Astronomy 100: Unveiling the Universe

Sections 10-13

Spring 2006

Instructor: Dr. Greg Taft Lab Instructor: Art Stevenson

B-103 Science Bldg. B-143 Science Bldg.

Phone: 346-4892 Phone: 346-3935

E-mail: gtaft@uwsp.edu E-mail: astevens@uwsp.edu

Goals:

After successfully completing this course, students should be able to:

1. Identify astronomical objects and describe their basic characteristics

2. Describe the ways in which celestial objects move on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis

3. Define basic astronomical terms

4. Explain how astronomers determine the properties of astronomical objects

5. Describe the evolution of solar systems, stars, galaxies, and the universe.

Meeting Times: Lectures: Mon. & Wed. 1:00-1:50 PM D-101 Science (G. Taft)

Lab 10: Tue. 8:00-9:50 AM B-204 Science (G. Taft)

Lab 11: Tue. 10:00-11:50 AM B-204 Science (A. Stevenson)

Lab 12: Tue. 12:00-1:50 PM B-204 Science (G. Taft)

Lab 13: Thu. 12:00-1:50 PM B-204 Science (G. Taft)

Office Hours: I will be available in my office (B-103 Science) to answer questions you may have relating to the course at the times listed below. I will send an e-mail message, if I need to cancel an office hour. If none of these times work for you, and you need to meet with me, please call or send me an e-mail message so we can determine a time to meet.

Mon., Tue., & Wed. 10-10:50 AM

Thu. 11-11:50 AM

Textbook: Discovering the Universe, 7^th ed. by Neil F. Comins and William J. Kaufmann

Also, you need to purchase the Astronomy 100 Lab Manual at the Bookstore.

Internet site:

The class website is being managed through “Desire to Learn” – a web-based class management program used by the University of Wisconsin system. Please see the instructions below to access this site.

1. Go to class web page at https://uwsp.courses.wisconsin.edu/

You will be prompted for a username and password. Use your normal UWSP user ID and password that you use to log onto campus computers, check your email, etc.

2. You may need to click on the SEM II 2005-06 link to view a list of your D2L courses.

3. Click on “ASTR 100 Unveiling the Universe 10-13 spr06 ”

4. You should also be able to access lecture notes, syllabus, observing project information, and pre-lab assignments and lab notes at this website all under the “Content” area.

5. The on-line practice problems are found in the “Quizzes” area.

6. If you are unable to access these online materials, please contact Dr. Taft at gtaft@uwsp.edu or call 346-4892 as soon as possible so any problems can be fixed.

7. If you can access the website, but things are not displaying properly, it may be that the security settings on your browser are set too high. You can go to the “Checking your Browser Settings” link on your main D2L page. This document will help you check your browser settings to make sure the site is displayed properly.

Attendance:

Lecture attendance is strongly recommended. There is a brief quiz at the beginning of each lecture period. If you miss the beginning of lecture, you will not get credit for the quiz. Although the lecture slides will be available on the course website, they are NOT complete, and are provided only for an outline when taking notes. Material will be discussed in lecture and lab that will not be on the slides. If an exam or a lab conflicts with religious observances, the student must discuss making up material during the first 3 weeks of the semester as per university policy.

Laboratory attendance is mandatory. If a student does not attend a lab, they will receive a failing grade for that lab. Failing the lab portion of the course will result in failure of the entire course regardless of the exam grades. For example, a student who has a total lab percentage of 55% and an overall course percentage of 65% will receive an “F” for the final course grade.

Grading Policies:

You will be graded on the percentage scale shown in the table. Your overall percentage is determined by dividing the total of all the points you have earned by the total possible points. This percentage will be rounded to three significant figures (one digit after the decimal point) when determining the course grade. Points will be earned on in-class quizzes, laboratory work, one observing project, and four exams.

