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Introduction to ASTR 1010L and the Solar System
Introduction to ASTR 1010L and the Solar System
Complete this lab before any other lab and ideally by 6/10/21
Object What are two main features or characteristics you observe on or about this object? What do you see that seems to be unique to this object?
Mercury It is rocky.
It is the smallest planet in the solar system. It is closest to the sun than any other planet.
Venus It is the hottest planet on the solar system.
It has a nearly round shape. It is covered with thick clouds.
Earth It is almost a sphere.
It has a solid surface. 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water.
Mars It is rocky.
It has a thin atmosphere. Most of its surface is covered by red dust
Ceres It has a rocky inner core
It has a dusty outer crust It has an icy mantle.
Vesta It is almost spherical.
It is rocky and dense. It is separated into crust, mantle and core.
Mathilde It is very dark.
It has an albedo Not water or sign of hydrated features.
Gaspra It has several small craters.
Irregular in shape. Usually red and S-shaped.
Object Two observed features or characteristics Something unique
Jupiter Covered with clouds.
Has relatively low density. Its atmosphere is made up of mostly gases.
Saturn Less dense than all the planets.
It is covered by gases. Less dense than water.
Uranus Made up of water and other fluids.
It is blue in color because of the presence of methane in its atmosphere. It is the coldest planet.
Neptune It is dark and cold
It Is very windy It is the last planet.
Pluto It is rocky and icy.
It has a thin atmosphere It is heart-shaped
Earth’s Moon Its gravity influences the earth’s tides
Its bright at night. There is water in the moon.
Mars’ moons
Phobos and Deimos Irregular in shape.
Smaller compared to other moons. Look more like steroids than moons.
Jupiter’s moon
Io It has low density.
Crust mostly covered by ice It has its own magnetic field.
Jupiter’s
moon Ganymede It has a magnetosphere
Has a thin oxygen atmosphere. Largest moon in the solar system.
Saturn’s moon
Titan Covered by clouds
Crust with ice water. Contains largest seas
Saturn’s
moon Mimas Ovoid shaped.
Mostly composed of ice water Smallest moon.
Saturn’s moon
Iapetus Full of craters
Saturn’s largest moon Bright hemisphere
Uranus’
moon Miranda Its rocky.
Its inner core surrounded by ice. Orbit is inclined.
Pluto’s
moon Charon Large moon
Considered a dwarf moon. Its surfaces face each other.
Halley’s Comet Made of ice, gas and dust.
Bright and glowing appearance. It moves backward when orbiting.
Comet Hyakutake Long period comet
It passes close to the earth. It is the brightest comets.
Look at “The Planets To Scale” image. There are two really large planets, two medium sized, two small, and two very small!
Which FOUR planets are the terrestrial planets? (Terrestrial means Earth-like, which indicates that they have rocky surfaces and iron cores like the Earth – these planets do not have water on their surfaces or atmospheres like ours.)
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Go back and look at the picture of Venus in the Solar System Bodies collection. What do you think you’re seeing instead of the rocky surface?
Craters, volcanoes, lava plains and mountains.
Which FOUR planets are the giant planets?
Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus
What are some similarities and some differences you notice among these four planets? Similarities:
They have more than one moon.
Made up of rock and hydrogen compounds.
Differences:
Main component of Neptune and Uranus is carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.
Main component of Jupiter and Saturn is Hydrogen and Helium.
Another great size comparison is seen in “Earth and Jupiter’s Great Red Spot To Scale”. We’ll study the Great Red Spot more in the Jupiter lab, but it’s basically a gigantic hurricane-like storm. Based on the pictures in the last few questions, how many times larger (across its equator) is Jupiter than the Earth?
Draw a sketch to help you remember. **If you are typing your answers, then sketch this on a piece of paper and either insert a photograph or scan of your sketch into this document or upload it separately.**
Jupiter is 11 times larger than earth
Look at “The Solar System As Seen From The Top”. Based on this diagram, what can you say is really different about asteroids and the comets (found in the Kuiper Belt) than the 8 planets?
