Introduction to Astronomy - Users Guide to the Night Sky

Optional evening sessions - meet at 8pm at the old observatory, Potters Bank. Wear WARM clothes and practical footwear (potentially muddy field).
All sessions depend on the WEATHER! There will be a note here at 4pm on the day saying whether or not the observing night will go ahead.
Wednesday 13th Feb- STILL LOOKING GOOD - come out if its clear at 8pm

To ancient civilizations the sky was a source of wonder and awe. The cycles of the sky - night and day, summer and winter - were an integral part of their life. Even today these cycles still affect us - our bodies follow day and night in waking and sleeping, and the seasons still regulate part of our social lives. This course will look at the origin of the cycles we see in the sky.

Various magazines about the sky have useful home pages on the web, including Sky and Telescope and Astronomy. There is also a nice site called learn whats up which has lots of general information, including star charts for the current month for our latitude. Alternatively, you can make your own using the online planetarium using yoursky (Durham is at 55 degrees North and 2 degrees West).

The PROVISIONAL title and aims of each lecture are given below, together with links to on-line resources. This page will get added to as term progresses, so keep checking to see what is here (and hit reload to make sure you are getting the most up to date version!).

Lectures

Lecture 1 Stars	Lecture 2 More stars	Lecture 3 The Moon	Lecture 4 Planets	Lecture 5 Comets, Asteroids, Meteorites and Impacts