· In-Class Quizzes: In class quizzes will be given at the beginning of most lectures, except on days when there is an exam. Each quiz will consist of one or two questions and will be worth 2 possible points. The lowest 3 quizzes will be dropped when determining the overall course grade. If you miss a quiz for any reason (sickness, death in family, overslept, etc.), that will be one of the three quizzes that will be dropped. There will be no make-up quizzes. Quizzes will be based on the reading assignments for that week. Study sheets for the reading assignments can be found under the “Content” section of the class website. The quiz questions will be limited to the subjects listed on those reading assignment sheets.

· Laboratory Work: Laboratory grades are based on pre-lab assignments and lab reports. There will be a pre-lab assignment for each lab available in your lab manual. This assignment must be turned in at the start of lab. Pre-lab assignments will be accepted only if the student attends the lab and turns it in at the start of the lab. The main lab report will be completed during the lab session. The pre-lab assignment and the lab report will account for 13 points. Although there will be 14 labs, only the 13 highest lab grades will count towards your final grade; the lowest grade of the 14 will be dropped.

In order to get credit for laboratory work attendance is mandatory. No credit will be given for lab reports if you did not attend the lab. Each lab report is due at the end of the laboratory class. If a lab is missed for any reason, it will be the grade that is dropped. Even if a lab is missed, the student is responsible for any material covered in that lab. If you know of an absence beforehand, please contact me so I can try to get you into another lab section for that week. Students cannot attend a lab section other than their own without prior permission from the instructor. Failing the lab portion of the course will result in failure of the entire course regardless of the exam grades.

· Observing Project: An observing project will be assigned worth 15 points. Details will be announced in class and sent in an e-mail message.

· Midterm Exams: There will be 3 midterm exams during lecture as noted in the course outline. Any changes to the dates of these exams will be announced in class. Each midterm exam will be worth 100 points and will be based on all material from lecture, homework, and labs. The lowest of the three midterm exams scores will be replaced by the percentage score of the final exam, if the final exam score percentage is greater than the lowest midterm exam grade. For example, suppose a student’s midterm exam scores are 65, 77, and 82 and the student’s final exam score percentage is 79. When determining the final course grade for this student, the 65 midterm exam will be replaced with 79. If one exam is missed due to an illness, a death in the family, etc., the student will receive a zero on that exam, which will automatically be the lowest exam score. According to the policy stated above, this score of zero will be replaced by the final exam score percentage. Only one midterm exam grade will be replaced in this manner.

There will be no make up exams given for the midterm exams. In the event that an exam is missed for any reason, it will be the exam grade that is replaced by the final exam score percentage. Students are strongly encouraged to take all exams, since if one exam is skipped and another cannot be taken due to an emergency, the exam cannot be made up.

· Final Exam: A comprehensive (cumulative) final exam will be given during finals week as noted in the course schedule. It will be worth 150 points.

· Bonus Points: Questions will be asked periodically during lecture and answers submitted by electronic “clickers”. Each submitted answer will be worth 1 point added to your total grade. Bonus points are not counted towards the total possible points, when determining the overall course percentage grades. In other words, it is still possible to get 100% for the overall course grade without earning any bonus points.

It is anticipated that the number of possible points will be distributed approximately as follows:

			% of total points
Midterm Exams	3 × 100 points =	300 points	44%
Labs	13 × 13 points =	169 points	25%
Quizzes	24 × 2 points =	48 points	7%
Observing Project		15 points	2%
Final Exam		150 points	22%
Total		682 points	100%

Practice Problems:

In order to help you study for the exams, practice problems will be available on the class website. The computer will automatically grade your practice problems. However, these grades will not be recorded nor will they count toward your final grade. They are provided only to help you study for the exams. You are strongly encouraged to do the practice problems. Many of the exam problems will resemble the practice problems. I encourage you to ask me questions regarding any of the practice problems. It is not enough to memorize the correct answer to do well on the test, but you must understand why it is the correct answer. You should do the practice problems several days in advance of the exam, since there is always the risk that the server will go down, your computer will not work, etc. Also, last minute studying does not allow you a chance to come and ask questions if needed. Please plan ahead so you do not have to worry about having access the evening before the exam.

