Subject: State of astronomy education (sigh)
From: [email-masked] (&)
Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1993 14:10:48 GMT
Newsgroups: sci.astro

As another academic term is upon us, I thought it appropriate to post this
list of excerpts from actual papers in introductory astronomy classes
over the last few years. They are verbatim, except for a few typos thath have 
been repaired. And these are people who had been sitting through whole
lectures on the various subjects...
Any additions will be viewed with alarm.

Bill Keel                              Astronomy, University of Alabama

--------

A radio telescope often sends messages to the astronomer by the use of
frequencies.

The gravity of the earth while rotating receives a bulge on the sides due 
to the speed of the earth and in what relation the moon is to the
earth. When the ocean waters become full to capacity it overflows upon
the beaches. After the earth rotates the oceans can hold that water again
on the earth due to the relation of gravity and mass of the two direct 
points.

During the winter months, the Earth is higher away from the Sun so we have 
longer days.

During a lunar eclipse the sun is completely covered by the moon and during 
a lunar eclipse the moon just passes through the earth's shadow.

During lunar eclipses, the moon travels around the sun preventing light to 
the earth. During solar eclipses, the earth travels around the moon.
 
 The earth's surface is closer to the moon than it is to the center of the 
 earth.

 The star starts out by being formed by gravity pushing being pushed back.

 Clouds of gas and particles float throughout the atmosphere. As these 
 processes continue the stars gain luminosity, size, distance, and energy.

 Helium has no insulation, so therefore it radiates off the star and causes 
 it to swell.

 It will be several millenia before there are any significant changes in the 
 Sun.

 A main sequence star transforms into a Red Giant - the Red Giant is very 
 hot. The Red Giant goes to the envelope magnitide and after gradual 
 cooling, the end process is a white dwarf. A white dwarf generates
 no energy inside its core. This whole process can take months and sometimes 
 years.

 These smaller planets are said to be fragments produced by collisions and 
 some of the larger ones were named by the collisions.

 Some 200 years ago, X-ray astronomy was used to obtain temperatures of the 
 atmosphere at many different altitudes.

 Most impacts on the Earth's surface are impact craters.

 Asteriods are minor planets that orbit the sun like a planet in the area
 of the solar system called the astriod belt.

 A comet is an object that orbits the sun in the shape of an ellipse.

 The incredible fascination with the Milky Way has become so great that 
 poets have even written poems about it.

 Most of this reasoning lies in the fact that the Milky Way is not alone. It 
 is part of the magnificent Milky Way Galaxy which is still being studied 
 today.

 People all around the world are fascinated with the thought that there may 
 be extraterrestrial life on Mars.

 During a solar eclipse the sun tends to stay out longer and is much more
 damaging - it takes longer for the earth to rotate. The lunar eclipse means
 less sunlight and the earth rotates faster.

 Since the distance from the center of the earth to its outer edge is 4000
 times farther than from the earth to the moon, the gravitational pull from
 the moon pulls the liquid part of our earth to a slight point.

 The retrograde motions of the earth give rise to the seasons, as shown 
 here.

 During a solar eclipse, the moon passes at just the right time and distance 
 from the moon that it appears to cover the sun.

 Radio telescopes can become blurred because of the actual radio waves in 
 motion.

 The Sun is one of the clearest stars to be seen on earth because it has the 
 largest animosity.

 When the possibility of life existing in other places is discussed, the 
 plant Jupiter is left out.

 In that experiment results support the theory that life once may have been 
 present on Earth years ago.

 In addition, size is very important for bacterial and fungal spores and for 
 viruses beause the distance of the organism from the star for the ratoi of 
 radiative acceleration is the same at all distances. 

 There is a bright side to being the first and only intelligent beings in 
 our galaxy - we will have the chance to found the Galactic Empire!