Example Research Paper Topics for PSci 21 (Elementary Astronomy)
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This is only a sample.  You may make up your own topic. Indeed, please do!

Many of these suggestions are technical, because that's what Professor 
Ringwald knows.  Students may also choose political, economic, or 
historical topics.  Whatever you choose, substantiate your arguments 
with logic and evidence.  Avoid bias and gratuitous opinion, and let the 
facts tell the story, not your feelings.  Everyone has feelings, but, 
"Facts are stubborn things" (John Adams).

- The Cosmic Background Radiation: Remnant of the Origin of the Universe
- The Galileo Mission to Jupiter (see http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/)
- Voyager, the Grand Tour of the Outer Planets (www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/)
- The Hubble Deep Field: Seeing the Early Universe by Looking Back in Time
- Edwin Hubble and the Distance to the Great Galaxy in Andromeda
- The Quest to Measure the Hubble Constant and the Age of the Universe
- The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe: Cosmic Sheets and Voids
- Is the Expansion of the Universe Accelerating? (Sci American, 2001 Jan)
- SOHO: Mission to Study the Sun (see Scientific American, 1997 March)
- Gamma Ray Bursters: the Most Powerful Explosions in the Universe
  (see Sky & Telescope, 1998 February)
- Do All Galaxies Have Supermassive Black Holes in their Centers?
- LIGO: Detecting Gravitational Waves (see Sky & Telescope, 2000 October)
- The Cassini Saturn Orbiter (see http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/)
- Titan: What Did the Huygens Probe Tell Us?
- The Volcanoes of Io (see http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/moons/io.html)
- The Terrestial Planet Finder Mission (see http://tpf.jpl.nasa.gov/)
- The New Horizons Mission to Pluto
- The Kuiper Belt: Beyond the Orbit of Neptune (see David Jewitt's page)
- The Discovery of Extrasolar Planets: Hot Jupiters and Other Surprises
- The Future of Mars Exploration, Robotic and Human
- Women in Spaceflight, from Valentina Tereshkova to Eileen Collins
- Interstellar Travel: Warp Drive When? (www.lerc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/warp.htm)
- Future Spaceflight Propulsion (ion drives, solar sails, fusion, etc.)
- The Magic Dreams of Konstantin Tsiolkovskiy (great for history majors)
- American Rocket Pioneer Robert H. Goddard (great for history majors)
- Avebury/Carnac/Other Stone Circles in Europe (But beware of unreliable 
  information, especially the book Stonehenge Decoded by Gerald Hawkins.)
- Astronomy in Medieval Arabia: How are Star Names Pronounced?
- Astronomy of the Ancient Egyptians/Chinese/Aztecs/Toltecs/Mayans/Incas
  /Anasazi/Navaho/Pawnee/Hindus/Celts/Ethiopians/Babylonians/many others
- Astronomy Today in Mexico/Chile/China/Hawaii/California/elsewhere
- Supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud
- Meteorite ALH84001: Microbes from Mars?
- SETI: the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (see Scientific
  American, 1975 May, other works by Carl Sagan, and www.seti.org) 
- Debunk something pseudoscientific, which is related to astronomy.  Be 
  fair, though!

Above all, imagination and originality are encouraged.  With a Universe of
  possibilities, it may be easy to find something useful for you:

- Psychology majors: Perception and Illusion through the Telescope
- Fashion merchandising majors: Space Suits (my thanks to Amber Irick)
- Agriculture/bio majors: Closed Ecology Life Support for Spaceflight/
  Greenhouse Agriculture on the Moon, Mars, and O'Neill Colonies/
  Terraforming (see http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~mfogg/zubrin.htm)
- Criminology majors: Image Intensifiers/Night Vision/Spy Satellites/
  Astronomy-Friendly Lights that Deter Crime (see http://www.darksky.org)
- Education majors: Astronomy lesson plans for elem/middle/high school
- Social science majors: Human Mass-Migration into Space/O'Neill Colonies
- Political science: Space Weapons and Missile Defense: A New Arms Race?
- Military science: Astronomy Tools that Began as Military Technologies 
  (adaptive optics, IR arrays, image intensifiers, rockets, telescopes)
- Journalism majors: Satellite communications/Public outreach at NASA
- Econ/Business majors: Commercial Space Launchers/Space Manufacturing
  /Communications Satellites/GPS/Lunar and Asteroid Resource Development
- Physical Therapy/Kinesiology majors: Spaceflight and the Human Body
- Art majors: The History of Russian Space Art (It's fascinating!)
- English or art majors: I would prefer you _not_ hand in a science
  fiction piece, as I'm not well qualified to judge fiction.  Better 
  would be a paper on the science in your fiction, e.g. the paradoxes of 
  time travel, the problems with human hibernation, interstellar flight.

Papers are due on the last day of instruction, and -not- the day of the 
Final Exam.  Papers must use 8 or more references, and substantially 
more for an A.  Professor Ringwald likes papers that teach him things he 
didn't know already.

The papers must be typed, and must be at least 1200 words long.
Plagiarism absolutely will not be tolerated, and will be checked for. For
more detailed instructions on these papers, see the Writing Guide for
Research Papers (http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~fringwal/psci21paper.html).