Astronomy C

[K-Meister]

Thanks for the info!

[K-Meister]

One thing you should not do is purely read Wikipedia. It is good for getting a basic overview, but it will not truly help you learn and engage into the event. The DSOs assure that won't happen if you're up against a good test writer. Books for next year depend on the topic. There are some good books on exoplanets, early stellar evo, but I don't know if they're worth getting (they'd probably be far too high-level for the event). There is always the classic rec of Carroll and Ostlie (Intro to Modern Astrophys), but the sections on planet stuff honestly relate more to solar systems (there's some decent overview on young stellar evo, though). I feel like the exoplanets/young stellar evo topic lends itself more towards lecture notes and other sources online that work quite well, even if you don't like to sit there trawling through the web . I highly recommend doing that, though. The other issue with "downloading wiki" is that then you get dependent on notes...rather than just knowing it, which can sometimes super mess you up. Of course, if it is galaxies as Chalker keeps asserting (which I've tried to show isn't necessarily true...but I enjoy confusion before official rules release), then the books would definitely be different. Hope that helped!

Also I looked at Carroll and Ostile, to me this book seems to advanced for the event. Is "Astronomy Today" by Eric Chaisson, Steve McMillan a good book. I have the link right here: http://www.amazon.com/Astronomy-Today-7 ... nomy+today
Thanks again

[syo_astro]

My point was that you should not be getting a book that's basic, where you could find the info online through lecture notes and other general resources. Carroll and Ostlie is an advanced text, but conceptually it will work you hard. I personally would recommend looking stuff up online, as brown dwarfs and exoplanets are a reeally recent topic (and few basic/intermediate texts cover it as well as say young stellar evo, which you could still find stuff online for). Even for galaxies, the resources are plentiful online.

[AlphaTauri]

IIRC, Chaisson is alright, but why buy the textbook when you can easily find the same information online? Many colleges put up notes, lecture slides, and/or problem sets for their intro astro classes. And of course, there's the aptly named astronomynotes.com.

As for Carroll and Ostlie, the math is at a much higher level than you'll ever need for scioly -- it's a book for upper undergrads and grad students -- but as syo said, it is great for explaining many concepts in more detail. If you're really into astro and you can get a copy of it for cheap/free, it's totally worth it, but with textbook prices being what they are... C/O is by no means obligatory if you want to do well in astro, just helpful with some of the more advanced stuff.

That being said, it's not AS useful this coming year because of the focus on exoplanets etc. (if what Donna said in the coaches' webinar is true), since the most recent edition was published in the early 2000s and exoplanetology as a field has changed dramatically since then.

[windu34]

My team's veteran astronomer is leaving and there is a posbility i will be replacing him. I am already doing air trajectory, invasives, electric vehicle, and dynamic planet. To a complete newcomer, how difficult would it be to go into this event and do well? Any advice?

[syo_astro]

My team's veteran astronomer is leaving and there is a posbility i will be replacing him. I am already doing air trajectory, invasives, electric vehicle, and dynamic planet. To a complete newcomer, how difficult would it be to go into this event and do well? Any advice?

Ah, yes, the classic question...to do or not do Astrnomy, the best event in the universe . The event is only as easy as how the test writer wants to make it. My personal recommendation is that 4 events is a good max out. It provides a solid balance and possible scope of events to do. I know some cases your team can't do this, but if possible, then I'd try for that. If you get a good/tough test writer, s/he will make you work hard. It's not terrible for newcomers actually because it is never taught in schools really (or else is usually more of a broad, broad overview). I started in sophomore year never having done it before. My main advice is work hard. If you read the rules and understand the point of each word/DSO, then you will do very well. Also, stay organized. You get any sized binder or a laptop. It's for a reason, there's a lot of information.

Summary: Organization and concepts are key, if you can do that you're golden. There's also math too, but nothing insurmountable (max algebra/trig, physics helps, but I started without it).

Do you have any worries you've heard of in particular?

[Unome]

My team's veteran astronomer is leaving and there is a posbility i will be replacing him. I am already doing air trajectory, invasives, electric vehicle, and dynamic planet. To a complete newcomer, how difficult would it be to go into this event and do well? Any advice?

Ah, yes, the classic question...to do or not do Astrnomy, the best event in the universe . The event is only as easy as how the test writer wants to make it. My personal recommendation is that 4 events is a good max out. It provides a solid balance and possible scope of events to do. I know some cases your team can't do this, but if possible, then I'd try for that. If you get a good/tough test writer, s/he will make you work hard. It's not terrible for newcomers actually because it is never taught in schools really (or else is usually more of a broad, broad overview). I started in sophomore year never having done it before. My main advice is work hard. If you read the rules and understand the point of each word/DSO, then you will do very well. Also, stay organized. You get any sized binder or a laptop. It's for a reason, there's a lot of information.

Summary: Organization and concepts are key, if you can do that you're golden. There's also math too, but nothing insurmountable (max algebra/trig, physics helps, but I started without it).

Do you have any worries you've heard of in particular?

That was exactly the question I was about to ask, since I was planning on taking it next year as well; maybe your explanations just make it seem difficult to me (or possibly I just haven't spent enough time reading them).

[windu34]

I have alot of time on my hands and practically have air trajectory and electric vehicle built already for next year. Im mostly concerned about the level of math. Im in alg 2 currently and taking preclc over the summer and calc A/B next year

[syo_astro]

My explanations are difficult because I try to be fairly rigorous. If you read through what I type fully and have a full question exchange with me, as you could tell with the CO mother, I think it can be quite productive . I did answer your question with math to be fair. I would like to note purely that math up to algebra/trig is all you need to know really. Calculus can help slightly, but not really. Physics and using the math is what helps a lot further (not saying calc isn't useful...it is immensely, but not at the level of scioly events). In any case, as I said, it's not something directly taught in schools, and I started without having even finished alg2/trig (that's where I was at soph year). I'm still going to argue you about the going over 4 event thing . But that's your decision end of day.

If you haven't gone through and looked stuff about the event, the physics, and many practice tests/problems online (between the test exchange and AAVSO, there are tons), then most certainly it will be difficult. That is more of a lack of experience within the event itself than in general. I make it a point that all of my problems can be solved with algebra/trig following this, but they all require either a high degree of preparation or a high degree of practice.

[AlphaTauri]

Precalc should be fine, I think that's what I was taking when I started doing astro. In general, there is an unwritten rule that scioly tests will not require calc, and I personally have never seen any questions on astro tests that needed calc. The "worst" things you'll deal with are probably logs and powers.

On a related note, a course in physics is somewhat useful, but by no means required. Astro has a lot of concepts/equations that are completely separate from what you'd learn in an intro physics class, and any points where it does cross over (mostly gravity and momentum) can be picked up through the astro perspective.