Introduction
to Astronomy 1050 modified 9/1/2015
Course
and Instructor Information
Welcome to Introduction to Astronomy!
A bit about your
instructor (me):
I grew up on the Florida Gulf Coast (Tampa), went to a teeny, tiny
college in North Carolina (Davidson) and earned my Ph.D. in Astronomy as the
University of Washington (Seattle).
Afterwards, I worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Jet Propulsion
Lab (Pasadena) and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh (Scotland). (Lucky me!)
Then I came to UW in 1981 (post Jurassic Period, but not by much). I have four sons (all grown) and two
granddaughters (3 and 6). I enjoy
reading (especially history and economics), hiking, biking, travel, and conversation. My research is the detection of
microorganisms in blood for infected patients.
(What does that have to do with astronomy?) And I love to travel to France to work with
collaborators (and drink wine).
There are two graduate student TAs in this class (Coty Tatge and Jaya), and I’ll let them introduce
themselves. The three of us enjoy
teaching. You’ll find this class to be
a significant amount of work, but I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I
do.
Paul Johnson, Professor
About the class:
This class will be taught in a manner that provides you with a lot
of latitude and independence, a lot of freedom to balance the effort that you
put into this class with the grade that you would like to earn. It will be a combination of in-class
lecture/discussion combined with a mandatory 2-hour lab, taught once a week by
a T.A. There will be required reading on
a weekly basis that will cover material that will be difficult for many of
you. Computer-based homework and
quizzes will be assigned on a weekly basis and will give you some feedback
about how well you understand the reading.
For those of you who have trouble with the material (and that will be
the majority) I would urge you to email and/or bring questions to class so that
I can cover more difficult material as needed.
In addition, the readings will be accompanied by tutorial web videos
which will explain some of the difficult concepts in the text. I will be video-taping all of the lectures,
which will be available on the web.
In this course we discuss astronomy as a science, from an
historical and philosophical point of view as well as the frontiers of
astronomy that are opening.
This course is meant to encourage critical thinking and
reflection. If you have any comments, concerns or questions please feel free to
email me or schedule an appointment.
Scientific principles and laws do not lie on the surface of
nature. They are hidden, and must be wrested from nature by an active and
elaborate technique of inquiry. ~John Dewey, Reconstruction in Philosophy, 1920
Course
Syllabus
Required Texts
1. Essential Cosmic Perspective 7th Edition by Bennett
Caution: there are
several similar book titles by the same author and other authors. There is a downloadable digital form of
the book as well as a hardcopy version. Be sure that you are not ordering both!
2.
Mastering Astronomy -- Standalone
Access Card -- for The Essential Cosmic Perspective, 7th edition by Bennett ISBN13:978-0321928085
Course ID: MAJOHNSON35673
Mastering Astronomy, Ordering, Registration and Use
3. Polleverywhere,
Ordering How to register for Poll Everywhere.htmRegistration
and Use
COURSE OVERVIEW
·
The history of Astronomy and Astronomy
as a science. Astronomy is covered from an historical perspective,
treating Cosmology from the ancients through Kepler, Galileo, and Newton up
until the present. Being the oldest of the physical sciences, astronomy is used
to good advantage to illustrate the scientific method with the groping of early
astronomers.
·
The Earth and the Solar System. The solar system is examined
in light of observations from spacecraft as well as the ground. This section is
taught so as to compare the geology and meteorology of the-planets with what we
know about the Earth. Elementary mechanics is used to describe the motion of
the planets.
·
Stars.
The birth, life and death of stars are detailed and stars are
compared. How we gather information about stars is covered in some detail using
elementary concepts about electromagnetic radiation. Elementary general
relativity is used to describe black holes.
·
Galaxies and the Cosmos. The
morphology and evolution of galaxies is described with special emphasis on how
their distances are determined. This is used to develop the concept of a big
bang cosmology. The most probable scenario regarding the origin of the universe
is described.
Prerequisite
Math 1000 or passing the mathematics proficiency
examination at level III. (Not having
this math prerequisite will make this course an uncomfortable experience for
you.)
Weekly Classes and use oF Mastering astronomy and Polleverywhere
Students are
expected to read and learn the course material on their own, as well as they
can. We will have one reading quiz per
week, usually on Tuesdays, as well as a weekly homework assignment from
Mastering Astronomy. The quizzes will
be at the beginning of class and will necessitate the use of your mobile device
as well as registration on Polleverywhere. If you are late for class and miss a quiz,
this isn’t the end of the world, as I will allow everyone to drop their two
lowest quiz scores. It is the responsibility of the student
to register and verify (by looking at your grades) on the Mastering Astronomy
and Polleverywhere web sites, within the first week
of class. Failure to do so might mean a
loss of credit. In addition, you should
verify your Polleverywhere grades on a weekly basis
to ensure that you are connected correctly each and every lecture.
Labs
There is a required two-hour lab session each week
(beginning the second week of class). It is assumed that you have registered
for a lab section and it is expected that you attend the section for which you
have registered. The labs are conducted by teaching assistants in Room 132 of
the Physical Sciences Bldg.
You may only attend the lab section for which you
are registered. There are no regularly
scheduled makeup labs, so lab attendance is important.
Grades
This
class is meant to be challenging, yet fun and interesting. I don’t like grades any more than you do,
but it is my job to provide a learning assessment. So here it is.
·
12
labs 10% (drop the lowest 2 grades, 10 pts. each for a total
of 100 points)
·
12
homework assignments 15% (drop the lowest 2 grades, 15 pts.
each for a total of 150 points)
·
Weekly
reading quizzes 10% (10 points each, drop the lowest 2
grades) (100 points)
·
Class
participation 5% (based on use of Polleverywhere
responses throughout the semester) (50
points)
·
3
tests 60% total (200 pts. each) for a total of 600
points
A - 90% ( 900 pts.) and up
B - 80-89% ( 800 – 899 pts.)
