Out of Class Participation Credit

Participation in certain out-of-class activities and events can be used to earn participation credits. These are equivalent to the participation credits obtained from exercises and activities that take place in class.

Star Parties

Earn participation credit by attending Astronomy Department-sponsored Star Parties, which occur on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday evenings during the semester, weather permitting. The Wednesday night events are held on the roof of RLM Hall, while the Friday and Saturday ones use the telescope on the roof of Painter Hall. See details here. Important: You must request a signed slip from the person in charge, and turn it in to the T.A. within the next week to receive credit. A maximum of three Star Parties, each with proper documentation - the slip must have your name and EID as well as the signature of the Star Party host - may count towards your participation total.

Public Lecture, Fri., Sep. 18

There will be a Public Lecture, sponsored by Aerospace Engineering, on the story of Curiosity, a currently active rover on Mars, on Friday, September 18. This talk looks like it will be very interesting, and relevant to our class. If you wish to receive participation credit for attending this talk, you will need to turn in a short write-up (a paragraph to one page) no later than Sep. 24 in class. This must not be simply a copy of the speaker's slides, but should summarize in your own words some of what you heard and understood from the lecture. (It must have substance, and not just say "This was a great talk.") If you don't want to do a write-up and don't need the credit, you should still feel free to go and hear the talk! Details are posted here.

Public Lecture, Wed., Dec. 2

There will be a Public Lecture on campus on Wed., Dec. 2, at 4:00 PM, by a very distinguished speaker: Nobel Laureate Adam Riess, one of the discoverers of the acceleration of the expansion rate of the Universe. Dr. Riess will be visiting the University of Texas as this year's recipient of the Antoinette de Vaucouleurs medal in Astronomy. Dr. Riess' talk, which will be in the Avaya Auditorium in the Peter O'Donnell Building, is entitled "Supernovae and the Discovery of the Accelerating Universe." You may attend this talk and receive 1 point of participation credit for it, if you turn in a short write-up in your own words, in paragraph form (complete sentences). Turning a written copy of the slides will not satisfy this assignment and you will not receive credit for it. Also, this is not a critique - it cannot be just "I enjoyed this talk." Due to the need to have all class assignments turned in by the last class day, this write-up must be turned in at class on Dec. 3 (which is when Exam 3 takes place), or at the very latest, by 2:00 PM on Fri., Dec. 4 to the T.A. or to Susy Graves in RLM 15.204. Details are posted here.