Hi! I'm Allison Widhalm, and I'm your TA for Astronomy 305, Life in the Universe. I just finished my B.S. in Astrophysics from the University of Southern California.


This is Tommy Trojan, all of his muscles are flexed at the same time. That's hot. Good luck in football this year, "Aggies"...
I'm a first year grad student, and I work for Rene and another professor, Chris Churchill. I'm really interested in galaxy evolution and gas dynamics!! Ask me about it sometime if you feel like sucking up.

Wanna see the moon in better resolution? go here!

WIKIPEDIA is an amazing source of information!

Please pick up your homeworks; I have them in my office.

Homework 1

EXTRA CREDIT:

• How does this movie address the global reaction to the reality of extra-terrestrial life (in the movie)?
• What is the feasibility of a "contact" (a message) being received in this manner? (via radio waves, and using mathematics) **do not neglect to address why radio waves are better suited for this than any other form of telescope data gathering. For this, you may need to do some minor online research to better understand different types of telescopes. I recommend wikipedia. Search around there, and give me some examples of the most likely telescopes to detect interstellar transmissions.
• Why is it strange that the message seems to come from a planet of Vega? (hint: look up Vega on wikipedia, and discuss the conditions for an advanced civilization to be capable of making contact. Also, they discuss this dilemma directly, minorly, in the movie.)
• Science and religion seam to crash violently in this film. Dr. Arroway has a preacher boyfriend, and there's some crazy dude that wants to kill everyone (BTW, he's in a cult too...). This presents two sides to the argument of the compatability of science with religion. How can science ever be compatable with religion, and vise versa? If you watch south park, and saw the awesomely funny episode a few weeks about about the future and Wii and beavers, please make rediculous comments tying that in as well (it's drastic commentary about the compatability of science and religion).
• During one late observing run, an astronomer makes a joke about how vampires would make the best astronomers. Why would vampires make the best astronomers???
• Dr. Arroway was the first scientist (in this movie) to detect the alien message. Her scientific team (a part of SETI) was also specially trained to detect and study interstellar messages. What are your views on the acting government's policy to berate Dr. Arroway for informing an Australian astronomer, and asking his help, as one government official viewed this as nearly treason?
• Since Dr. Arroway and her team were clearly the most well-informed scientists studying the message, what are your views on the government official's decision to give the project to Dr. Drumlin? Let me remind you, Dr. Drumlin opposed Dr. Arroway's research on "little green men", and the sole reason he was given priority control of the project was because he was the Science Advisor to the President. This type of bureaucratic @*&# happens frequently in science, mainly because, as I said in class, the government is the main funder of the research. Is this fair? Is it not more fair to let the scientists passionate about the subject (and also more well-informed) lead the research? If you were President, what would you have done?
• What would be your personal reaction to the discovery of the meaning behind the message? Would you back a decision to build the object? Or, like the negative-nancy advisor to the President, would you automatically assume it was a "Trojan Horse" type thing? What factors would you weigh in your decision?
• If you were chosen to represent your species, and you were given the chance to ask only one question of the "aliens", what would it be? Why? Why would this question be important to you, the representative of the human race, and what implications do you think their answer could have when you return?
• Did you like the whole "Pensacola-beach-with-dad-alien" scene? If yes, how do you think it helped the movie? If no, how would you have changed it?
• There's a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that is very similar to this movie. The crew of the Enterprise is beginning to "make contact" with an emerging class M planet; it is just beginning to discover warp drive, a quality required for interstellar travel, and warranting contact. The scientist on the planet who discovers warp drive is really excited to meet the "aliens" on the Enterprise, but most of the civilians are very socially conservative and are afraid of the implications of interstellar travel and communication. Thus, the government makes the decision to tell the Federation (the Star Trek main government) that they wish to remain isolated and uncontacted for several more centuries, until they "get used" to the idea of interstellar travel and aliens. A similar thing happens when Dr. Arroway returns to Earth from her "alien-Pensacola" experience. In the world of Contact, how long do you think it will take the society to accept the notion of space travel and real aliens? Will they ever, and will they ever travel through the crazy Japanese worm-hole thingie again? Would our real society react any differently? How long do you think it would take for our society to grasp the reality of interstellar (real interstellar, not just robots to Titan) travel and communication? Would you be an advocade of it? Why or why not?
• bonus gold-star point: What's the nerdiest thing you've ever done? Everyone's a nerd/dork on some level, no need to be ashamed. Nerds are just people who are passionate about learning about/ pursuing one particular thing.

