Ready for launch!

Welcome to the course blog for FSEM 1111-74 at the University of Denver, Autumn 2013! This class will introduce you to some of the wonders of the night sky and how we know what we know about them. I'm looking forward to sharing all this with you, as well as helping you navigate your first year of college.

I'll use this blog to post announcements, due dates, interesting links and images, and discussion topics. Please add it to your bookmarks or feed reader, check back regularly, and add your comments! Contributing to the online discussion is a way for you to engage with the course material outside class time and boost your participation score. Remember that all posts and comments are public, so please keep your comments respectful and appropriate for all audiences, and don't post any personal or sensitive information.

To get us started, please introduce yourself in the comments to this post. Tell us what you'd like to be called, what your favorite astronomical object is and why, and something unusual or little-known about yourself. You're welcome to add links or any other comments as well. I'll start:

Image by Tom O'Donoghue, via Astronomy Picture of the Day

I'm Dr. Hoffman. My favorite astronomical object is Antares, the big red supergiant star in Scorpius; it's the orangey one at the bottom of this image. I like it because it's bright and easy to find and its name means "rival of Mars" in Greek. Its Arabic and Latin names mean "heart of the scorpion," but in Hawaiian, it's called Lehua-kona, or "southern lehua blossom."

Finally, a quirky fact about me is that I have walked on the German Autobahn. Your turn!