Section #: 617305
Class Time: TR 2:00PM - 3:25PM
Room: 7/272
Instructor: Douglas H. Laurence
Office: 7/135
Office Hours: By Appointment Only During Summer
For this course, you will be required to buy two items:
- Textbook: Astronomy Today, Volume 2: Stars and Galaxies, 9th ed., Chaisson & McMillan.
- Materials: Scantron sheets for the two exams, the midterm and the final. Must be long enough to answer 30 questions.
Further, you are expected to have a notebook (or paper of any form), a writing utensil, etc., so that you can properly take notes during the class. Feel free to record audio of the lectures to playback later; whatever helps you learn, I'm on board with it.
During the semester, we will cover the following topics:
- Introduction to Astronomy
- Stars
- Galaxies
- Cosmology & the Evolution of the Universe
Each exam will consist of roughly 30 multiple choice questions. The solutions to each exam must be recorded on Scantron sheets, so make sure you buy at least 2 for this class! The midterm will cover roughly the first half of the material, while the final exam will cover roughly the second half of the material. The final exam will not be cumulative; it will only be on material covered after the midterm.
Before each exam, a review of the material will be posted. The review will consist of roughly 40 multiple choice questions that I will write, which represent the types of questions you could expect to see on the upcoming exam. The exam content will break down in the following way:
- Midterm: Chapters 1 - 5, 16 - 17
- Final: 19 - 27
Roughly once a week, we will have a quiz on the previous week's material. Quizzes will be given at the end of the lecture, so any student running late will still have a chance to take the quiz. Quizzes will have two multiple choice questions. Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped in the calculation of your final grade.
Tentative Course Schedule:
| WEEK | MONDAY | WEDNESDAY |
|---|---|---|
| May 13 | Ch. 1: Charting the Heavens | Ch. 2: The Copernican Revolution |
| May 20 | Ch. 2: The Copernican Revolution | Ch. 3: Radiation |
| May 27 | Ch. 3: Radiation | Ch. 4: Spectroscopy |
| June 3 | Ch. 4: Spectroscopy | Ch. 5: Telescopes |
| June 10 | Ch. 16: The Sun | Ch. 16: The Sun |
| June 17 | Ch. 17: The Stars | Midterm |
| June 24 | Ch. 19: Star Formation | Ch. 20: Stellar Evolution |
| July 1 | Ch. 21: Stellar Explosions | July 4th |
| July 8 | Ch. 21: Stellar Explosions | Ch. 22: Neutron Stars & Black Holes |
| July 15 | Ch. 23: The Milky Way Galaxy / Ch. 24: Galaxies | Ch. 24: Galaxies / Ch. 25: Galaxies & Dark Matter |
| July 22 | Ch. 26: Cosmology | Ch. 26: Cosmology |
| July 29 | Ch. 27: The Early Universe | Ch. 27: The Early Universe |
| August 5 | Final Exam | Classes End |
Grading Scheme:
| Quizzes | 25 points |
| Homework | 25 points |
| Midterm | 25 points |
| Final | 25 points |
| Total | 100 points |
|---|
Grading Sale:
| Letter Grade | Points Earned |
|---|---|
| A | 90.0 - 100.0 |
| B | 80.0 - 89.9 |
| C | 70.0 - 79.9 |
| D | 60.0 - 69.9 |
| F | < 60.0 |