While asteroids are made of metals and rock, comets are comprised ice and dust (Kanas, 2019). Asteroids and comets in the Kuiper Belt are larger than the asteroids and comets of the 8 other planets
What do you notice about the size of the planets relative to the amount of space in the solar system?
Inner planets including; Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are smaller while outer planets such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto are larger.
If you choose to do the Solar System Model Bonus Project, you will see that even those little dots are actually too big!
To compare to the moons, asteroids, and Pluto, look at both “The 15 Largest Objects in Our Solar System” and “The Not-Planets”.
Make observations about the sizes of the smaller terrestrial planets compared with the larger moons.
Smaller terrestrial planets such as Mars and Venus are quite smaller than other larger moons (Singer et al., 2021). The smallest terrestrial planet, mercury is 4879 km while the largest moon, Jupiter’s Ganymede is 5,268 km.
Make observations about the sizes of the smaller terrestrial planets compared with Pluto.
Pluto is larger than smaller terrestrial planets. They have larger number of satellites compared to terrestrial planets (Kanas, 2019). Unlike terrestrial planets which have solid surfaces, Pluto has no solid surface.
Make observations about the sizes of the asteroids Ceres and Vesta compared with the terrestrial planets and larger moons.
Some of the asteroids such as Ceres and Vesta are larger than terrestrial planets such as Mercury. They are quite similar to larger moons because of their size (Kanas, 2019). Some asteroids such as Vesta are larger than some moons such as Mathilde.
In comparison, Vesta is about 10 times the diameter of Mathilde (not in these diagrams but in the Solar System Objects), and most asteroids are even smaller!
The Kuiper Belt is the region of space around the Sun that holds the comets and Kuiper Belt objects. (Kuiper Belt objects are essentially just really big comets; Pluto is one of the two largest known Kuiper Belt objects.) Because they are so far from the Sun, comets and Kuiper Belt objects are made of not only rock and metal but also significant quantities of ice.
Look back at the pictures of the comets in the Solar System Objects. The photograph of Halley’s Comet shows its nucleus, which is the small icy/rocky part of the comet that is the responsible for the fuzzy coma (the round part in the lower left) and tail that you can see in the picture of Comet Hyakutake.
The nuclei of most comets are very small – Halley’s is pretty typical at 10 miles along its long axis, less than 1/3 the size of Mathilde – and yet the tails of a comet can easily stretch well over a million miles. The photograph of Halley’s Comet was taken by a spacecraft when the comet was close to its closest approach to the Sun. What do you think is happening to the comet to make the jets you can see in the left side of the picture?
The comet is orbiting round the sun hence making it stretch miles away and appear larger (Singer et al., 2021). However, when the comets are static, they appear smaller as they do not stretch (Kanas, 2019). As the comet orbits, it is drawn close to the sun and hence appears closer when captured by a spacecraft.
This is the kind of thing we will be doing for some of our labs – looking at pictures, learning about the objects, and then seeing what we can learn when we apply our knowledge to photographs of planetary surfaces.
Finally, to get a little feel for the rest of the universe, answer the following questions. You can do research online or in your lecture textbook.
What is a galaxy?
A galaxy is a system comprising of gas, dust, stars and their solar systems being held up by gravity.
What name do we give the galaxy we live in?
Milky Way Galaxy
Roughly sketch what a galaxy like ours looks like. **If you are typing your answers, then sketch this on a piece of paper and either insert a photograph or scan of your sketch into this document or upload it separately.**
Milky Way Galaxy
Approximately how many stars are in a galaxy like ours?
There are over 10 million stars scattered over our galaxy.
What is a light year?
It is the distance that light travels in vacuum in one year
How many light years away are we from the center of our galaxy?
We are 25,000 light years away from the center of our galaxy.
