SYLLABUS: ASTRONOMY 1010, FALL 2002

SOLAR SYSTEM ASTRONOMY

  • Instructor: Prof. Paul J. Wiita
  • Contacts: 715 One Park Place; wiita@chara.gsu.edu; office: (404)651-1367 ; home: (404)681-5993

    Class Timings: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00 - 2:15 PM

    Location: 400 General Classroom Building

    Office Hours: Tues., Wed. and Thurs. 11:00 AM - noon & by appointment.

    Note that I will not normally be in the office on Fridays this semester, as I will be spending most weekends in Princeton, NJ with my family. If you need to contact me over the weekend you can call me in my office at Princeton University on Friday at (609) 258-1164 or at home at (609) 683-3834; I will be reading my e-mail frequently on Fridays and sporadically on Saturdays and Sundays.

    Required Textbook: E. Chaisson & S. McMillan, Astronomy Today, Fourth Edition (2002), Prentice Hall.

    GENERAL INFORMATION:

    Chaisson & McMillan is an excellent text, but will not include all the material in my lectures (and of course, I will not cover everything in the text). The CD-ROM and textbook web-site should be quite helpful to many students. Many of you might benefit from looking at texts with different viewpoints; other excellent books are: W.J. Kaufmann, Universe and T.P. Snow, The Dynamic Universe.

    All students are expected to be familiar with the Policy on Academic Honesty, Section 1380 of the Undergraduate Catalog, (pp. 69-69) and to abide by it. Cheating will certainly earn you a zero on that quiz or exam, and the penalties can be substantially more severe.

    You are expected to be considerate and respectful of other students; talking (other than to ask questions of me) or eating in class are obvious forms of discourtesy. Cell phones and pagers are to be turned off (or at most, set to give tactile, rather than audible, signals) while in class.

    COURSE GOALS:

    This is the first of two introductory astronomy courses which include a weekly laboratory. We will begin the study the nature of the entire universe, starting with the basic knowledge of the night sky that all civilizations here on earth managed to acquire. We will then discuss the revolutionary view that the Sun, not the Earth is the center of the solar system. Fundamental physics, including the basics of gravity, will next be introduced, since this is the force that rules the structure and orbits of planets, stars and galaxies. We will then discuss the properties of light, since it is mainly through radiation that astronomers can gather information about planets, asteriods, stars, galaxies and the universe as a whole. The remaining main topics are: general properties of the solar system; the nature of the terrestrial planets; the nature of the giant planets and their moons and rings; smaller bodies within the solar system; how this system probably formed. Aside from learning a significant amount of exciting and important factual material, comprising a summary of our best current knowledge of solar system astronomy, students should come away from this course with an appreciation of the techniques and thinking styles employed by scientists when they attempt to understand what is going on in very distant places which they cannot actually visit to perform experiments. Quantitative reasoning will be used frequently; however, the only mathematics you are expected to know is introductory algebra and very simple geometry.

    COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

    You are responsible for all the material in the assigned readings and in the lectures unless you are specifically told otherwise. While attendance at every lecture is not required, it is expected, and it will be extremely difficult for any student to get a grade of C or better if (s)he does not attend nearly every class. If you must miss a lecture, you should be certain to hand copy the notes of another student as soon as possible. It is expected that a summary of most class notes, as well as assignments and answers to assignments will be available through this web-site. These abbreviated notes will not substitute for the need to attend (and pay attention) in class, but they will allow you to check that you have not made significant errors in your personal notes.

    You are strongly encouraged to ask questions before, during or after class if something is not clear. If my office hours are not convenient for you, just make an appointment to meet with me. I strongly urge you to read the assigned sections before the corresponding lecture. As you do so, note the points with which you have difficulty, so that if they are not clarified during the class you can immediately raise questions. Soon after the lecture, carefully (re-)read the corresponding text sections to reinforce the material.

    I hope that most students will attend my office hours on a few, or even several, occasions during the semester; however, no student should expect to receive a half-hour or more of extra personal instruction from me every week. Office hours are designed to accomplish two purposes: students who are very interested in the subject can discuss more advanced topics with the professor; the professor can answer a limited number of questions per student that were not clarified by a careful rereading of the text and notes.

