ASTRONOMY 301

Homework Set #1, due 15 September
Homework Set #2, due 3 October
Homework Set #3, due 17 October
Homework Set #4, due 14 November

Syllabus

UNIQUE NUMBER 43700
  
CLASS MEETINGS MWF 11:00-12:00
Welch 3.502
  
INSTRUCTOR: Christopher Sneden
  Office: RLM 16.324
  Office Hours: by appointment
  E-Mail: chris@verdi.as.utexas.edu
  Telephones: 471-1349 (office)
471-3000 (department)
343-0004 (home)
  
TEACHING ASSISTANTS:
Christine Pulliam
  Office: RLM 16.307
  Office Hours: TBA
  E-Mail: pulliam@astro.as.utexas.edu
  Telephones: 471-7460 (office)
471-3000 (department)
  
Yuan Qu
  Office: RLM 16.208
  E-Mail: qu@astro.as.utexas.edu
  Telephones: 471-2785 (office)
471-3000 (department)
  
TEXT: Horizons, 5th Edition, by Michael A. Seeds

GRADES

Your grade will be based on your performance in the three in-class tests (T), four homework assignments (H), and the final exam (F). The scores will be weighted as follows:

F = 30%;    T = 40%;    H = 30%.

There are five homework sets to be turned in; we will compute your average homework grade on the best four out of five of these. There is one additional grading rule/opportunity: if your final exam score exceeds your lowest test score, we will count the final exam score also in place of the lowest test score. This is designed to give you the opportunity to make up for a poor performance on one of the tests. Because we are granting you this luxury, there will be no makeups given for missed tests.

If you are taking this course on a pass/fail basis, University rules give the passing grade as equivalent to a D or higher.

CLASS POLICIES

Homework assignments will be handed out for return in not less than one week. Each assignment will have a due date. Late assignments will not be accepted for grading unless we have been given and have accepted your reasons for requesting an extension. Such a request must be given prior to the due date of the homework.

The final examination will be comprehensive. It will be held on the date scheduled by the University: Friday, December 12, 9:00-12:00 noon (we probably will make the final exam shorter than three hours; details to be given later in the semester). There will be no make-up final exam scheduled.

Some math at the level of high school algebra will be required for the homework sets. We will expect you to practice and be comfortable with such things as scientific notation and simple manipulation of basic astronomical formulae. Are you rusty in such math skills? We will be happy to help you! There will be no math called for on the examinations.

All work handed in for grading must be your own work. If you discuss the homework assignment with a friend, we urge you to use your own words and imagination in writing your answers. Homework sets that are nearly identical will result in grades of zeros for all involved. If you are puzzled by a question, do not copy out a friend's answer, but come to the help sessions and to our offices, and discuss the problem. Don't be shy! We are here to help!

Copying during exams is a heinous crime for which the punishment will be a zero for that exam at minimum to an F for the course at maximum. We shall not hesitate to report such cases to the Dean of Students.

The University's deadlines and rules regarding "dropping" the course will be strictly enforced.

To encourage your understanding of the course material, we de-emphasize standard office hours in favor of regularly scheduled help sessions. Office hours are by appointment for special needs, but to work on homeworks, tests, etc. we will conduct three help sessions each week (attendance is not mandatory). These extra sessions will be as follows:

Mondays7:30-8:45RLM 15.216B
Wednesdays4:00-5:30RLM 15.216B
Thursdays7:30-8:45RLM 15.216B
We will announce in the previous class period the "themes" of each extra session (questions and problems to be addressed, test reviews to be conducted), but of course we will welcome any discussion of topics that are of concern to you. I plan on personally conducting at least two of the three weekly sessions (probably the evening ones). These sessions have proven in the past to be extremely helpful to students! Here are two points to ponder. First, considering that there are three possible sessions per week for you to attend, if your schedule does not permit coming any of them, please think about switching to another section of Astronomy 301. I won't want to set up special help sessions for one or two people when all others in the class find time to get to the regularly scheduled ones. Second, come to the help sessions prepared to participate! I refuse to use those times to lecture at you (that would be unhelpful to all of us).

MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS

Astronomy is an observational science. In order to gather observations for our research, we must visit the University's McDonald Observatory in West Texas and other astronomical institutions around the world. However, this travel should not occur at the expense of your education. On the occasions when I must be absent from class, another faculty member will conduct the lectures. All class periods will be held! The dates listed on the syllabus for one of the exams deliberately coincides with travel dates, in order to minimize the use of substitute lecturers this semester. Here are my known dates of travel:

August 27-29, September 19

My apologies for missing these first two dates of class! I agreed to attend a meeting "in August" a year ago and did not realize until it was too late that the meeting time would be the first week of UT classes. That was silly of me. I expect to only miss the September 19th class meeting during the rest of the semester.

