DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMYASTRO
COURSE WEB PAGESASTRO

FALL 2000 Welch Hall 3.502, MWF 1-3

PROFESSOR:
John Scalo
Office: R.L. Moore 17.220
Phone: 471-6446 (office), or 478-2748 (home)
Email: parrot@astro.as.utexas.edu
Office hours: Wednesday and Friday afternoons, 3-5, or by appointment. However I urge you to feel free to call
me at my home or office, or to talk to me after class (outside the classroom, if necessary); for short questions
there is usually no need for you to walk all the way to my office.

TEACHING ASSISTANT:
Zhaohui Shang
Office: 17.312
Phone: 471-7418
Email: shang@astro.as.utexas.edu
Office hours: W 2-4; Th 1:30-3:30

TEXTBOOK: Chaisson, E. and McMillan, S. Astronomy Today, 3rd Edition
It is important that you purchase the 3rd Edition, and that it includes a CD-ROM.

Download the Study Guide if you don't have it in your CD-ROM             Click to download

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is meant as a descriptive introduction to a wide range of topics in astronomy for students who are not science or math majors. The emphasis in this course is on description of astronomical phenomena, how astronomical observations can be interpreted, and physical theories for the evolution of various types of astronomical objects. Concerning the mathematical level, it is minimal in this course. Students will rarely be required to manipulate equations as part of the exams. However you will encounter a few important but simple formulas in the text whose understanding will be helpful. You should also get used to seeing very large and very small numbers expressed in "scientific notation" (be sure to read Appendix 1 of the text, at the end of the book, on this). Another thing that will be very helpful is to develop a comfort with looking at graphs, if you're not already. Comfort with scientific notation and graphs will greatly enhance the ease with which you comprehend concepts later in the course, and so I urge you to spend some time on these matters early in the course. However most of the emphasis in this class will be focussed on a verbal-level presentation and understanding of the material.

The lectures will generally emphasize the most important and/or difficult topics covered in the text and attempt to clarify their connections. The lectures will not cover every topic covered in the text that you are responsible for, so don't assume that if it's not covered in lecture, it won't be on the exam, although I will often tell you in lecture which parts of the text you can skip or are of minor interest. Similarly, there are a few subjects to which I will add material not covered in the text. So you may find it a distinct advantage to attend classes regularly, especially since some of the exam questions may be taken directly from lecture material.
Since reading is all you have to do in this course (besides trying the self-test questions), I expect you not to get behind. In particular, I will assume that you have tried to read the relevant text material before the corresponding lecture, so that the lecture can serve as a concentrated review and clarification.
Your textbook has a number of features worth noting, which I will remind you of as the course proceeds. I chose this text partly because of its outstanding visual displays, which I am hopeful will clarify the text and lectures. Of particular note are the use of "zoom-in" photos and diagrams, and the "spectrum icon" labels under all the photographs, which you will see if you leaf through the book.

The CD-ROM accompanying the book contains a lot of material, including the whole textbook, with links to updates on developments that have happened since this edition was published, links between figures and topics in the text and animations; hyperlinks between all cross-links, glossary terms, and learning objectives; and interactive self-scoring end-of-chapter tests. I will not hold you directly responsible for any of the material on the CD-ROM that is not in the text, except for the interactive multiple-choice questions, which I think are of high quality and should be a very useful guide to the types of questions you will encounter on the exam. The rest of the CD-ROM material can be perused at your discretion. It should be emphasized, however, that you might find your understanding of the material strongly enhanced by, say, looking at pictures and animations on the CD-ROM, so I want to encourage you to at least dabble in the CD-ROM as we cover each new topic.
Similarly, there is a World Wide Web site organized around the chapters and up-dated monthly http://www.prenhall.com/chaisson, that includes audio and animation clips, a collection of links to astronomy resources, and additional questions and exercises. Use of this site is entirely optional, and I will not assume that you have examined the site at all. However you may find the additional sample questions of interest in reviewing and self-testing.

In general, I am hoping that your performance in and enjoyment of this class should not depend significantly on whether or not you have easy access to a computer. But I also want to allow all of you access to the additional features that are available through your textbook using a computer, if you wish to use them. So if you don't have access to a computer (your own or a friend's), obtain a university computer account and learn to use the facilities at the Student Microcomputing Facility in the Undergraduate Library (UGL) as soon as possible if you haven't already.

Organization of the Course: Because of the large number of topics included in "astronomy" and the finite length of the semester, I have decided to omit several chapters that consist of detailed discussions of objects in our solar system (chapters 7-14), and to not discuss the history of astronomy, except in ways that I will make clear in class. We will also probably omit Ch.28 (extraterrestrial intelligence); take AST 309L for a full-semester treatment of this subject. I recommend that you read that chapter if you are interested in astrobiological topics (origin of life, evolution of cognitive behavior, etc.)

