El Camino College          Astronomy 12            Observational Astronomy       Spring 2011 

Section 1082 meets on Thursdays at 7:30-10:40 in the Planetarium.      

Instructor: Perry Hacking. Office: Planetarium, (310) 660-3593 (x3245). Office Hours  Mondays-Wednesdays 1:35-2:05;  Tuesdays - Thursdays 3:30-4:30;  although not an official office hour, you can usually find me on Saturdays in Physics 102 from 1:30-2:30 - you can take a chance or my advice is to confirm in advance that I will be there.

Text: Star Atlas 2000, by Wil Tirion.  Recommended:  Planisphere. 

Tutor: Tutor Information. 

Prerequisites: You must possess the ability and curiosity to learn college level material in a laboratory environment (under the stars!).

Course Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs): In general, the objective of this course is for you to learn how to navigate around the night sky using your naked eyes or a telescope.  In particular, you will learn to identify at least 20 constellations and be able to find objects using a telescope using setting circles, "star-hopping", and using computerized "go-to" telescopes.  Others are for you to observe and understand the motions of celestial bodies over hourly, weekly, and seasonal time scales and to learn how to make scientific observations and measurements and apply them to scientific models.  The official course objectives for this course and SLO can be found at: Astronomy 12 Course Objectives.

Exams: A constellation test will be given on March 3rd. You will be graded on your ability to point out ten constellations in the sky. A final exam will be given in two parts near the end of the semester at the normal class time. You will be graded on your ability to align a telescope and locate an object given its coordinates, and to locate ten constellations in the sky (different from the constellations that you learned for the first test).  You may take any test earlier if you wish to. 

Quizzes: A 10-point quiz will be given near the end of the semester, containing questions about the labs that you have done during the semester, the telescopes that you are using (such as their optical design), and constellations that you have learned.

Projects/labs: Observing projects represent most of the points for the course. Each project is worth at least 10 points. Some of the projects require two weeks, and are worth 20 points. These observing projects will allow you to actually see many of the things that are described in your astronomy class. In addition to just looking at them, you will learn to observe the universe like a scientist, and interpret your observations.  See Labs page for a list of lab instruction sheets.

Lab Reports: You will be required to write a formal lab report for at least three projects during the semester. For those projects that you do not wish to write a lab report on, you will have questions to answer about the project, and you will be required to turn in your observations as well. Each formal lab report is worth 10 points in addition to the points that the observing project is worth. See Lab Report Instruction Sheet for details.

Extra Credit:   See me early in the semester if you are headed for trouble or if you want a safety margin for your grade.   All extra credit is due April 28th.

Grading: Course grade is based on the projects, lab reports, exams, quizzes, and extra credit. The grading policy is as follows:

A - 90% of total points, 90% on exams and quizzes, and turn in three complete formal lab reports.

B - 80% of total points, 80% on exams and quizzes, and turn in two complete formal lab reports.

C - 65% of total points, 65% on exams and quizzes, and turn in one complete formal lab report.

D - 50% of total points.

Example: Suppose that there are 200 points possible in the class. If you have 185 points total, and a 96% average on the three tests and the quiz, and you turned in all observations and questions, but only wrote up two formal lab reports, then you would receive a B-grade in the course (you would have enough points for an A, but are lacking 3 formal lab reports).

Another Example:  If you have a 96% test/quiz average, have turned in 4 lab reports (the fourth one would count as extra credit), but have 177 total points, you would still receive a B-grade for the course (you would need 90% of the total points, which would be 180 in this example).

Preparation: You should have thoroughly studied the previous week's lab and be prepared to take a quiz on it. You should be prepared for the current week's lab. Success in this class critically depends upon how well prepared you are BEFORE the lab begins. You will have a short period at the beginning of class to ask questions about anything relating to the course. PARTICIPATION is what this class is all about!!!

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

The course schedule below assumes clear weather every week. If the weather is bad, then an indoor lab will be substituted. Please attend even if the weather is bad, and please bring a calculator.

Schedule.  Note that extra weeks will be used for cloudy weather, indoor labs, and substitutes for the solar lab (which will be described in class).  Labs with an asterisk next to them indicate that you will be using computerized telescopes.

2/17  Introduction and description of telescopes and celestial coordinates.  Learn your first constellations!  Look at the full moon through a telescope.  

2/24  Cloudy - indoor lenses and telescopes lab.

3/3  Constellation lab.

3/10 Lunar Geology, Part I, Constellation Test I

3/17 Lunar Geology, Part II  

3/24  Cloudy - Impact Crater Lab

3/31 Clusters Lab, Part I.   . 

4/7   Binary Stars, Part I (cloudy for the first hour).

4/14  Spring Break

4/21  Saturn Lab

4/28  Binary Stars, Part II

5/5  TBD  (probably an outdoor lab but bring your calculator).

5/7  SATURDAY - Solar Lab

5/8 SUNDAY - EXTRA CREDIT SOLAR LAB

 5/12  Imaging lab

5/19   Telescope Test (Full Moon)

5/26  Constellation Test 2.  Written Quiz

6/2  Clusters, Part II.

6/10 Indoor lab