ASTRONOMY 100 DESCRIPTIVE ASTRONOMY
T,TH 5:30 p.m. (Observing Tues. evenings)
Instructor: Purrington
Office 5050 Stern Hall
Telephone 862-3177
e-mail:
danny@tulane.edu
web site: http://www.tulane.edu/~danny/ast100.html
Text: Koupelis and Kuhn, In Quest of the Universe
Other required supplies:
Edmund Star Finder
Scientific Calculator (about $12)
Recommended:
E. Karkoschka, The Observer's Sky Atlas
SYLLABUS
Weeks (and inclusive dates)
Aug. 23-Sep. 1 Chapters 1-3. Introduction, history of astronomy, calendars, time and the motions of the earth, celestial coordinates.
Sep. 3-10, Chapters 4-5. Light and optics; tools of astronomy.
Sep. 15-22, Chapter 11. The Sun.
Sep. 24-Oct. 6, Chapters 12-13. Stars, stellar classification, stellar evolution, clusters, variable stars, binary stars, interstellar matter. First Exam, Sep. 24, chapters 1-5. Freshman grades due Oct. 14.
Oct. 8-20, Chapters 14-15. Endpoints of stellar evolution: white dwarf stars, neutron stars, black holes. Special and general relativity.
Fall break, Oct. 15-18
Oct. 22-Nov. 5, Chapters 16-17. Milky Way galaxy, galaxies. Second exam, Oct. 29, Chapters 11-13.
Nov. 10-19, Chapter 18 . Cosmology and the early universe.
Third Exam, Nov. 24, Chapters 14-18.
Nov. 24-Dec. 3, Chapters 6-10 (in part). The Solar System. No class Nov. 26 (Thanksgiving).
Final Exam, Dec......, 5:30 p.m., Jones Hall 102, Chapters 6-10.
The slides are not meant to replace the lectures, and attendance is expected. I will frequently introduce some material not in the slides, either by accident or intent, partly to provide some advantage to those who attend class.
You will be required to download and turn in an image of the Sun from the Mees Solar Observatory Site (www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/mees.html) before mid-term, and a field from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (cas.sdss.org/dr3) during the second half of the semester. We will discuss this during class. I will check to see that you have completed these two assignments and will take that into account when assigning the final grade.
You will be expected to attend 3 observing sessions in order to receive full credit, though attendance will only affect your grade if you are on a borderline .
You may come every time, but if you intend to come only 3 times, space the sessions a month or so apart, or pick a time when the moon is near first quarter and a time when there is no moon. The skies change very slowly over time, so don't come three weeks in a row. Remember that there is no guarantee that we won't have 2-3 weeks in a row of cloudy weather, so do not count on getting your 3 sessions in during the last week of class.
We will have an afternoon session to observe the sun and possibly an early morning session.
I should add that I hope to complete a repair on the telescope this week, in which case the above will apply. If that is not successful, we willl have to make other arrangements.
As you can see from the syllabus, there will be three hour exams plus the final, which is not cumulative. The exams will count equally and will represent approximately 95% of your grade. The remaining 5% will be made up from several factors including class attendance (on occasions when I check roll), internet projects, etc. If I assign observing projects (see below), they will contribute 5% to your grade, reducing the exam contribution to 90%.Exam grades will be posted on blackboard. Attendance at observing sessions will help your final grade if you are on a borderline.
Attendance is expected, even though I will not check roll after the first two weeks, unless there are a lot of absentees on a given night, in which case I maycheck roll.
I expect to assign observing projects to be completed by the end of the semester. You will be expected to write up your results in a standard laboratory form, which I will discuss with you later. I will post a list of possible projects fairly early in the term. You may team up with 2-3 other students in the class. More later.