We want you to do well in this course! To that end, a couple of points should be emphasized. First, we encourage you to ask questions in class. This is of course not always easy in a large class (and I often partially darken the lecture hall to show slides and overheads). If I don't see your hand raised, feel free to speak up! Second, remember that the only stupid question is the unasked one.

Your progress through this class will be greatly enhanced through interactions with us. Take advantage of the regular review sessions. My home telephone number is listed at the top of this syllabus. Use it at any reasonable hour of the day or evening. See also my electronic mail address. That is also a useful medium for short (mostly organizational) questions.

I very much like the textbook selected for this course, in part because it begins with, and spends much time on, the subject of "stellar'" astronomy. This research area is of keen interest to me. However, there are a large number of other pretty good introductory textbooks on the market today. If you wish to read one of these other texts for a fresh idea about a topic, please see us and we shall be happy to lend you a text (there are a lot also at the UGL and PMA libraries).

You may be interested to visit our Student Observatory on the roof of Painter Hall. This houses a 9-inch refracting telescope. The general student night is Monday -- clear nights only! This is a simple telescope to use and students (you!) can be checked out to observe independently with it. Please see the Observatory staff: Feng Ma, RLM 16.216 (471-0445), or Divas Sanwal, RLM 17.312 (471-7418), for further information.

The Astronomy Department is organizing public viewing sessions with small telescopes. There will be telescopes set up on the 14th floor roof of RLM on Wednesday evenings at 8:30 p.m (or about 1/2 hour after sunset, whichever comes first). It is a very good idea to see for yourself just how celestial objects look like when viewed through a real telescope. Feel free to come to any one of these sessions sometime in the semester.

COURSE TOPICS

This course will provide a general introduction to contemporary astronomy. Unfortunately, it is impossible in one semester to do justice to all potentially interesting topics. After beginning with discussion of some "natural phenomena," we will spend about the first half of the semester studying the broad area of stellar astronomy. During this part of the course we will also introduce many of the areas of physics necessary to appreciate the origin and evolution of stars. What topics after stars? Unfortunately, it simply is not possible to do justice to both the subject of solar system astronomy (the Sun and the planets) and that of the larger universe (our galaxy, other galaxies, and cosmology). For this semester I have chosen to neglect solar system astronomy (sorry!) in favor of galactic and extragalactic astronomy.

Below I have blocked out the semester, naming the text chapters relevant to each topic. In each class, discussion will be focussed on the more difficult material. However, you are responsible for all of the material given in the text, as well as that given in class. Please read the identified chapters of the text before our class discussion. I also have marked the dates for in-class tests and the due dates for homework sets. I reserve the right to change the due dates a bit as we progress through the course, in order to make the most reasonable schedule for all of us. However, you always will be given plenty of notice of any such changes.

WeekTextTopics
11, 2Scale of Universe, Nomenclature, Celestial Sphere
23Motion of the Sun, Seasons, Lunar and Planetary Phases
34Eclipses, Planetary Motions, Gravitation
45Electromagnetic Spectrum, Optics
HOMEWORK #1 due: Monday, September 15
TEST #1: Friday, September 19
55Telescopes, Instruments, "Continuous Radiation"
66Radiation, Atoms and Spectral Lines, Doppler Effect
HOMEWORK #2 due: Friday, October 3
76, 8Spectral Sequence, Parallax, HR Diagram, Binary Stars
88Mass vs. Luminosity, Stellar Lifetimes, Star Clusters
HOMEWORK #3 due: Friday, October 17
98, 9Star Formation, Structure of Stable Stars, Energy Sources
TEST #2: Friday, October 24
109, 10Main Sequence Evolution, Red Giants, Planetary Nebulae
1110, 11White Dwarfs, Pulsars, Black Holes
1212The Milky Way Galaxy
HOMEWORK #4 due: Friday, November 15
1313, 14Other Galaxies, Galaxy Clusters, Peculiar Galaxies
TEST #3: Friday, November 21
1414, 15Cosmology I: Observational Basis
1515Cosmology II: Theory
HOMEWORK #5 due: Friday, December 5
  FINAL EXAM: Friday, December 12, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 noon