AST 101

The Celestial Clockworks

Fall Semesters

1 credit (1 hr lecture, 0 hr lab)

Prerequisites: none

 

Explores timekeeping and navigation as a means to understanding motions of Earth and sky.

Topics included:

Constellation identification

Use of star maps, planisphere, and astrolabe.

Sky coordinate systems

Timekeeping

Determining latitude and longitude

Solar system motions

Although skylore is presented in passing, this is not a mythology course.

The math used in this course is minimal: some arithmetic, fractions, angle measurement, shifting your perspective between two and three dimensions.