The talk will trace navigation's development from sight, winds, animal life, and stars to compasses, radio signals, and satellites. From early times, principles of physics and astronomy have been a part of navigation. In some cases, it took a while for people to understand the science of what was going on, as in the cases of celestial motion and compasses. The deliberate application of physics to the field in the 1900s had a large impact. We are now able to almost instantly determine position within meters using a handheld Global Positioning System receiver.
Interstellar space is the vast environment between the stars.
This environment contains gas, dust, magnetic fields, and radiation that constitute the interstellar medium. The interstellar medium is perfect for illustrating physics on microscopic and macroscoptic scales. Astronomers use classical mechanics, thermodynamics and quantum mechanics to study the properties and structure of the interstellar medium. FYI Congratulations to Joel Weisberg , Abby Hedden and Amanda Kirchner who delivered poster presentations at the January American Astronomical Society Meeting in San Diego. See Joel's bulletin board for forms.