101 syllabus

I have filled in all the assignments (is it too much work towards the end of the term? A lab every section). I have written out all the policies for the class. I am still missing the subject matter for a couple of lectures. That seems like something that could be revised later on. This is very close to the plan that JD followed winter term 2002 with a bit more on stars and only 2 exams.

Astro 101 Syllabus

http://www.astro.washington.edu/astro101

Greg Stinson
stinson at astro.washington.edu
-or-
stinsonG at u.washington.edu
Office: Physics and Astro B325
Work phone: 206.61(6.1505)

The Rules

There will take home exams. You may use any resource except another human being.
At least 50% off any homework or lab turned in after due date.
Late homework accepted until 2 weeks after due date, except that no late homework will be accepted the last week of the quarter. (It's just too busy.)
Homeworks and labs will be handed out and turned in during section
Labs are due one week after they are assigned
Homeworks and labs are worth 50% of your grade, exam 1 is worth 15%, final is worth 25%, section participation is 10%
Coursework will not be curved unless the whole class struggles with a particular assignment
(assuming it’s a night class) The first clear night we’re going out to the observing deck and the planetarium will be open.

Constellation of the Day
An extra credit opportunity. 1 person will present every day. If there's not room, you can alternatively hand in a constellation at the beginning of the constellation's day. For your constellation, you need to provide the following information:

shape
right ascension and declination
location in the sky (what other constellations it is near, how you might find it, is it near the Milky Way or the ecliptic?)
major/interesting star(s) in the constellation (Castor, Pollux, Alcor, Mizar, etc.)
story related to the constellation
Daily astrological reading (if applicable)

Choose from the following list:

Big Dipper/Ursa Major
Little Dipper/Ursa Minor
Orion
Scorpio
Casseiopeia
The Plaeides
Leo
Sagittarius
Taurus
Gemini
Cygnus
Ares
Libra
Hercules
Virgo
Perseus
Pieces
Cancer
Capricorn
Aquarius

Goals
Scientific notation
Plotting and understanding graphs
Definitions: force, temperature, energy
Cool stuff: Dark Matter, Big Bang, Black Holes, Supernovae
Behind the magic: HR Diagram, Hubble Law, GR

	Monday	Tues	Wednesday	Thurs	Friday
Week 1: Hi	Hi, how are you? History of Astronomy: I like JD’s line about, “Back before there was TV, there wasn’t much to do at night so people looked at the stars.” They made up stories and imagined shapes and characters, started believing that the positions of stars and planets guided their lives Then they found out that the stars could tell them very well where they were This was helpful once people started exploring Made charts, figured out wacky deviations in motions, couldn’t explain planets Slide show	Get to know one another. What is astronomy? “The study of stuff in the universe” Hand out HW 1 (Due second Tuesday)	What astronomy is: What’s actually going on up there. We might think about astro as the study of 4 things in 3 stages of life: ~~1) planets~~ (dealt with in 150) 2) stars 3) galaxies 4) the universe a) birth/creation b) evolution c) death Scientific notation Gravity, Forces How does gravity work?	Lab 1: Cosmic Easter Egg Hunt Find stuff in the universe in the night sky Hand in at the end of class	What might we want to know about stuff in the universe? Temp, Mass, Size (radius), Distance, Composition, Motion Rules are the same here as there Red stuff is cooler Blue stuff is hotter
Week 2 Physics	What is a star? Bright thing out in space How bright? Really bright, produces 1 million times energy used by US in a year every second. Wow, that’s bright. How does it do that? Burns Hydrogen What’s Hydrogen? An atom Play TMBG song Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas	Lab: Distance Lab	What’s an atom? Proton + Neutron with electrons spinning around it Stars evolve, collapse Emission/absorption lines are important in determining properties of stuff in universe	Homework 1 (about gravity, forces, some scientific notation practice) due Lab: Spectra
Week 3 The Sun, stars	Hot and dense-> How’d it get so dense?	Lab: Properties of the Sun Homework 2 handed out (Lifetime of the sun)	Fusion	Lab: Solar spectra	Bigger stars are hotter, thus burn faster, live shorter
Week 4: Stellar Evolution	H-R Diagram	Homework 2 due (Lifetime of the sun)	Main sequence->mass sequence	Midterm handed out	Moving off the MS: Red Giants
Week 5: Birth of stars (see lecture notes)	Observations/pictures	Doing the midterm, come if you want to talk.	Angular momentum	Midterm due Lab: H-R Diagram	Magnetic fields
Week 6: Stellar Death	Supernovae, planetary nebulae	Lab: PN expansion->age	Neutron Stars, Black Holes	Lab Black Holes
Week 7: Galaxies	Galaxies are not in the Milky Way: Shapley/Curtis debate	Lab: Candylab	Types of galaxies	Lab: Galaxy Classification
Week 8: Galaxy Evolution/Interaction	Interacting Galaxy movies	Lab: Dark Matter	Galaxy Clusters	We've done a lot of labs, let's talk.
Week 9: Cosmology	Expansion of the universe	Lab: Short Hubble Law		Lab: Short Hubble Law due Final Exam handed out	Structure, CMB
Week 10: History of the Universe		Assessments/Make Ice Cream(?)	Curvature of space/time	Final due	Fate of the universe