Week & Date | Syllabus ASTR1020 - Stars and Galaxies Dr. Doug Duncan | |
Week 1 | Introductions. The amazing age of discovery in which we live. | |
Aug. 28 | What is Science, and how can it benefit you? Numbers, proportions, estimation. | |
Introduce the Learning Assistants | ||
My goals for the course. Your favorite subjects? - tell me on HW 1 | ||
What do I expect from you? Good news/bad news. Science vs. stories about science. | ||
Grading. Cheating. Clickers and why we use them. Homework. On-line tutorials. Challenges. | ||
Why employers love to hire graduates of this class! | ||
Highlights of what the term will cover -- a bargain tour of the universe | ||
The nature of science and astronomical discovery. | ||
What science isn't. Cargo Cult Science and pseudoscience. | ||
Numbers and estimation in astronomy. Proportions. Units. | ||
Homework #1 out: Science vs. Pseudoscience | ||
Reading: Chapter 1, The Cosmic Perspective | ||
Field Trip to Mountain Research Center! THURS Aug. 31. Bad weather backup | ||
Sept. 5. Leave at 6:45pm from Fiske Planetarium. Dress warm, don't be late! | ||
August 31st and September 1st | ||
Week 2 | How do you decide what to believe? How science can be useful. | |
Sept. 4 | The Sky (start) | |
Try out “clickers” Discuss HW 1. | ||
Science and Pseudoscience | ||
Science as a way of not fooling yourself (paper cup with hole question) | ||
Numbers, proportions, estimation. | ||
Begin talking about the sky | ||
Homeworks #2: Numbers and Estimation PLUS The Height of Gamow Tower, | ||
or the Circucumerence of Earth (your choice) | ||
Reading: Chapter 2.1 - 2.3 REGISTER on MASTERING ASTRONOMY website | ||
Week 3 | The sky with just your eyes | |
Sept. 11 | Is it important to challenge pseudoscience? | |
Constellations. The sky and its motions. | ||
The sky in different places on tHaloes, and Glorieshe earth | ||
Rainbows, | ||
What can we observe about the stars? Magnitude and color. | ||
Discussion of Gamow Tower results. Data, errors of measurement, | ||
Homework #3 Introduction to Sky Gazer; Sky Gazer Activity 1 - may be done in PAIRS | ||
Reading: Chapter S1 | ||
September 14th and 15th Science of the Signs- Fiske Planetarium, extra credit |
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Week 4 | The sky, continued. Seasons, Phases of the Moon, Eclipses | |
Sept. 18 | The Stonehenge Challenge! | |
The sky (continued) | ||
Seasons, phases of the moon, eclipses - briefly since were covered in ASTR1010 | ||
Visit the Planetarium Thursday. The planets don't behave! | ||
Show epicycles and deferents | ||
Homework #4. Sky Gazer Activities 2 and 3 - may be done in PAIRS | ||
No reading assignment. | ||
May do SEASONS tutorial at Mastering Astronomy to prepare for midterm #1 | ||
Week 5 | Midterm #1. (Tues) Telescopes. (Thurs) | |
Sept.25 | How telescopes work. | |
Visible and Invisible light telescopes | ||
"Tour" a few famous ones. | ||
Why is the sky blue and why are sunsets red? | ||
Parallax | ||
Field Trip to Mountain Research Center! Sept. 26 (Sept. 27 rain date) | ||
Place Stonehenge Challenge stakes | ||
Homework #5 Reading: Chapter 6 | ||
September 28th and 29th New Astronomy Results with the Hubble Space Telescope- Fiske Planetarium, extra credit | ||
Week 6 | Light and Matter | |
Oct. 2 | The wonderful nature of light! | |
Properties of light. White light. Kirchoff-Bunsen laws. | ||
Black body spectra. R**2 T**4. B-V colors. | ||
Wave-like and particle-like experiments. | ||
The Doppler effect | ||
Homework #6. Reading: Chapter 5 | ||
Week 7 | Motion, Newton's Laws, Gravity. | |
Oct. 9 | Kepler's laws. | |
Scalars and Vectors | ||
Velocity and acceleration | ||
Newton's Laws of motion, gravity; | ||
Special: Derive Kepler's 3rd Law from Newton's Laws | ||
Homework #7. Reading: Chapter 4 | ||
October 13 Native American Star Knowledge Fiske Planetarium, extra credit | ||