C - 70-79% ( 700 –799 pts.)
D - 60-69% ( 600-699 pts.)
F – 59% ( pts.) and below
Although you are expected to read the text to be
able to receive a good test grade, tests will be based on those topics
presented in lecture and lab. In order
to receive a good test grade you will need to work the homework and labs on
your own, or you will not understand the material well enough to receive a good
test score.
A summary of your itemized grades will be made
available to you by your T.A. every other week after about the third week of
the semester. Please report grade discrepancies immediately to your T.A. It is
also advisable to keep all of your graded tests and lab reports.
In general, you will find that the tests are
challenging and that labs, homework, and reading quizzes will be much easier
and ideally will bring your grade up to where you would like to be. Tests will be curved individually, by a small
amount (usually less than 10%) so that there isn’t a necessity to curve at the
end of the semester. It is critical to
do all of the work and keep up with the material I attempt to construct this class so that
those of you who put in a lot of time reading and understanding the material (~
4-6 hours a week outside of class) will receive an A or B, and those who do
less work or find science particularly challenging can still obtain a C. The average student in Astro 1050 will
receive an A or B. If you are having
problems and are frustrated that your grades aren’t what you expect them to be,
then see me. The sooner the better.
Tests
Tests will have three levels of questions (but won’t be
identified as such):
1.)
Level 3:
Most of the questions will cover facts that are easily found in the
text. (What is the nearest star to the
Earth? The Sun.)
2.) Level 2:
Fewer questions (perhaps a quarter) will require that you directly apply one of
the principals in the text to answer a question. (If the earth where 2x as far from the Sun as
it is now, how much weaker would its gravity be? 4x weaker.)
3.) Level 1:
A minority of the questions (10% or less) will require more analytical thought
perhaps combining two or more principals that were learned in class.
I expect that everyone who has read through the material in
the text more than once should do well on the Level 3 questions. Those who have developed a basic
understanding of the material, and have checked that understanding by doing
well on homework and quizzes (on their own) should be able to do well on the
Level-2 questions. Level-3 will prove
challenging for the majority of the class.
Tests will be based on HW questions, in-class
quizzes, practice tests, and questions from the labs. Most questions will come from these sources verbatim. If you have worked to learn from the HW,
class quizzes, practice tests, and labs, you should do well on the tests.
Makeup tests will be given only to students
having University excuses at regularly scheduled makeup test times. Makeup
tests will be entirely essay questions of the same difficulty as the regularly
scheduled test.
Online Homework
There will be weekly homework (as outlined in
the schedule)
as a way of making sure everyone is keeping up with and understanding the
material. Homework will be completed using the Mastering Astronomy web site, Using
Mastering Astronomy for Homework.htm and answers will be
available interactively (i.e. immediate feedback given on the web site). Starting from the second week of the class, there
will be 12 weekly homework consisting of approximately 10 multiple choice
questions each will take under an hour to complete. You will be assessed on
your best 10 homework scores. This
gives you some latitude to miss class assignments for excused or unexcused
absences. Excuses for missed
assignments will not be taken. Some
homework questions (or closely related questions) may reappear on the exams, so
it is recommended that homework be completed and well understood. It is
strongly encouraged to work the homework on your own. In my experience, much of the learning is
done by attending lecture, doing the homework on your own, and evaluating your understanding
through homework and quizzes. Copying
homework is not honest and will almost certainly result in a weak understanding
of the material and a poor grade.
Class Homepage
I will have class reading outlines and handouts published on the class homepage: http://physics.uwyo.edu/~pjohnson/astro1050/intro.htm
It is essential for you to be able to regularly
access this web site. Access can be made from any of the computer
"pods" on campus. These pods are located in the campus computer
center, the A&S building, the Engineering building, the Union, the 3rd
floor of the Physical Science Building, and in the room in front of the Science
Library. The lecture outlines are just that, and are not meant to be a set of
lecture notes. If you have any questions about how to access this homepage
or the World Wide Web in general, these will be answered in the first
laboratory session by your T.A.
Email Account
This class has about 60 participants. The only way I
can contact you or the class as a whole is through your uwyo
email address. Please check your uwyo email regularly
(daily).
Schedule of Readng
Assignments and Labs
Print
out a copy of the lab write-up and bring it to lab with you each week. Homework will be assigned on a weekly
basis. Quizzes will be given in class
weekly, based on reading assignments.
It is expected that each student put in about 2 hours at home per hour
in class, reading and doing homework, for a total of 6-8 hours/week.
EXAMINATIONS
This course has three examinations. They are not cumulative. Tests are multiple choice/short answer.
Assignments for thE First week
By Monday, September 7, read Chapters 1 and
2 NOTE: You will only see assignments (or any other
modifications) to this web page change if you refresh your browser cache
(generally accessible under browser settings).
(Your web browser will generally save frequently visited web pages so
you might not see them changed.)
Important Links
Graduate Teaching Assistants and Office Hours -- TBA
Academic Integrity*
Discussing course
material with your classmates is in general a good idea, but each student is
expected to do his or her own work. Misrepresentation of anyone else’s work (including
work done over the Internet) as your own is considered plagiarism. Any instance of academic dishonesty
(including cheating and plagiarism) will be dealt with according to university
regulations. It is your responsibility to avoid complaints or appearances of
impropriety. Do not bring cell phones to exams or engage in any behavior during
exams that may suggest collusion.
Complete
regulations regarding academic dishonesty are here.
Science does not know its debt to imagination. ~Ralph Waldo
Emerson