Suggestions for Studying

Astronomy, like many other disciplines, has its own language and specialized terminology. We will be discussing many different concepts during class, so it is important to keep up with the lectures and to review the material on a regular basis. Here are a few hints for doing well in this class:

1. Attend lecture and lab regularly. I tend to test predominantly from lecture and lab material. Although the textbook is a good reference and reading the assigned text is recommended. Typically, if I have not lectured about a subject, you will not see it on a test. I post my lecture notes on the course D2L website; however, these notes are not complete. I will often lecture around a picture or slide and you are responsible for material discussed in class even if it is not written out in the PowerPoint slides. I also ask bonus questions in class that you will be answering with electronic “clickers”. These questions are good indications of questions I may ask on an exam.

2. Study regularly. There are a lot of new concepts and terms you will be learning this semester. You will not learn them well if the bulk of your studying is done the day or two before the exam. Much of the later material in the class builds on earlier material. If you do not have a good grasp of the earlier material, it will be harder to understand things later on. You are much more likely to do well if you study the material as we go along, and ask questions about anything you are finding difficult.

3. Find someone in the class to study with. You will be meeting people in both lecture and your lab. Get to know some of them enough that you can ask for lecture notes, get together to study for exams, etc.

4. Do the practice problems provided on-line. These practice problem sets typically have a database of about 15 – 20 questions per problem set. You will randomly get 10 of these questions each time you do the problem set. You can do each set more than once so you can see the other questions. Typically many of the questions on the exams will be very similar to these practice problems, so they give a nice preview of the exam.

5. Ask your professor for help on any material you find difficult. I will be in my office at the times listed on the first page of this syllabus. Please stop by during those times if you want to discuss anything regarding the course. If you would like to set up a meeting at some other time, please contact me. Also, I correspond frequently with students using e-mail.

Course Outline – Astronomy 100 Sections 10-13 Lecture subjects for each date are approximate and are subject to change as announced in class or on the class website.
Week	Lect.	Date	General Readings See study sheets for details	Subject
1	1	M 1/23	Chapter 1	Introduction / Night Sky
	2	W 1/25	Chapter 1	Motions in the Sky
2	3	M 1/30	Chapter 2	Early Observations
	4	W 2/1	Chapter 2	Geocentric vs. Heliocentric Models
3	5	M 2/6	Chapter 2	Galileo and Brahe
	6	W 2/8	Chapter 2	Kepler and Newton
4	7	M 2/13	Chapter 5	Overview and Formation of Solar System
	8	W 2/15	Chapter 7	Surface and Atmosphere of Inner Planets
5	9	M 2/20		Exam 1
	10	W 2/22	Chapter 7	Geology of Inner Planets
6	11	M 2/27	Chapter 8	Structure of Outer Planets
	12	W 3/1	Chapter 8	Moons and Rings of Outer Planets
7	13	M 3/6	Chapter 9	Pluto and Solar System Debris
	14	W 3/8	Chapter 3	The Nature of Light
8	15	M 3/13	Chapter 4	Blackbody Radiation and Kirchoff's Laws
	16	W 3/15	Chapter 4	The Atom and Spectral Lines
Spring Break!!!!! March 18-26
9	17	M 3/27	Chapter 10	The Sun
	18	W 3/29		Exam 2
10	19	M 4/3	Chapter 11	Measuring Properties of Stars
	20	W 4/5	Chapter 11	HR Diagram
11	21	M 4/10	Chapter 12	Formation of Stars
	22	W 4/12	Chapter 13	Stellar Evolution
12	23	M 4/17	Chapter 13	Stellar Death
	24	W 4/19	Chapter 13 & 14