Syllabus

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AST 309C - The Birth of Stars and Planets
Course Description and Syllabus - Fall 2015

Instructor:	Dr. Keely Finkelstein Dept. of Astronomy Office: RLM 16.228 Email: keelyf@astro.as.utexas.edu
Unique Number:	46720
Lecture Time:	MWF 1-1:50 PM
Lecture Location:	WEL 3.502

Office Hours: TBA

Textbook: None required. Required reading will come from online reading assignments. Recommended - general introductory astronomy textbook.
Other Required Materials: Calculator

Course Website: Canvas website for this course
https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/1142979

Course TA:

TBD

Course Description:

AST 309C is a one semester class on the specific topic of star and planet formation. AST 301, 302, or 303 is a prerequisite for this course. This course will present a study of how stars and planets form. Stars form out of giant clouds of gas and dust, locked in a battle between gravity and pressure. Gravity eventually wins and stars and planets form in the resulting disk of material. This course will study this process including results from state of the art extrasolar planet searches, discussing implications on the formation of our own solar system. We will use high school algebra in this class.

Course Requirements:

In-Class Participation - this class will be structured with a combination of shorter lectures as well as interactive lessons and activities. These in-class participation activities are an important of the course, therefore attendance and participation is required, and they will count as a part of your grade. The interactive material and discussions will help to reinforce the concepts in the class, as well as assisting you in completing your homework assignments and preparing you for the exams. In-class participation, including Interactive Activities, and Lecture Tutorials, will make up 20% of your course grade.

Some of the in-class materials will be collected to establish your participation grade. These assignments or questionnaires will not be given letter grades or a numeric grade, rather you will be given credit for what you complete on an all or nothing basis and your in-class participation grade will be established on the following grading scheme:

80% or more of participations points - A (100%)
70% - 79% of participation points - B (85%)
60% - 69% of participation points - C (75%)
50% - 59% of participation points - D (65%)
30% - 49% of participation points - F (58%)
29% or less of participation points - actual participation %

Homework - There will be periodic HW assignments (~ 1 due every two weeks) that will be assigned throughout the semester. You are encouraged to discuss the homework and work on it together, however each student must write up and turn in their own work. Late homework will lose one letter grade (10%) each day it is late, it can be turned in up to 5 days late for up to 50% credit. Homework will make up 15% of your course grade, the lowest homework assignment will be dropped. Homework assignments can be submitted online through Canvas.

Reading assignments - There will be weekly assigned online modules, that will be required throughout the semester. These assignments will often consist of news articles, press releases, videos, or other online sources. These required online reading assignments will be followed by an online quiz to be taken through Canvas. These assignments will be due before the start of class, typically due Friday of each week. The online reading assignment quizzes will make up 15% of your course grade. Your lowest online quiz score will be dropped.

Exams - There will be 3 in-class midterm exams. These exams will emphasize the material discussed in lecture, on the HWs, and in-class discussions or lecture tutorials, as well material covered in the assigned online modules. All exams will be closed-book, closed-notes. You will be allowed to drop the lowest of your three midterm exams. The mid-term exams will make up 30% of your course grade. There will be no make up exams.

Final Exam (Saturday Dec. 12, 2015, 2 - 5 PM). The Final Exam cannot be dropped and will make up 20% of your course grade. The final will also be closed-book, closednotes.

Grades - Grades will be based on:

1.) Three mid-term exams (drop lowest)	30%
2.) Final Exam (cannot drop)	20%
3.) Homework	15%
4.) In-class participation	20%
5.) Online reading quizzes	15%

Collaboration - The interactive component of this class is designed around student collaboration, with activities such as Voting/Peer Discussions, In-Class activities, and Lecture Tutorials. For some of the group in-class assignments your group will turn in one collective assignment and each member of the group will receive the same amount of participation credit. You are also encouraged to study and work on HW assignments with other students and to get help during office hours. However, your work must be your own. If you copy someone else’s homework or let someone copy yours, both students will receive zero credit. Cases of cheating and plagiarism may also be reported to the Office of the Dean of Students.