Week 8 | The Sun. Surveying the Stars. The HR Diagram | |
Oct. 16 | Demo the Doppler Effect; invisible wavelengths of light, greenhouse effect | |
Structure of the sun: photosphere, chromosphere, corona, core | ||
Fission and Fusion - energy sources | ||
Hydrostatic equilibrium ; Solar Seismology; Solar neutrinos | ||
Solar "Weather" and "Solar Storms" -- sun - earth interactions | ||
Homework #8. Reading: Chapter 14 "The Sun" | ||
October 19th and 20th Jupiter as Seen By New Horizons, Fiske Planetarium, extra credit | ||
Week 9 | Stars and their evolution I: Star birth and Energy Generatoin | |
Oct. 23 | Star clusters and the Hertzsprung-Russel (HR) diagram | |
Nebulae; star formation | ||
Energy. Fission and fusion. | ||
Gas laws | ||
stellar structure, nucleosynthesis | ||
Homework #9. Reading: Chapter 15 "Surveying the Stars" AND 16 "Star Birth" | ||
Week 10 | Stars and stellar evolution II: Life and Death! | |
Oct. 30 | red giants and synthesis of the elements | |
white dwarfs and planetary nebulae | ||
supernovae | ||
neutron stars, pulsars, black holes | ||
HW #10. Reading: Chapter 17 and 18 "Star Stuff" and "The Bizarre Stellar Graveyard" | ||
Oct. 31 (Tuesday) 7pm. Watch "Black Holes" at Fiske. Worth one pt. credit just like | ||
the mountain observing trip. | ||
Week 11 | Midterm #2 - Tuesday Nov. 7. Start to study "The Milky Way" | |
Nov. 6 | Visit the Planetarium Thursday. Bring Clickers. See "City of Stars" | |
No homework and no reading for this week. Start on next week's reading, homework... | ||
Week 12 | Discovery of our own Milky Way Galaxy and Its Structure. | |
Nov. 13 | The Shapley-Curtis debate | |
Radio and infrared observations | ||
A modern picture of the Milky Way | ||
HW#11."Dark Matter in Spiral Galaxies." Reading: Chapter 19 "Our Galaxy" | ||
Week 13 | Thanksgiving Week - no classes | |
Nov. 20 | ||
Week 14 | Galaxies and Galaxy Evolution. (plus more on science vs. pseudoscience) | |
Nov. 27 | Three main types of galaxies | |
Gas content and star orbits in different galaxies. Hubble's "Tuning Fork" classification | ||
Groups and clusters of galaxies | ||
The extragalactic distance scale ("ladder") | ||
The remarkable expansion of our universe | ||
Evolution of galaxies | ||
Active Galactic Nuclei, Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes | ||
HW#12. "Hubble's Law." Reading Chapters 20 and 21 | ||
Dec. 4 | Cosmology - the Fate of the Universe | |
Dark Matter | ||
Structure Formation - simulations and observations | ||
The future of the expansion of the universe - will it continue? Theory and observations. | ||
The Big Bang. Two key predictions - observed! | ||
Inflation | ||
Why is the sky dark? | ||
Reading Chapters 22 and 23. No homework except an article to read. | ||
Dec. 11 | Life the the Universe, Science and Pseudoscience, How Astrology Works, Review | |
Reading, Chapter 24. No | ||
Final Exam | Sat. Dec 16 10:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. |
-If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to me a letter from Disability Services in a timely manner so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. (303-492-8671, Willard 322,
www.Colorado.EDU/If you have a conflict with any class activities due to religious or other reasons, please tell us well in advance. Last minute requests cannot be accommodated. Plan ahead! See full details about religious holidays at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html
I expect you to follow the University's Honor Code. Because this class is so participatory, and not very "exam-based", a reasonable effort on your part throughout the term will lead to a passing grade, whether or not you think you are "good" at science, and you will know well before the final how you are doing. You should not be nervous at finals time in this class! However, cheating is the one sure way to fail.
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