Physics Department

Astronomy 101 - Introductory Astronomy

Syllabus – Spring 2008

Instructor: Dr. George Spagna

• Office: Copley 228
• Phone: 752-7344 (office), 752-6513 (home)
• E-mail: gspagna@rmc.edu
• Office hours: Monday & Friday, 9:00 – 10:00 am, Wednesday 2:00 – 3:00 pm, or by appointment. Feel free to simply drop by – if my door is open I’ll be happy to talk with you.

Text (required):

The Essential Cosmic Perspective, 4^th Edition, by Jeffrey Bennett, Megan Donahue, Nicholas Schneider, and Mark Voit. The text will come bundled with a CD-ROM of Voyager: Skygazer, and the Student Access Kit for Mastering Astronomy.

This is a one-semester survey of contemporary astronomy. We will explore our modern scientific understanding of the cosmos (yes, this is a science course), with a dual emphasis on both the underlying principles and how that understanding has been achieved. The laboratory component of the course will allow the student to experience first-hand some of the basic measurement techniques used in modern astronomy. The mathematical level of this course assumes that you have a working knowledge of basic high-school mathematics, including algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. I will be happy to work with you if you feel your math skills are a bit rusty.

Completion of the semester’s work will not make you an astronomer. It will, however, give you a better understanding of the observational evidence and theoretical understandings which underpin our current model of how the universe works. In part, we will take an historical approach to examine the tools and context of our current understanding. As we come to understand the tools, we will turn our attention to progressively larger and large slices of the universe, from nearby objects in our own world and solar system to the far reaches of the cosmos.

Attendance and the students' responsibility:

Your prompt attendance is presumed at each session of this class. If you are unable for a legitimate reason to attend, it is your obligation to contact the instructor at the earliest possible time to arrange to make up any missed work. Excessive absences may lead to a failing grade in this course. You are responsible for all assigned readings and exercises at the times they are due, as indicated in the course schedule below. Please note that discretionary absences are not considered a legitimate reason for missing scheduled readings, exams, or laboratory work. There will be no make-up exams. If you have a legitimate reason for missing a scheduled exam (e.g. team travel for varsity athletics, serious illness, indictment for a capital crime, etc.) the weighting assigned to the final exam will be increased accordingly.

You are expected to take charge of your own learning - indeed, your engagement is the only guarantee of success in this course. Homework will be assigned using the on-line Mastering Astronomy web site. This resource is also rich with tutorial materials. We will use some of these in class, but you should use them yourself as a way to further your understanding, and to provide a basis for asking questions and participating in discussion. Above all, come to class prepared to engage actively in the learning process. Bring an open and inquiring mind, a willingness to explore and ask questions, and a sense of adventure!

Homework: As noted above, homework will be assigned using Mastering Astronomy. Each assignment will contain approximately five questions/problems/exerecises from each chapter. For a typical week, this will mean 15-20 assigned. The web site will automatically record your grade on the assigned questions and problems. This work will contribute 15%.

Using Mastering Astronomy:

· Connect to http://www.masteringastronomy.com

· Click on the middle icon for The Essential Cosmic Perspective, 4^th Edition

· Follow the instruction in your student access kit to register for the course. The course ID is SPAGNA101. Subsequently, simply log in to the course. You should go through the tutorial assignment “Introduction to Mastering Astronomy” to learn how to use the site.

· You will be allowed up to five attempts to answer each question.

· You will also find tutorial material on the web site. Please make use of this to help in mastering the material and to prepare for exams.

Homework assignments are due no later than midnight on the days indicated in the course schedule. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Exams: There will be four mid-term exams (occurring at “natural” breaks in the subject matter), on 2008 February 28, March 17, April 8, and May 6. Each exam will contribute 10% of your course grade. There will be no make-up exams. If you miss an exam for a legitimate reason, those points will be reassigned to the final. The final exam will take at 8:30 am on 2008 May 23; this exam will contribute 20% of your grade.

Laboratory: Astronomy is not considered an experimental science. It is, after all, bad form to blow up stars and planets just to see what would happen, and it is currently impossible to explore the Universe from any location other than here. It is, instead, an observational science, restricted to observing and explaining events as they occur in the cosmos, almost always at a great distance. From these observations we devise models and theory to explain and predict the results of future observation.

Monday evenings have been scheduled as “laboratory” sessions, we will not necessarily meet every Monday evening. Depending on whether the laboratory exercise is to be done inside or out of doors, some flexibility is also required concerning the starting time. Additionally, there will be a number of “laboratory-like activities” which will take place in class. Our use of the Keeble Observatory will depend in large part on the weather. Accordingly, long-range scheduling of observatory and laboratory in advance is virtually impossible. The attached schedule is, accordingly, preliminary and subject to revision.

It is strongly encouraged that you maintain a separate laboratory notebook (available in the Bookstore) to be used exclusively for this course. In this you will record observations, data, calculations, and conclusions from the laboratory work. It is to your advantage to keep this notebook orderly, legible, and complete. Be sure to have your notebook with you when you are working in the laboratory setting.

Reports: After each formal laboratory, you will be asked to write a brief report, due on Tuesday of the week after the exercise is complete. These are to be word-processed, rather than hand-written. They are to follow the format enumerated below. These reports will typically be 3 or 4 pages, at most.

1. Title page. This page is to include the title of the exercise, the date performed, and the names of any lab partners with whom you worked. Also on the title page, write a brief paragraph describing the experiment or observation performed.

2. Data and observations. The "raw data" are recorded in your lab notebook. Use that information to prepare a summary table of any measurements and calculations accompanying the exercise. (You may choose to prepare these tables in a spreadsheet, rather than in your word-processing software. I leave that choice to you.) When appropriate, include a sample calculation, showing how you converted the data into the results sought.

3. Results and conclusions. What result was obtained? What does it tell us?

4. Questions. Each laboratory exercise will include a set of questions to be answered. Write your responses in complete, grammatically correct sentences.

Your laboratory grade will contribute 25% of the overall course grade.

Determining your grade: In summary, your grade will be assigned based on the following:

• Homework 15%
• 4 Exams @ 10%, total 40%
• Final exam 20%
• Laboratory 25%

Since grading is a measurement process with some inherent uncertainty, the instructor reserves the right to adjust grades up or down by half a letter grade based on intangibles such as apparent attitude, regular attendance, courtesy, etc.

Grading: All work in this course will be graded on a numerical scale from 0 - 4, corresponding to the 4.0 = A, 3.0 = B, 2.0 = C, 1. 0 = D, 0.0 = F scale used in computing your GPA. These criteria are necessarily subjective on the part of the grader. Hence, if a solution is presented which appears intermediate on this scale, half-point grades will be awarded, e.g. 3.5, 2.5, 1.5. The grade 0.5 will not be used. After grades are accumulated and averaged, the cutoffs for mapping numerical results into letter grades are:

For on-line graded homework, the following conversions will apply:

Grades of A+ or D- are awarded at the instructor's discretion. I also reserve the right to adjust final grades up or down by one category. For example, a numerical B+ may be recorded as A- or B if the overall record justifies it.

Special Note: The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and other Federal laws require Randolph-Macon College to provide a "reasonable accommodation" to any individual who advises us of a physical, psychological, or learning disability. If you have a physical, psychological, or learning disability that requires an accommodation, you must first register with the Office for Disability Support Services, located in the Higgins Academic Center. Please arrange a meeting with the course instructor to discuss your needs and how to register for these support services.