    There will be three one-hour exams. All of the questions will be of a short answer (true/false, multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the-blank, etc.) variety. No more than 25% of any exam will comprise questions involving simple mathematics. The examination questions will stress the material covered in class, so punctual attendance and careful notetaking will be keys to doing well; however, there will typically be a few questions asked that are covered in the text but not the lectures, so don't neglect your reading.

    The average student will do well in this course if (s)he devotes four to six hours a week (outside of lecture and lab) to reading the textbook and reviewing her or his notes. Be sure to answer the questions at the end of each chapter to test your knowledge of the material well in advance of exams.

    COURSE SCHEDULE

    tex2html_wrap_inline38 October 11th is the last day to withdraw with a grade of W possible.

    Of course, modifications to the above schedule may be necessary.

    GRADING:

    Each of the three hour exams will count as 20% of your grade. Two or three pop quizzes and a few assignments will comprise a total of 15%, and your lab work will count for the remaining 25%. (Because Dr. Wiita will be out of town during the final exam period there will be no cumulative final exam this semester.)

    There will be no make-up exams; however, I will drop the lowest of the three hour exam grades in computing your final grade, so if you miss one of the hour tests that will count as your lowest score and each of the other tests will count for 30% of your grade. If you miss two of them, you'll receive a zero for one, and the remaining exam will still contribute a maximum of 30 out of 100 points, so it will be impossible to get a grade above C (and it would be highly unlikely to get one above D). Therefore, don't get sick on more than one exam date. There can be no make-up for an unannounced quiz, so missing one yields a zero; this provides an incentive for attending every class. Note that all assignments will be posted to the web-site, so that if you miss class on a given day, be certain to check if an assignment was given so that you can hand it in on time.

    An average grade of 90% or better guarantees an A, an average grade of at least 80% gives a B, 70% or better yields a C, and an average 60% or better is enough for a D. If the mean class grade on an exam falls below 70% I will `curve' the scores so as to bring the mean up to between 70% and 75%.

    THE LABORATORY COMPONENT OF THIS COURSE:

    When you registered for this course you automatically signed up for one of the associated lab sections, to be held in Room 516 Kell. Before attending the first lab you must have purchased the lab manual. If you have taken Astr 1010 recently, you do not need to purchase a manual, as the one you have contains both sets of labs, though a supplementary packet of new material may need to be purchased. Mr. John Wilson (Rm. 710 One Park Place, Ph: 404-651-1271), is in overall-charge of the labs. Either Mr. Wilson or one of the Graduate Teaching Assistants will be your lab instructor. If you have any questions about the labs, be sure to ask your instructor first, then Mr. Wilson (if he isn't your instructor); contact me in this regard only after speaking with him. Computer number 80503 corresponds to a lab on Wednesdays from 2:30 PM--4:20 PM; 80504 to a lab on Thursdays from 3:00 PM--4:50 PM; 80505 to Fridays from 10:00 AM--11:50 AM; 80506 to Tuesdays from 3:00 to 4:50 PM; 80507 to Mondays from 2:30 to 4:20 PM.

    If you miss a lab during the first half of the course you will have an opportunity to make it up at the middle of the semester; if you miss one in the second half of the term, you can make it up at the very last lab meeting. Any missed lab that is not made up (which includes any in excess of one per half-semester) counts as a zero, and will have a substantial negative impact on your lab grade, which in turn, is worth 25% of your course grade. You are also required to attend an observing session, the schedule of which will be announced in the labs. The smart student does this early in the quarter. Finally, note that while you are expected to complete every lab you must attend at least 7 labs and an observing session in order to get credit for this laboratory science course (i.e., if you miss half or more of the labs, you can't pass the course, even if you have a 100% average on the exams, assignments and quizzes).

    I hope that you will find Astr 1010 interesting and even enjoyable. Feel free to give me suggestions at any time (in person after class, or via phone or e-mail) on how we might work together to make this class better.