometimes."
"I have learned that the zodiac signs that we usually see are off by one month, they're not accurate. That being said, I definitely support the fact I that astrology cant predict our future.
I know know that the zodiacs that I think I know are a month off present time and now I know I'm not a Leo, I'm a Cancer."
"I put agree because I found that astronomy was interesting in high school and couldn't decide if I should major in criminal justice or astronomy."
"Knowing that the zodiacs were a month off does push my thoughts of astrology to neutral from disagree. I don't think that they can completely predict something but they can hit some points that may apply to you."
"My opinion on astrology hasn't changed all that much. I have learned a couple new things but my opinion hasn't been affected much."
"I still say neutral due to the fact that I don't really know how the information I have already obtained from the course would help me on deciding in belief of disbelief."
"There is no way for someone to see the future their is no way to know what will happen in the distant future."
"My opinion that it relies on confirmation bias still stands, with the added point that technically it can predict a very specific part of the future, by which I mean one can predict what stars will be where when on any date including the future."
"I had no idea about provers and disprovers, tearing an idea down or trying to prove a idea.
Astrological signs don't line up with the constellations."
"I still feel the same about astrology. I disagree that it has any impact on the events in our lives and our personalities, as it has been disproved by various scientists to be supported by the scientific method. A new thing I did learn though was that the zodiac constellations and zodiac horoscopes do not match up, as the zodiac constellations on the starwheel and the dates for the horoscopes are a month off from each other. This may show that astrology is not completely reliable."
"I'm still curious as to why people believe that these star signs can predict things. I want to see some sort of reasoning from astrology fans. I have a hard time believing anything without proof or reason."
"I don't really know much about astrology still and that makes me not confident in choosing whether or not I believe or disbelieve in astrology. I think my lack of information is holding me back from forming an opinion."
"I believe it's not true that it can predict one's future because the star wheel says my zodiac sign is different from what I have thought my whole life."
"I think my line of thinking, that people believe in astrology because they fulfill the expectations of behavior of their signs and focus on features they share with their sign and ignoring contradicting features, still stands? Technically you could say you can make accurate predictions about your future using astrology, but it would be very specific things like what constellation will be on the meridian on your birthday, or 6 months after your birthday, or such."
"I previously had chosen that I agreed, but after finding out that well there not really off new data the stars are always changing, but we have not changed with it. I am a Virgo originally but come to find out my true sign is Leo. So when I look now it is totally ruined for me because I'm technically not Virgo anymore. I am now neutral about it."
Match the phase of the moon during these eclipse types. (Only correct responses shown.)
Total solar eclipse: new moon [78%]
Partial solar eclipse: new moon [56%]
Annular solar eclipse: new moon [66%]
Total lunar eclipse: full moon [91%]
Partial lunar eclipse: full moon [72%]
Place these astronomers in chronological order of their historical contribution to astronomy. (Only correct responses shown.)
Aristotle [75%]
Ptolemy [59%]
Copernicus [69%]
Tycho [56%]
Kepler [50%]
Galileo [41%]
Newton [69%]
Match these terms with their descriptions. (Only correct responses shown.)
Ideas accepted as truth without further examination: first principles [72%]
Predictions that could be tested by observations: hypotheses [94%]
Universal statements of cause and effect: rational laws [63%]
Describe phenomena without explaining why it occurs: empirical laws [68%]
Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class."Do you think it is cooler to witness a solar eclipse or lunar eclipse and why?" (A total solar eclipse, no question. It is really cool to see the sun literally transform into a black dot and they sky turn into stars over just a few minutes. Also hearing all the birds freak out, and the streetlights pop on in the middle of totality.)
"Can you explain the moon phases and their effect on eclipses?"
"Explain differences between solar and lunar, they make no sense to me."
"Something I found confusing was why we are not allowed to look directly at the eclipse. I know that it is dangerous but why does it make it so dangerous." (During a solar eclipse sun gets covered up enough that it seems safe enough to look at directly, but because you want to watch it for a few minutes, you will wind up damaging your eyes without knowing it.)
"Overall this section was a little harder to grasp for me. The stuff about eclipses just needs some going over for me. The historical stuff was just dull to get through, but it was still interesting to see the different kinds of models that were made leading up to ours."
"All the wack models of the solar system that ancient minds thought made total sense are so interesting to me, like Anaximander's model from the 7th century BCE where Earth is surrounded by air, encased in a spherical shell with holes in it, and behind those holes is a layer of fire that gives stars their light."
"How did these astronomers effect astronomy? I couldn't find where we discussed this." (The textbook is background reading; we'll be discussing this in class this week and next week.)
"Why do you think it took so long for heliocentrism to be figured out when the Greeks easily figured out that Earth was a sphere?" (Well, even then not everyone was convinced with the geometrical proof that Earth was spherical. Old beliefs die hard.)
"Will there be a lot of questions delving into each astronomers and what they've done, or will it be major accomplishments they've achieved?" (We'll concentrate on their contributions on developing (or refuting) models of explaining why planets undergo retrograde motion.)
"Good class so far, keep it up ;)"
