LECTURES: T & Th 6:00 p.m.- 7:45 p.m. at 101 JFB.
INSTRUCTOR: Lynn Higgs, Office: 201 E JFB
Phone: 581-7140, home:298-8506
e-mail: higgs@physics.utah.edu
TEXT: Astronomy Today By Chaisson & McMillan, 6th Edition, 2008 Pearson Press. There are many current texts on astronomy that cover the same material. These may be helpful for seeing other methods of explanation. You may wish to look at them in the Marriott Library. Astronomy Today is now available with a CD ROM disk filled with ancillary material. The CD ROM should greatly enhance the material covered in the text.
SCHEDULE: See the accompanying schedule. We will cover sixteen chapters from the text. The assigned chapters should be read before discussing them in class. Read ahead if possible since there will be less time devoted to the later chapters dealing with the planets. Notice that the reading schedule requires about two chapters per week during the last of the course.
EXAMINATIONS: There will be one midterm and one final exam. The exams will cover material from the reading, homework, videos and lectures. The material we cover in the lectures will be considered the most important and will be given the most emphasis on the exams. Tests will be mostly multiple choice. You may bring one 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper with you to each exam. You may have anything you wish on each side of the paper. This `cheat sheet' must be turned in with the exam. The final will be comprehensive but will emphasize the material covered during the last half of the course.
GRADING: Homework - 40%, Viewing night - 10%, Midterm - 25%, Final - 25%. With this much emphasis on the homework, it will be nearly impossible to get an A or B without doing the homework. It is to your advantage to spend time on the assigned problems. Homework should be done NEATLY or typed. If the homework is not written neatly there will be an automatic 50% deduction. Late homework will automatically have 50% taken off. For those finidhing the course completed homework assignments, the grade distribution will be approximately 50% A, 50% B. STUDENTS RECEIVING 100% ON HOMEWORK (including extra credit points) ARE GUARANTEED A GRADE OF B OR HIGHER.
IMPORTANT DATES: Last day to drop class: MMay 21. Last day to add class: May 27. Last day to withdraw from class: June 20.
READING ASSIGNMENTS
| Date | Reading Assignment (chapter) | Topics Covered (Approximate) |
|---|---|---|
| May 13 | Introduction, class handouts, scale of the Universe, angular measure, Cosmic Voyage movie | |
| May 15 | 1 | Celestial sphere, motion of stars, planets, etc. scientific notation, small angle equation |
| May 20 | 2 | Obliquity of the ecliptic, seasons, precession, |
| May 22 | Calendar, lunar phases, eclipses, motion of the moon. | |
| May 27 | 3 | Ptolemaic & heliocentric models, motion of planets, Galileo |
| May 29 | 4 | Kepler's laws, Newton's Laws, review |
| June 3 | MIDTERM EXAM (6:00-8:00) | |
| June 5 | 16 | Light and radiation, spectroscopy |
| June 10 | 5 & 6 | Doppler effect, telescopes |
| June 12 | VIEWING NIGHT | |
| June 17 | NO CLASS | |
| June 19 | NO CLASS | |
| June 24 | 7 & 8 | The Universe movie, search for extra solar planets |
| June 26 | 9 & 10 | Solar Blast movie, Third Planet movie |
| July 1 | 11 | Planet overview, the Earth, the solar system |
| July 3 | 12 | Electricity, magnetism and the solar system |
| July 8 | 13 | Mercury, Venus and Mars |
| July 10 | 14 | Jupiter, Saturn and their moons |
| July 15 | NO CLASS | |
| July 17 | NO CLASS | |
| July 22 | 15 | Uranus, Neptune and PLuto Comets, Asteroids, etc |
| July 24 | HOLIDAY | |
| July 29 | FINAL EXAM (6:00-8:0 p.m.) |