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May 03, 2026
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Undergraduate Catalog 2026-2027
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SCI 103L Astronomy Lab Credits: (1)
Laboratory exercises emphasizing practical astronomy. Intended for those who wish to deepen their understanding of astronomy and/or those who have a laboratory science requirement to satisfy. Pre/co-requisite(s): SCI 103 . One three-hour session per week.
SUNY Gen Ed Area(s): Natural Sciences
Designation(s): Liberal Arts
Learning Outcomes
- Read a star map identifying constellations, deep sky objects, the Sun’s position on the ecliptic and use the celestial coordinate system of RA and Dec,
- Determine when an object at a given RA and Dec will rise, transit and set and its azimuth of rising,
- Use a globe of the celestial sphere to record the apparent motion of the Sun, Moon, and planets and deduce relationships between their apparent motions,
- Use the variation in the angular size of the Sun to determine the shape of the Earth’ s orbit,
- Construct the orbit of an inferior planet from a series of maximum elongation data,
- Use the 1987 occultation of Pluto and Charon to determine their diameters
- Determine the mass of a planet from the orbital period and orbital radius of one of its satellites,
- Calculate the mass of stars from a set of binary star data
- Identify elements in the solar spectrum from their spectral lines,
- Determine the temperature and luminosity of the Sun from its spectrum,
- Determine the characteristics of the brightest stars and of the nearest stars from a statistical analysis of a sample from each set,
- Determine the average properties of globular clusters using the Milky Way Globular Cluster catalog,
- Use a short catalog of O-stars to estimate the thickness of the Milky Way’s thin disk,
- Identify various galaxy types from images,
- Estimate the value of the age of the Universe by deriving a value of the Hubble constant from a set of galaxy images with radial velocities
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