Show where the solar system is located (very roughly!) on your sketch of our galaxy (part c).
It located about 27,000 light years from the center of the galaxy.
Approximately how many galaxies are in our Local Group of Galaxies?
30 Galaxies.
What is the name of the other large spiral galaxy in the Local Group?
The Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy
How many light years away is that galaxy?
Over 70 million light years away.
Approximately how many galaxies are in our universe?
Over a trillion galaxies
How many light years away are the most distant galaxies?
13.4 billion light years.
How does this all make you feel!?
Our galaxy is complex and difficult to comprehend. It will take us several years to understand our galaxy.
References
Kanas, N. (2019). Our expanding solar system: Planets and moons. Solar System Maps, 141-192. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0896-3_7Singer, K. N., Grundy, W. M., White, O. L., & Binzel, R. P. (2021). Introduction to Icarus special issue “Pluto system, Kuiper belt, and Kuiper belt objects”. Icarus, 356, 114269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114269
Introduction to archaeology, questions
Introduction to Archeology:
Name:
Professor:
Institution:
Course:
Date:
According to Richard Reece, the Roman coins were “not happy” about being in the so called sacred spring. Why not?
The Roman coin was one of the substances that were derived from the exchange of goods and services. These coins were said to be one of the most valuable due to the fact that were made from silver, gold and bronze. The coins were not only used in Rome but in countries such as the Great Britain and Greece. Despite the high value that the coins heard, some of the authorities took advantage of their position by hoarding the coins so as to increase their value further. These made the lifestyles of the citizens in that they had to work harder to get the value equivalent to one coin. These were not the easiest times for the people of the Roman society due to the immense oppression that came with the search for the coin. This is why Reece states that the Roman coins were not happy (Howgego, 2007).
Later when the Roman coins and the metal work came to light, Guy de la Bedoyere and Mick Worthington felt the assemblage was “wrong”. Why?
The Roman coins and the metal work had been introduced to the people of Rome. This meant that they could enjoy the advantages that came with the coinage. Guy de la Bedoyerere and Mick Worthington however did put the credibility of the coins in that they differ from the original ones. The two archeologists argued that the original assembly of the coins differed from the original ones. This further implied that the original coins had been tempered with. Some of the ways in which they were tampered with was the quality, shape and texture of the new coin. This affected the general coinage of the new coin (Ando, 2000).
Why did the archeologists think the “Neolithic tomb” was a fake?
The Neolithic times consisted of tombs that consist of large rocks in nature. Most of the tombs created during this era posses the same qualities such as Stone Age and organized arrangement. The most recent discoveries on the Neolithic tombs were found in Ireland. These toms attracted an enormous amount of attention due to the controversy that came with their discovery. The tombs were said to be fake due to the way in which they were structured. The tombs are classified under passage tombs. Passage tombs have orthostatic characteristic that display the time in which they were drawn. These tombs however displayed armature orthostats that were supposed to make the tombs resemble the ancient tombs. This was exaggerated making the tombs subject for planted evidence which is not uncommon in the world of archeology (Malone, 2001)
There were three reasons why the archeologist believed the ‘Norman tower’ was a fake identify two
The Norman towers were fake due to the type of stone that are used to construct them. One of the reasons that support this notion is the fact that they are not built with genuine Kensington rune stone. The tower consists of modern stone that does not match the one of the prehistoric times.
Writers who wrote of the existence of the towers on several occasions wrote about non nonexistent features. Some of the components of the towers cannot be found to date. This displays that the towers were part of myths that were written to fuel the interests of the public (Adams, 2007).
According to the law of superposition, we know the Iron Age sword was placed in the ground at Llygadwy fairly recently. Explain?
The laws of superposition explain the arrangement of the rocks that are in existence. One of the reasons for this is to explain the age of the items found in the found. There are claims that the Iron Age sword was planted in the ground. This can be supported by the age of the soil which does not match with the age the discoverers claim the sword is. This sword is said to poses qualities of the Iron Age although the soil in the ground is younger than the stated time (Kelly & Thomas, 2010).
