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APAS 1030       SECTION 001

Fall 2006

TIME AND PLACE:       MWF 9:00-9:50                                         DUANE G125

INSTRUCTOR:               Webster Cash                                             TA:  Kevin Heng

OFFICE:                            Duane C333A                                            Duane A710 (JILA)

HOURS:                           MWF 9:50-11:30                                         M3-4,T2-3,W2-3,F10-11
                                           or by appointment

WEB SITE: All the current information, problem sets, solutions, etc.  will be placed on the web at http://casa.colorado.edu/~wcash/APS1030/aps1030.htm   Check the site regularly.

TEXT:    Bennett, Donahue, Schneider and Voit, The Cosmic Perspective

EXAMS: There will be three in-class exams plus a final exam that will be comprehensive in nature.  Your poorest in-class exam will be dropped.  If you miss an exam (for whatever reason) that exam will be the one dropped.  THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS. The final exam is compulsary and will be given at 7:30-10:00am on Wednesday, December 20 in Duane G125.  All exams will be graded on a curve. 

HOMEWORK: There will be written homework assignments most weeks except exam weeks.  They will be graded and will count toward your course grade.  The homework will include the observatory work.  Solutions will be posted.

OBSERVATORY:  The Sommers-Bausch Observatory on the CU campus will be available on several nights during the semester.  By showing up and looking through the telescopes you will be awarded homework credit.  Observatory dates will be announced in class.

LABORATORIES: ASTR1030 includes a laboratory component. This is taught separately at the Sommers-Bausch Observatory.

COURSE GRADE: Your final grade will be based on the sum of the final exam (200 points), your two best in-class exams (100 points each), homework (100 points) and lab grade (125points). Thus the maximum possible score will be 625 points.

DROP:  Last date to change to pass/fail, or to Drop/Add without instructor's signature is September 13.  Subsequently I will allow a drop "passing'' without conditions until the day of the second exam; after that you must have a passing grade (D or better) or you will have a drop "failing''.  The last day for dropping without petition to the Dean is October 11.

INCOMPLETE: This will be given only under highly exceptional circumstances. In general, I will require that you have a passing grade at the time the exceptional circumstances arise.

SPECIAL NEEDS: Students with disabilities who may need academic accommodations should discuss options with me during the first two or three weeks of class.

GOALS OF THIS COURSE:  The highest priority of this course is to give you some quantitative sense of the size and complexity of the solar system, how it works, and how that information is obtained.  In particular we also hope to give you a feel for the role that the space program plays in astronomy. 

 Mathematics will be used throughout the course. We will use little or no calculus. We will do a fair amount of physics, but the concepts needed will be introduced and explained as needed. Thus no prerequisite of physics exists.