Astronomy  25            Fall  2009           Course Outline

Instructor:  Perry Hacking; Office Planetarium; (310) 660-3593 (x3245); Office Hours: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 1:00-2:00 PM;  and , Saturday 1:30-2:30 (in Physics 102)

Text: Astronomy Today, by Chaisson & McMillan.

Tutor:  Kristen Spendlove

Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites, but you should be excited about astronomy and want to learn a lot about it!  Although this is a "non-mathematical" course arithmetic and algebra skills are assumed.  See Background Topics page for a review of what I think that you should know by the end of the first week of class.  There are some sample quiz questions there also.  Common mistakes in this course include under estimating its difficulty, not reading the text, and not doing the homework.

Objective:  To learn about and gain an appreciation for the motions in the heavens that are visible to the eye, the history of astronomy, the nature and potential of light and telescopes,  the nature of stars and their life cycle, the structure and evolution of the universe and the possibility of life on other worlds.  The official course objectives can be found at: Astronomy 25 Course Objectives.

Attendance: Attendance is MANDATORY to keep up (even the best students are very surprised  when they return after missing a class). We cover a lot of material every class.

Exams: 3 exams will be given: two midterms and a final. The midterms will be worth 100 points each. The final will be a written take-home that covers cosmology and life in the universe. The exams will have true/false, fill-in-the-blank and essay questions. Some exams will include identifications and descriptions from slides. About 50% of the problems will be taken from the quizzes. THERE WILL BE NO MAKEUP EXAMS.

Quizzes: 5-10 quizzes will be given worth a total of 100 points. These will cover only the previous week's material. The total of the quiz scores will count as much as a test score.

Homework: Homework assignments will be given for every chapter. They will consist of questions from the text and will usually be worth 4 points per assignment. Due dates will be set for class days, and the assignment will be due at the beginning of class. No late homework sets will be allowed. If you are going to be late or not make it to class, then you will need to arrange to get the homework to me early.  There will be a total of 50 homework points.

Extra Credit – 100 points maximum for the semester for the regular class. All extra credit is due November 20th .  See Extra Credit Instruction Sheet for further details.

Grading: Course grade is based on the exams, project, quizzes, and extra credit. I total all of your points at the end of the semester to determine your grade. The grade scale is as follows:

each exam    for the course

90 - 100 A     360 – 400 A

80 - 89 B       320 - 359 B

65 - 79 C       260 - 319 C

50 - 64 D       200 - 259 D

Students who withdraw after September 25th will receive a permanent grade record and after November 20th will receive a letter grade based on the entire semester's requirements.

Preparation: This is a tough class. I expect at least 3 hours of studying per week from you.

Advice: The only stupid questions are the ones that you don't ask. Don't be concerned with what others think. If you don't understand something, ask questions. When you get lost in a lecture, raise your hand immediately. Asking questions is a sign of intelligence.

If I see that you are not asking questions, I will randomly select questions to ask YOU!

Classroom Manners. Please:

1. Turn off all cell phones and pagers.
2. Don't Yawn.  It's very contagious.  Show respect for those around you.
3. Don't arrive late. If you arrive late, find the nearest, easiest seat near the door and slip into it.
4. Don't eat or bring food to class.  This includes gum.

Disabilities: If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible.

             Subject                                                (Reading Assignment)

Week 1  The Sky  (Chap 1).

Week 2  The scale of things, motions in the heavens (Chap 2)

Weeks 3 & 4  Seasons, Phases of Moon, eclipses.  (Chap 3.)

Week 5  History of Astronomy. Gravity,  rockets and orbits (Chap 4)

Week 6  Light.  (Chap. 5).

Week 7  Light and Telescopes (Chap 6, Chap 16). Overview of the Solar system.

Week 8  The Sun  (Chap 17) , Midterm I

Week 9  Properties of stars (Chaps 18-19).

Week 10  The Birth of Stars (Chaps. 20-21)

Week 11 Stellar  Masses & Evolution (Chap 22)

Week 12 Star Clusters, Main Sequence Dating, Exotic Binary Systems (Chap 23)

Week 13 Midterm.  The Milky Way Galaxy (Chaps 24-25)

Week 14 Galaxy Types, Distribution, and Evolution.  (Chaps 26-27).   Midterm II

Week 15 Cosmology - the Big Bang.  (Chap 28).

Week 16 Life in the Universe.  Final Exam.