"Space is big. Really big.You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is; I mean you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Assignment: Observing Labs start tonight (weather permitting)! Sign up on the sheets posted on my office door. Reading: Explorations, pp. 1-19, and look at the cool fold-out map between pages 18 and 19. Take a look at the Special webpage "All the Math You'll Need to Know" if you're concerned about the quantitative component of this course. Let me know if any of this material is unfamiliar to you. Lastly, send me a brief email telling me what you'd like to be called, something interesting about yourself, and including the statement "I have read the online Course Description and understand what is expected of me in this course." (Of course, you can only truthfully write this last statement if you have, in fact, read the Course Description.)

In Class: Question to Ponder If we make a scale model of our local universe, with the Earth shrunk to the size of campus, how far away would the Moon be? a) The Lewisburg Freez (0.5mi) b) Interstate 80 (6 mile) c) Williamsport (home of Little League baseball; 20mi) d) Times Square (150mi) Things You Might Want to Know About Your Neighborhood 1. It's really empty Distances between objects are HUGE (see Question to Ponder above) 2. You have really wierd neighbors For a good look at some of the solar system's wierdos, try www.nineplanets.org. General Themes of the Course 1. Space is big and empty. 2. The rules up there are the same as the rules down here. 3. Things change.