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Podcast Profile: Astronomy 161 - Introduction to Solar System Astronomy

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47 episodes
2006 to 2009

Collection: Physics, Math, and Astronomy


Description (podcaster-provided):

Astronomy 161, Introduction to the Solar System, is the first quarter of
a 2-quarter introductory Astronomy for non-science majors taught at The
Ohio State University. This podcast presents audio recordings of
Professor Richard Pogge's lectures from his Autumn Quarter 2006 class.
All of the lectures were recorded live in 100 Stillman Hall on the OSU
Main Campus in Columbus, Ohio.


Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):

➤ Intro solar-system astronomy lectures • sky mapping, celestial coordinates, motions • seasons, Moon phases, eclipses • timekeeping, calendars • planetary motion models, Copernican revolution • Newtonian gravity, orbits, tides • light, atoms, spectroscopy, telescopes • Earth/Moon geology, atmospheres • solar-system formation • planets, moons, rings, asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt, Pluto definition • exoplanet detection

This podcast presents live classroom lectures from an Ohio State University introductory course on solar system astronomy for non-science majors. Across the series, the instructor builds the foundational “toolkit” used in astronomy, starting with scientific notation, metric units, and key distance measures such as the astronomical unit and light-year. Listeners are then guided through how the sky is mapped and described, including constellations, celestial coordinates, and the apparent motions produced by Earth’s rotation and orbit. Several lectures connect astronomy to everyday experience through explanations of seasons, lunar phases, eclipses, and the astronomical roots of timekeeping, time zones, and calendar systems.

A major theme is how models of the cosmos developed historically and scientifically. The lectures trace the transition from ancient geocentric frameworks to heliocentric ideas, and then to the physics that explains planetary motion, emphasizing the contributions of figures such as Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton. Core physical concepts—laws of motion, universal gravitation, orbital mechanics, and tides—are presented as the basis for understanding how bodies move and evolve in the solar system.

The podcast also introduces the observational and physical methods astronomers use, including the behavior of light, the Doppler effect, atomic structure, spectroscopy, and telescope technology. The latter part of the course surveys the solar system’s major worlds and small bodies—Earth, the Moon, terrestrial planets, gas and ice giants, moons, rings, asteroids, comets, and Kuiper Belt objects—linking their properties to solar system formation and evolution. The series concludes by discussing planet definitions and the detection of planets around other stars.


Episodes:
Welcome to Astronomy 161
2006-Sep-18

Lecture 2: Astronomical Numbers
2006-Sep-21

Lecture 3: The Starry Night
2006-Sep-22

Lecture 4: Measuring the Earth
2006-Sep-25

Lecture 5: Mapping Earth and Sky
2006-Sep-26

Lecture 6: Daily and Annual Motions
2006-Sep-27

Lecture 7: The Four Seasons
2006-Sep-28

Lecture 8: Phases of the Moon
2006-Sep-29

Lecture 9: Eclipses of the Sun and Moon
2006-Oct-02

Lecture 10: Telling Time
2006-Oct-03

Lecture 11: The Calendar
2006-Oct-04

Lecture 12: The Wanderers - Planetary Motions
2006-Oct-05

Lecture 13: Greek Astronomy
2006-Oct-09

Lecture 14: The Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus
2006-Oct-10

Lecture 15: The Watershed: Tycho and Kepler
2006-Oct-11

Lecture 16: Galileo and the Telescope
2006-Oct-12

Lecture 17: On the Shoulders of Giants: Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion
2006-Oct-13

Lecture 18: The Apple and the Moon - Newtonian Gravity
2006-Oct-16

Lecture 19: Orbits
2006-Oct-17

Lecture 20: Tides
2006-Oct-18

Lecture 21: The Rotation and Revolution of the Earth
2006-Oct-19

Lecture 22: Light the Messenger
2006-Oct-23

Lecture 23: Worlds Within: Atoms
2006-Oct-24

Lecture 24: Matter and Light
2006-Oct-25

Lecture 25: Measuring Light - Spectroscopy
2006-Oct-26

Lecture 26: Telescopes
2006-Oct-27

Lecture 27: Deep Time - The Age of the Earth
2006-Oct-30

Lecture 28: Inside the Earth
2006-Oct-31

Lecture 29: The Earth's Atmosphere
2006-Nov-01

Lecture 30: The Moon
2006-Nov-02

Lecture 31: The Family of the Sun
2006-Nov-06

Lecture 32: The Origin of the Solar System
2006-Nov-07

Lecture 33: Battered Mercury
2006-Nov-08

Lecture 34: Venus Unveiled
2006-Nov-09

Lecture 35: The Deserts of Mars
2006-Nov-13

Lecture 36: Worlds in Comparison - The Terrestrial Planets
2006-Nov-14

Lecture 37: Jupiter and Saturn
2006-Nov-15

Lecture 38: Uranus and Neptune
2006-Nov-16

Lecture 39: The Moons of Jupiter
2006-Nov-20

Lecture 40: The Saturn System
2006-Nov-21

Lecture 41: Planetary Rings
2006-Nov-22

Lecture 42: Asteroids and Meteoroids
2006-Nov-27

Lecture 43: Icy Worlds of the Outer Solar System
2006-Nov-28

Lecture 44: Comets
2006-Nov-29

Lecture 45: Is Pluto a Planet?
2006-Nov-30

Lecture 46: ExoPlanets - Planets around Other Stars
2006-Dec-01

Astronomy 141 Podcast Teaser
2009-Dec-06