Adams, H. (2007). Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres. Middlesex, UK: Echo Library.
Ando, C. (2000). Imperial ideology and provincial loyalty in the Roman Empire. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Howgego, C. (2007). Coinage and identity in the Roman provinces. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Kelly, R. L., & Thomas, D. H. (2010). Archaeology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Malone, C. (2001). Neolithic Britain. Stroud: Tempus. Neolithic Britain. Stroud: Tempus.
Software Development and Improvement using P-CMM
Introduction The need of organizations to compete in a global market has forced them to implement methods that will enable them have competitive advantages and survive corporately. Many methods have been employed to see this trough but there were still some shortcomings until the People Capability Maturity Model (P-CMM) was introduced. P-CMM may be effected as an instrument by which the process enhancement efforts of an organization may be ripened to facilitate effective corporate enactment and pursuits.
People Capability Maturity Model
The People Capability Maturity Model is an instrument that aids in efficaciously addressing the critical issues of employees in an organizations. The P- CMM implements the process maturity outline of the highly fruitful Capability Maturity Model for Software as a blue print for a model of excellent practices for manning and developing an organization’s personnel. Most software organizations around the globe nowadays use the P-CMM Software for guiding vivid developments in its capability to improve production and quality, costs and time reduction to market, and increase client fulfilment. P-CMM has helped organizations to improve processes for managing and developing their workforce which has resulted to the best practices such as knowledge management, human resources and organizational management.
There are several practices and improvement activities from the P-CMM that can be used to address
the software failure and accomplish the desired satisfying product.
These practices are normally initiated since software developers face problems that have propelled them initiate these changes. Issues like customer discontent, insufficient software quality, late delivery and delivery within budget, too much rework and many more. P-CMM revolves around four strategic objectives which are; improving the software ability, workforce capability increase, ensuring that software development capability is an aspect of the organization and not of a few people, aligning the inspiration of employees with that of the organization and retaining human asset.
Maturity Levels
P-CMM consists of five maturity levels. The maturity framework underlying the CMM for Software uses the best management practices to software firm to enable them advance their ability to develop best quality software on schedule and within the intended budget. The maturity framework guides software firms through five stages in refining their capability.
-11430039624000The figure below illustrates the stages in the maturity level.
The Initial Level
Most firms at this stage normally have trouble retaining talented staffs. Organizations ought to train the responsible workforce to carry out the practices that exist and offer financial or career motivations for individuals to encourage them and to align themselves with the organization’s objectives. Organizations at this level normally usually show four features: Inconsistency in implementing these practices, responsibility dislocation formalized practices and dissociated workforce.Recruiting promotions, training, and awards are some of the practices that should be performed in order to achieve specific and quantifiable results. Workforce should also be evaluated continually to ensure their input to the organization is not counterproductive to the intended effect and also to ensure that these people do not chase their own agendas.
Managed level
In managed maturity level the managers take the accountability for managing and rising staffs in their departments. The main process areas are teaching, development, coordination and communication. The second thing is to do away with the problems the staff are facing when performing their responsibilities and coming up with a workforce practice to improve in developing the workforce. Team building and mentoring should also be carried out. The team consists of individuals with corresponding skills in order to make the most of the efficiency of main competences, whereas, the mentor offers the backing, guidance and skill improvement.
