S194 14 Jun 2007 01:25 pm
S194 First Thoughts
Technically, this course stared back on 12 May, but thanks to the M255 exam looming on the horizon I only got around to opening the course materials yesterday. Not bad self-control, if I do say so myself. Course description’s here, and you can read more about my first impressions below the cut.
I love my gadgets, so the first thing that caught my attention was the Stellarium software (which is open-source, so you can download it yourself and give it a whirl if you want) – this is a virtual planetarium, which lets you choose your location on the Earth an see what should be visible in the skies above – if light pollution, bad eyesight and stiff necks weren’t problems. Since light is a particular problem where I live, this is a great idea to start with, and a good way of wasting hours as it’s one of those applications you can’t help playing with. If you do have a good view of the real sky, the supplied planisphere helps you find where various stars and constellations are. Full marks for the supplementary materials, then.
A quick flick through the course book shows it to be an easy read, full of useful & well-explained diagrams and photographs – fairly typical for a Science Short Course, which from past experience (S196 & S197) are always well-written. The supplied CD-ROM has the usual archive of images, which if you’ve got an interest in astronomy are all works of natural art & provide another way of wasting a few hours, just flicking through them.
So much for opening the box, then. Next stage, to get into the materials and hopefully get the ECA done in time for the first submission deadline (31st July). I’ll post more impressions as I work through it.