Title: Week 1 Writing Assignment
Course: ASTRON103: The Evolving Universe: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology (001) DHH SU18 > Section: Week 1

The Scale of the Universe

Astronomy is a field of enormous and minuscule scales coming together and interacting. For this assignment, you will explore the scales of the universe through a web application and discuss your thoughts and reactions.

Tasks

1. If you haven't yet done so, watch the Whiteboard Lecture on the The Scale of the Universe (7m38s; video)
2. Explore the web application on your own following any of the links below:
  - http://scaleofuniverse.com/
  - http://htwins.net/scale2/
  - https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/589217
3. Pick a few (at least three) interesting objects from the application, across a range of scales. Keep your choices separated by at least a factor of 10^3 (one thousand) in size.
4. Research your objects in more detail, considering in particular the following:
  - How does your object relate to astronomy? Is this relationship direct or indirect?
  - How does the scale of your object compare with other astronomical and non-astronomical objects?
  - Do any astronomical phenomena affect your object? (Examples here could be tides or UV radiation.)

Write-Up

Your final write-up should be 1–2 pages in length (around 800 words), uploaded as a Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) or Portable Document Format (.pdf) file.  You must incorporate all of the points mentioned above in your written piece for full credit. You may (and are encouraged to) expand your piece to cover any other topics or issues you find interesting, but please limit the length to 2 pages.