The public video lectures just cover the astronomy content from the Astronomy Notes textbook. The public lectures do not include the material that is for the astronomy class such as how to use the class Canvas, lecture outlines in the Student Guide, exam review documents, etc. Students in the Bakersfield College astronomy classes should use the astronomy class lecture videos posted in the class Canvas to get that class-specific content.
The video lectures are grouped together in the Naked Eye - Public YouTube playlist. Here are the individual videos for astronomy without a telescope:
Video 1: (for webpages #1 to #4) This video is about the celestial sphere, the sky we can see around us without using binoculars or a telescope. This video covers the reference markers celestial pole, celestial equator, zenith, and meridian and how the star paths change with latitude.
Video 2: (for webpage #5) This video is about the motion of the sun across the sky at different times of the year and the effect of latitude on what we see. It focuses on the motions during the June and December solstices and the March and September equinoxes.
Video 3: (for webpages #6) This video is about the altitude-azimuth and the equatorial (right ascension - declination) coordinate systems and precession.
Video 4: (for webpages #7 to #11) This video is about the cause of the seasons and the two ways of measuring a day: the sidereal day and the solar day. For the seasons, the true explanation of how the tilt of the Earth creates seasonal temperatures is contrasted with the popular but incorrect model of the Earth-Sun distance creating seasonal temperature changes. For the sidereal day/solar day, the extra degree of Earth spin = 4 extra minutes of time for the solar day is derived. The video ends with a description of the Equation of Time and where it comes from.
Video 5: (for webpages #12 to #13) This video is about the motions of the moon and moon phases. It first covers the spin-orbit resonance of the moon where it spins once for every one orbit, keeping one face always toward the Earth. Then the rest of the video covers the phases of the moon: the cause of the phases from the sun-moon angle; when a particular phase will rise, be up highest on the sky, and set; and how the Earth's shadow cannot be the reason for the phases. It shows the views from space as well as the views from on the ground.
Video 6: (for webpages #12 to #13) This video goes into more details about the moon phases. It starts with how to tell the difference between a waxing phase and a waning phase, including how that works from an orrery view high above the Earth-moon system. It then covers the powerful technique used in the Mapping Solar System project of constructing a "time compass" and the observer's horizon to determine when a given object rises or is on the meridian or sets. It ends with two additional examples for the moon.
Video 7: (for webpage #14) This video is about lunar eclipses and solar eclipses. It covers the geometry of the Earth, moon, and sun for an eclipse and why they do not occur every month---why they are rare. It then explains why the total lunar eclipse has an orange-red color and the difference between an annular solar eclipse and a total solar eclipse. It ends with pictures from some solar eclipses.
last updated: June 24, 2022