Course Outline & Reading Assignments (subject to change):

Dates	Topics	Reading & HW Assign.
Week 1 - Aug. 26/28	Intro/Review/Review Star Clusters HR Diagrams	Module 1 due Friday 8/28
Week 2 - Aug. 31 Sept. 2/4	Review Black Body Radiation Intro to ISM / Giant Molecular Clouds, Dust & Chemistry	Module 2 due Friday 9/4
Week 3 - Sept. 9/11	(In)Stability of GMCs & Virial Theorem / Stages of Star Formation / Protostars	HW 1 due Wednesday 9/9 Module 3 due Friday 9/11
Week 4 - Sept. 14/16/18	Initial Mass Function / Review for Exam 1 / Exam 1 (Sept. 18th)	Module 4 due Wednesday 9/16
Week 5 - Sept. 21/23/25	Binary Stars / Outflows & Jets in Protostars	HW 2 due Friday 9/25
Week 6 - Sept. 28/30 / Oct. 2	YSOs / Disks / Hayashi tracks
Week 7 - Oct. 5/7/9	Clusters / Star Forming regions / HII regions (Blister HII regions)
Week 8 - Oct. 12/14/16	Massive Stars / Triggered SF / Low- Mass Stars	HW 3 due Monday 10/12
Week 9 - Oct. 19/21/23	Review for Exam 2 / Exam 2 (Oct. 21st) / Intro to Planet Formation
Week 10 - Oct. 26/28/30	Planetesimals / Gas Accretion / Giant Planet Formation
Week 11 - Nov. 2/4/6	Terrestrial Planets / Our Solar System	HW 4 due Monday 11/2
Week 12 - Nov. 9/11/13	Roadblocks to Planet Formation / Search for other worlds
Week 13 - Nov. 16/18/20	Exoplanets / Detection Methods / Variety of Exoplanet systems / Comparing our Solar System / Review for Exam 3	HW 5 due Wed. 11/18
Week 14 - Nov. 23/25	Exam 3 (Nov. 23rd) / Star Formation in Galaxies
Week 15 - Nov. 30 / Dec. 2/4	Star Formation in Galaxies / Are we alone? / Review	HW 6 due Wed. 12/2
Final Exam	Saturday Dec. 13th - 2:00-5:00 PM

Course Conduct:

Please silence cell phones before you enter the classroom, no texting or using your cell phone during class. No cell phones may be present during any exam. Also, please do not pack up or leave class early unless you have talked to me in advance, as a consideration to me and your fellow students. If you bring a laptop computer, don’t surf. If I see inappropriate laptop behavior, I will have to amend these rules. Be respectful of others especially during in-class peer discussion times, even if you disagree with them.

The Canvas course webpage will be updated with course announcements, reading assignments, and deadlines. It is your responsibility to check these on a regular basis. Please come to class prepared, having read the required reading assignments, also please be prepared to participate in in-class discussions and activities, this is for your benefit.

Academic Dishonesty:

University of Texas Honor Code:

The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community. Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. Standards for Academic Integrity are posted at http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acint_student.php

Plagiarism:

As a research university, the University of Texas at Austin takes plagiarism very seriously. Do not risk getting involved in a plagiarism infraction - the consequences simply aren’t work it. Always cite your sources, and when in doubt consult a professor or librarian. You may also read more about plagiarism at the Student Judicial Services website: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acadint_plagiarism.php

Documented Disability Statement

Please notify me of any modification/adaptation you may require to accommodate a disability-related need. The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 232-2937 (video phone) or http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd

Email - email is recognized as an official mode of university correspondence; therefore you are responsible for reading your email for university and course-related information and announcements. Please check your email regularly and frequently.

Additional Information - Attend an Astronomy Department Viewing Night

The department offers weekly public viewing nights at on the roof of RLM (Wednesday nights) and at Painter Hall (Friday & Saturday nights). Observing nights dependent on weather, so check the website for viewing times and for updated info on any weather cancellations. http://outreach.as.utexas.edu/public/viewing.html