Professor
Harriet Dinerstein
Office: RLM 16.324
Hours: M 1:30-2:30, W 10:30-11:30, or by appt
Phone: (512) 471-3449
email
Course Website
TA
Athena Stacy
|
 |
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Astronomy 307 is a one-semester introductory survey course on modern astronomy,
for science and engineering majors. We will assume that you are comfortable with solving problems and using math as a
tool to help you master the course material. If this statement does not accurately describe you, you should consider switching
to Astronomy 301, the introductory course intended for non-science majors. There are several sections of Ast 301 offered
each semester.
Astronomy is a very broad subject to cover in a single semester, so we will be moving through the semester at a pretty
quick pace. Our goal is to give you an overview of all of astronomy, from our Solar System to the Universe on the largest scales.
We may not be able to cover your favorite topic in sufficient depth to fully satisfy your curiosity; in that case, you may wish to take
one of the Astronomy Department's several follow-up courses (Ast 309 series) in a future semester.
TEXTBOOK: We will use the 8th edition of the textbook "Universe" by Roger Freedman and William Kaufmann. It
uses a bit more math than most of the other introductory texts, but also provides you with guidance and hints for doing numerical
problems, including worked examples. You are strongly encouraged to buy this (current) edition of the book, since older editions
may not contain all the same material and problems. (If you do buy an earlier edition, make sure that it isn't one of the abridged
versions; these will be missing one of the major units.) The text is also available as an eBook, either with the paper book, or purchased
separately at the publisher's website. The auxiliary CD "Starry Night" is mainly included for fun and for help in visualizing the material
in the first unit, on the night sky. Other useful resources on the book's website,
include animations, interactive figures, practice problems & quizzes, and so on.
|
