Astronomy C

[robotman]

Discussion for Astronomy C.

Resources:
Astronomy Wiki
2009 Thread (Variable Stars)
2010 Thread (Galaxies)
2011 Thread (AGNs)
2012 Thread (Stellar Evolution & Type Ia Supernovae)
2013 Thread (Stellar Evolution & Type II Supernovae)
2014 Thread (Variable Stars & Stellar Evolution)
2015 Thread (Star & Planet Formation)
2014 Question Marathon
2015 Question Marathon
Astronomy Test Exchange 2016

[Magikarpmaster629]

To anyone who doesn't have the rules yet:

The topics are star formation and exoplanets.

DSOs: T Tauri, HL Tauri, AB Aurigae, HAT-P-11b, 51 Pegasi b, WASP-43b, WASP-18b, HD 106906b, WISE 0855-0714, 2MASSJ22282889-431026, M42, Barnard 68; systems 55 Cancri, Kepler-186, HD 95086, GD 165, and HR 8799.

EDIT: Whoops, spelled the 2MASS one wrong; sorry if I caused confusion

[sciolymom]

I was thinking of getting the Carroll Introduction to Modern Astrophysics as a resource for this year. Is the second edition from 2006 really the most recent? That seems a bit old. We used Astronomy Today for last year, plus a zillion internet resources, of course. Any other textbooks recommended?

[AlphaTauri]

Did you mean the Carroll & Ostlie textbook? That's the only "Intro to Modern Astrophysics" I know of. While it is a very good and in-depth resource overall, there are a few caveats: it's written for upper undergrads and grad students, the most recent edition is indeed pretty old, the price is pretty steep, and most of all, exoplanetology has changed a great deal since then.

Textbooks in general are pretty expensive, so I don't know if you really want to buy any just for Astronomy. You can definitely do well in the event with just internet resources, so by no means feel obligated to buy books to do well.

[sciolymom]

Yes, that's the one I meant, sorry, typo. That's what I was wondering, it seemed to old to me. Last year when we were working on Astronomy it seemed like that book was referenced quite a bit, so I thought it might be useful. But don't want to spend that money if it's not worth it. Thanks for the input!

[EastStroudsburg13]

Just for the record, the [wiki]Astronomy/Star and Planet Formation[/wiki] requires a LOT of help. Adding info to this page would be really appreciated, and there may be rewards associated with putting that info in.

[Skink]

A Google search I had ran netted an old topic wherein syo suggested, for that year's subtopics, An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics 2ed. I was going to ping him about it, but it seems that a lot of folks here can help. Per AlphaTauri above, if not that one, then is there a print resource that covers this year's subtopics in any amount of detail that isn't outdated? As someone without an astronomy background (beyond RftS, anyway), I'm not the best person to assess every Internet resource I come across. I don't, even, mean in terms of quality but depth of material presented. I've always been mystified by the computer use, too, and I'm finally at the point where I have to make sense of that.

[syo_astro]

A Google search I had ran netted an old topic wherein syo suggested, for that year's subtopics, An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics 2ed. I was going to ping him about it, but it seems that a lot of folks here can help. Per AlphaTauri above, if not that one, then is there a print resource that covers this year's subtopics in any amount of detail that isn't outdated? As someone without an astronomy background (beyond RftS, anyway), I'm not the best person to assess every Internet resource I come across. I don't, even, mean in terms of quality but depth of material presented. I've always been mystified by the computer use, too, and I'm finally at the point where I have to make sense of that.

Too late, you pinged me . I don't know which year is "that year", but it is very important to understand the limits of how much textbooks can help. An especially limiting factor with scientific texts is mathematical background, and that is something you probably know, especially as one goes through her/his career. I could search around for an exoplanet textbook that is probably pretty good, but my research is not about that as much as star formation. The sections of Carroll and Ostlie about that topic are pretty good, but you could match it conceptually enough for scioly with online information I'd bet. A good way to tell if it is good stuff is that you can start with college lecture notes of varying levels (intro, advanced, etc). The coursework can give ideas of how difficulty differs. The DSOs also provide a source for finding more specific and difficult concepts that astronomers continue to deal with.

The classic claim for computers is who needs to lug around an inefficient tree when you have ctrl+f. This has been debated many times, though, and there's advantages and disadvantages (I believe in one of the past two year's this has been lengthily discussed, in addition to a solid section on the wiki about that). Personally, I don't think textbooks are the be all, end all. I would recommend just going topic by topic presented in the rules, seeing information, and comparing websites. If the hardwork is done, then you should at least come out better for it. I may not be the most efficient person, but I get the job done .

Edit: Also, we a newer astronomy scioly.org person because I really don't know enough about exoplanets.

[Skink]

Nice timing.
No, you're right. In the digital era we live in, online lecture notes do approach textbook quality, especially for our purposes here. I know that method works well for other events. I suppose I'll see what's out there for the first main subsection (3.a., stellar evolution or something) and see where that gets us in, oh, five or six weeks, maybe reporting back. Picking up Solar System was frustrating two seasons ago; at least, the material here seems a little less obscure, even if it's higher level.

[asdfqwerzzz2]

Is the Webinar presented by Donna during the summer coach's camp going to be uploaded this year?