Grading policy: I create answer sheets to your homeworks based on the information in the book. If a question isn't answered quite right, but part of it is correct, I will give partial credit. However, if the question isn't answered at all, I will not give credit; thus, please be careful and read all directions. I don't take off for grammar or spelling mistakes, but I do try to correct them for you.

• Suggestions for a good score: Heh, I'm not talking about giving out answers, I mean some good advice that might help you avoid common pitfalls.

  • Double check the assignment to make sure you are doing the correct problems. Also check whether the questions are Review questions or Problem questions.

  • Double check the exact instructions for the questions, especially the Problem questions. Some questions ask whether an idea makes sense or not (meaning, is it logical given current information), or whether an idea can be tested experimentally. Watch the wording on these questions, or they will trip you up!

  • Make sure you do everything asked, including answering multiple parts to a question.

• Late homework policy: you may turn in homework late; however, if I've already graded the assignment, I will take off a point. Please turn the homework in, anyway; a point isn't so bad when it's out of 10 and it's far better that you get the feedback. Because I now offer the solution set on the web, you may only turn in a homework 1 week past when it is due. If you see the solution set online, then it's too late to turn in the homework.
  • Special: if you did the wrong question on a homework, I will allow you to do the correct problem for credit. You must submit it to me along with a copy of your original homework. "Doing the wrong question" is only if you did, say, Discussion Question 2 when it was actually Review Question 2 which was assigned.

• If you think your homework was graded unfairly, or you want to go through the answers in detail, stop by my office and I'll be happy to help. If you can't make it during office hours, then email me and I'll find a time good for us both. If I made a mistake in grading, I'll regrade the paper. If you feel uncomfortable confronting me about it, take it to Dr. Walterbos and he can bring it up with me.

• Feel free to ask questions about the homework. If you think you understand something from the book, consider running it by Dr. Walterbos or myself, either in person or by email. Actually, if you're doing the homework late at night, chances are pretty good that I'm in my office, too, and can answer emails quickly.

• Please, please don't start your homework the night before it's due. You'll get totally stressed out. Then astronomy, which is supposed to be challenging and interesting, becomes only difficult and frustrating --- and that would be a tragedy.

Lecture notes from Chapter 14 lecture (PDF format).

Lecture notes from Chapter 3 lecture (PDF format).

ppt1 from Chapter 3 lecture (PDF format).

ppt2 from Chapter 3 lecture (PDF format).

ppt3 from Chapter 3 lecture (PDF format).

Pictures from Chapter 3 lecture:

Simple helix
Complicated helix
DNA replication
Yellowstone bacteria
Urey and Miller experiment

• If you take the time to come to class, then take the mental effort to pay attention. You can read the paper any time. You paid (a lot of) money to attend this course, so get your money's worth. This is your education at stake, so make us work hard to give it to you.

• Please take the time to read the book. It's no fun catching up on your reading the day before homework is due (or worse, before a test!). It also helps to read the chapters (or Dr. Walterbos web pages) before you come to class; however, I know that you've got busy schedules this semester (me, too), so I won't harp on it. I only thought it might help if the lecture in class weren't your first introduction to the material, that you could use lecture to piece ideas together and learn more about them.

• Ask Dr. Walterbos lots of questions in class. As you might have noticed, he loves it when you ask questions! Chances are that, if you have a question, someone else does, too. I follow the same advice for the classes I'm taking.

Space.com has a whole section on Extrasolar planets, and here are a few neat ones:

• Asteroid Belt Like Ours Spotted Around Another Star
• Building Blocks of Life Found in Planet-Forming Disk
  
• The Holy Grail: Small, Rocky Worlds
  

• Lichen can survive in space
  
• Life's building blocks are common in space
  
• Nearby disk contains life's chemicals
  
• Building life from star-stuff
  
• Where is everybody?

HubbleSite has those fantastic images you've all seen as well as great articles.

Build a solar system lets you calculate your own scale model of the solar system.

For a more intuitive feel of the size of the solar system, you can visit the Virtual solar system scale model.

Extremophiles of all types are described in this great site, which links to many external articles as well.

While not exactly on topic for the course, I recommend strolling around Atmosphere Optics for a vivid tour of all the amazing things that light can do in our atmosphere.