PSC 103 VIDEOTAPES FOR PSC 103

I will try to show some of the most important videos in our lab sessions. If you wish to view any of these again at home, you may check tapes out from my office. I also encourage you to view some of the videos I don't have time to show in lab. You may follow me to my office after class, or come to office hours, or find me in my office at other times. If you do check out a video, I would like you to try to return it at the next class meeting. The video is definitely due no later than the second class meeting after you checked it out.

ASTRONOMY

Hunt for Alien Worlds. This is a NOVA program about discovering planets circling a number of nearby stars.

The Doomsday Asteroid. This is a very good NOVA program about asteroid and comet impacts on the Earth.

Asteroids: Deadly Impact. This is a National Geographic Special about asteroid and comet impacts on the Earth. It is a little less interesting than The Doomsday Asteroid, but is also very good.

The Aurora Explained. This video, made at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, shows color video of aurora made with very special sensitive video cameras. The aurora looks the way it would look to your eyes if you could be there to see it in person, and is very beautiful.

The Man Who Colors Stars. This video is about an Englishman who emigrated to Australia and became an expert at taking color pictures of galaxies and nebulae. The personal story of this man is interesting, and the pictures he takes are beautiful.

Tales From Other Worlds. This is a program in the Planet Earth series which describes spacecraft missions to the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars. There is also an excellent segment with Luis and Walter Alvarez where they explain the evidence they found that an asteroid or comet impact caused the mass extinction which wiped out the dinosaurs and many other species of plants and animals. They are famous for being the first to come up with this idea, and for finding some of the evidence to prove it.

To Boldly Go. This is a NOVA program summarizing the amazing trip of the Voyager I and Voyager II spacecraft to the Jovian planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Beautiful pictures of these planets and a good clear description. Excellent for learning about the outer planets.

Death of a Star. This is a NOVA program about the discovery of supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Neptune's Cold Fury. This is a NOVA program about the Voyager II spacecraft's fly by of Neptune.

The Astronomers Part 1. Titled "Where Is The Rest Of The Universe?", this video describes methods of looking for dark matter used by astronomers Vera Ruben and Tony Tyson. I think this program is quite interesting.

The Astronomers Part 2. Titled "Searching For Black Holes", this video describes using radio telescopes to find massive black holes at the centers of galaxies. You might find this program pretty slow unless you are really interested in radio telescopes.

The Astronomers Part 3. Titled "A Window To Creation", this video is about measuring the remaining glow from the Big Bang with which we believe the universe began.

The Astronomers Part 4. Titled "Waves Of The Future", this video is about gravity waves which were predicted by Albert Einstein, and almost certainly exit, but have not yet been detected.

The Astronomers Part 5. Titled "Stardust", this video is about the birth, life, and death of stars. This is quite interesting.

The Astronomers Part 6 is on the tape with Part 5, but Part 6 is too out of date to be viewed for credit.

The Active Sun. This is a short program showing pictures of and providing explanations of some features of the sun. The tape also contains a number of short segments about stars, double stars, and galaxies. This is not long enough to count for video credit, but you may find it interesting. I usually show a little of this in class.

Black Holes, the Ultimate Abyss. This was shown on the Discovery Channel and is really interesting with lots of good graphics, and even an appeance by one of the Simpsons.

Hubble - Secrets From Space. This is a program from the Discovery Channel about the Hubble Space Telescope, and about some of the discoveries which have been made with it.


GEOPHYSICS

The Living Machine - Plate Tectonics. This is the first program in the Planet Earth series, and covers the development of the theory of plate tectonics, very much in parallel with our text. I highly recommend viewing this program at or near the time we are studying this material since the program explains material we will also cover in lecture.

The Day the Earth Shook. This is a NOVA program about the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan.

Cracking the Ice Age. This is a NOVA program about trying to understand what caused the ice age. Plate tectonics is involved in the two theories discussed, so this is actually as much about plate tectonics as it is about atmospheric science.

The Volcano Watchers. This is a NATURE program about a French couple, the Kraft's, who have photographed volcanic activity all over the world, taking great risks. The tape begins with a short segment of a FrontLine program called Violent Nature.

Volcanoes. This is a recent National Geographic Special, and is very interesting.

Hawaiian Volcanoes. This is a combination of three short programs, one from the A&E Channel, one from the Discovery Channel, and one showing home video of homes being engulfed by lava.

Vocano segments. This contains parts of programs from NOVA, the Discovery Channel, Nature (The Volcano Watchers), and a lot of video on Hawaiian volcanoes. This tape duplicates The Volcano Watchers except for the FrontLine program called Violent Nature, and also duplicates the Hawaiian Volcanoes tape.


OCEANOGRAPHY

The Beach, A River of Sand. This is an excellent 30 minute program explaining how California beaches work. I highly recommend viewing this program at or near the time we are studying this material since the program explains material we will also cover in lecture.

ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS

Cyclone. This is a National Geographic Special.