Defined level
The main objective at this level is to come up with the workforce in organization’s business and pin point the core capabilities in it. The individuals with knowledge and skills ought to cultivate the fundamental competences of the business procedure. This develops staff competencies and workgroups, and junctions with the business plan and goals. The process areas then develops work group and skill based practices. It also works in career development and personnel preparation. This also helps organization to establish a blue print for upcoming development of skills and knowledge. Examining the skills needed by the workforce and the business tasks the individuals carry out will enable the organization identifies the core competencies and then adopt the workforce practices to nature specific knowledge and abilities that comprise these core competencies on the grounds of recognized best ascription.Predictable level
The main objective at the Predictable Level is to come up with an assessable approach for gauging the core competences. It enables and assimilate workforce capabilities and manage their performance quantitatively. When competent individuals carry out their duties using confirmed competency grounded processes, management relies in the outcome results. This trust allows the organization to store the results of carrying out capability based processes and advance them as resources to be used again. The trust of these assets comes as a result of trusting the procedure of their production. When these assets are formed and fully utilized, knowledge spreads quickly through the organization which will in turn result in higher productivity of the software.
Optimizing level
At this Level, the energy of the entire organization is directed on continual enhancement. These improvements are made to the ability of people and tem groups, to the execution of
Levels Developing Competency Building workgroups & culture Motivating & managing performance Shaping the workforce
Optimizing5
Continuous Capability Improvement Organisational Performance Alignment Continuous workforce Innovation
Predictable4
Competency based assets
Mentoring Competency Integration
Empowered Workgroups Quantitative Performance Management Organisational Capability Management
Defined3
Competency Development
Competency Analysis Workgroup Development
Participatory Culture Competency based practices
Career Development Workforce Planning
Managed2
Training and Development Communication & Coordination Compensation
Performance Management
Work environment Staffing
Skill based processes, and to staff practices and activities. Coming up with creative ways for refining the workforce enthusiasm. Innovative technologies and tools should be used in trials on the organization and the effective tested methods are circulated over the organizations. In an optimizing organization the philosophy of all the individuals to come up with the performance of the work-group, unit or individual knowledge, abilities and motivation so as to come up with the general organization performance.
The above table summarizes the levels involved in the maturity levels
Measuring returns
Measurement delivers objective facts and visibility into project performance, process performance, process ability and product and quality services. This will help the organizations to learn from the past so as to improve software performance and attain better expectedness over time. The P-CMM undoubtedly confirms this and represents measurement practices as a virtual constituent of project. Positive returns have been witnessed in the organizations that have deployed the P-CMM practices in the activities of their organizations. The organizations that have employed the PCMM guide have exhibited the remarkable result in improved software delivery.
The organizations return is done by measuring and monitoring the software life right from the start of an application’s lifecycle, this guarantees optimal business benefit delivery.
Bad quality software should be investigated well before they become major issues at distribution; the major causes of these problems are identified and highlighted, and rectified once and for all, thus averting major business interference and customer frustration.
Project budget and schedule data were collected. Project cost is divided into two parts: direct and indirect costs.
Direct costs
Direct costs are the cost is the total expenditure of the resources that will be required to carry out the project, this will also include man power, materials, and equipment.
Indirect costs
Indirect costs are the repayment of the overhead costs related with completing of the project. These will include clerical, utilities, administrative, and miscellaneous expenditure.
The quotient of original budget and real cost is used to calculate the cost index (CI). Project
performance indexes is to be used to evaluate the cost and schedule performances on the project considered to be illustrative of the company being benchmarked. The CI and schedule index (SI) are defined in the following equations.
Cost Index, CI= Actual Project Costs
1228725122555
Original Budget
Schedule Index, SI= Actual Project Duration
9715508763000
Original Project Duration
Conclusion
The success any software organizations depends on its ability to satisfy its clients. A highly qualified and competent workforce could help the organization achieve this goal. The P-CMM is a major breakthrough to software organizations since it has helped them assist their personnel to attain objectives such as developing individual competence, managing and motivating performance, building team groups and traditions and also to nature the workforce. Delivery optimization is the most important organizational advantage gained by applying the practices of PCMM. The P- CMM has helped many software organizations effectively address their grievous human capital matters. The P- CMM initiates a process maturity framework as the basic blue print for the best practices for running and developing an organization’s staff. Therefore it should be encouraged to attain the best result for the software organizations and their clients