We need to first develop the background physical principles that will be used to understand observations and theories. This might be the most crucial part of the course, because it may seem dry and difficult, but much of your later success in understanding the material will depend on how comfortable you are with these basic physical concepts. So probably the most important advice for this course is to NOT get behind in the reading and self-testing for the first part of the course, especially chapters 3 and 4 on the topic of light.

Here is a list of the reading assignments for each of the seven exams. I suggest you copy this to a separate sheet and keep it handy. However because we only have five lectures per exam, and there may be unforeseen circumstances, you should consider this list tentative; if the reading schedule is changed, it will be announced prominently in class.

I will detail in class and/or in handouts which material you will not be responsible for. This occurs mainly for chapters 1 and 2; we will read nearly all of the remaining chapters. I also want to emphasize that, except for a few cases like this, you are responsible for all the assigned reading material, whether or not covered in the lectures.

GRADING

Exams: 100% of your grade will be based on 7 exams (about one every two weeks, starting with the 3rd Friday of the course, Sept.15), all of which will be weighted equally. There will be no required comprehensive final. (An optional comprehensive final is described below.) The exams will consist entirely of multiple choice questions. I will try to prepare you for the nature of the exam questions by occasionally giving sample questions during lectures, by trying to point out the types of information that I expect you to understand or remember, and by assigning homework that emphasizes the concepts most important for the exam. There is an excellent interactive self-testing part of the the CD-ROM accompanying the text that I urge you to use, since the exam questions will be of that form, and some will be taken from this source..

Homework: There is homework in this class, but it won't be turned in. Instead the homework consists of a subset of the questions at the end of each chapter and especially on the interactive self-testing part of the CD-ROM. The purposes of the homework are to give you a way of testing your understanding of the material, to provide a guide to the most important concepts, and to force you to keep up with the material. Although the homework will not be turned in or graded, you will find that your exam grades suffer significantly if you do not attempt to work through these assignments.
Final grades will be assigned on the basis of A=87-100, B=78-86.9, C=67-77.9, D=55-66.9, F<55.

Optional final exam and make-up exam policy: There is no required comprehensive final exam in this course. However I will schedule an optional final for anyone who is not content with their final grade, or who has had to miss an exam during the regular semester. Your score on the comprehensive final will replace your lowest exam score in computing your average. The date, time, and place for this exam will be determined by the University and this exam cannot be administered early or late, not for any reason. The exam will be comprehensive, including questions on all the material covered in the course, and will consist entirely of multiple choice questions.
If you should miss one and only one of the seven exams, for any reason, you will be given the opportunity to make up the one exam by taking the optional comprehensive final and make-up exam described above. There will be no exceptions (i.e. no "special" make-up exams or "special" reasons). You do not need to disclose your reason for missing an exam and you do not need to notify Prof. Scalo or the TA. This means that there will be no late exams given, except possibly if have a very good nonacademic reason and you can take the exam within one day of the scheduled exam. If there are documented medical emergencies or imperative nonacademic reasons to miss more than one exam, you may be able to drop the course (see "Drops" and "Incompletes" below). Notice that if a religious holiday falls on a test day, we will gladly re-schedule your exam, but you must notify us of this at least 14 days prior to the relevant class dates.

Just under the cutoff? If at the end of the semester you are just under the cutoff for a grade (by, say, one, or two, or 0.3, percentage points), whether you are just under a D, say, or an A, do not call Prof. Scalo asking him to lower the cutoff--this is unfair to all concerned. Cut-offs will not be lowered to accomodate your individual score. Instead, you have a viable option: If you would like to improve your score, you should take the optional comprehensive final.

Special requests If you have any special request of any sort (excluding those not allowed, like lowering the grade cutoff), please put the request in writing. Please compose a written (or email) document, addressed to Prof. Scalo, clearly and explicitly stating your request and why it is reasonable. Include a phone number so that I can contact you about your request. Obviously (I hope) this procedure does not apply to minor requests such as "Could you write a little larger on the board?," etc.
The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.

Dropping the course:

Incompletes: An incomplete (X) will only be considered for students who cannot complete the required course work for reasons other than lack of diligence (illness or other imperative nonacademic reasons), but only if the student has a passing grade on the work completed.

Cheating: Academic dishonesty will result in failure of the course and a report to the Dean of Students, who will decide on further action. Because of the large size of this class and the temptations involved, it will be important to keep your eyes from wandering and to guard your own exam. Also, bring your UT ID card with you to exams and be prepared to show this card if asked.

Student observing opportunities: Students interested in observing the night sky through small telescopes have several opportunities. 1. The Painter Hall Observatory has UT Student/Staff Night on Fridays from 9:30 to 10:30. Public Night is on Saturdays, 8:30 to 10:30. These sessions are free and open to all ages; no reservations are required. If you have questions, call 471-3000 (general Astronomy Dept. phone) and ask. 2. The Astronomy Department sponsors weekly "Star Parties" on the 14th floor observing deck of R.L.Moore Hall 30 minutes after sunset (8pm) on Wednesdays this fall. This is free and open to the public.