Introduction to Astronomy
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Astronomy
102 Introduction to Astronomy |
| Instructor Info |
Prof. Julianne
Dalcanton Teaching Assistant: Oliver Fraser |
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| Office Hours |
By Appointment, usually M,W,Th |
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| Class Location |
Lectures: MW 10:30-11:50, in Sieg
Hall 227 Sections: T,Th Physics-Astronomy Building A216/A210 |
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| Course Website | http://www.astro.washington.edu/astro102 | ||||||||||||||||
| Message Board | Click Here! | ||||||||||||||||
| Labs |
The labs are bound into a coursepak which you can buy at the University Bookstore NEXT MONDAY! They should be turned in to Oliver in Section! |
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| Exams |
Midterm: Wednesday, November 7 (in class; Sig 227) All exams are no notes, closed books. |
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| Grading |
Section: 50% (Problem Sets, Quizzes, etc) Note the high weight given to your work in section! If you don't turn in your labs and problem sets, you will not pass! I do not grade on a curve, meaning that if everyone in the class does extraordinarily well, everyone can earn a 4.0. However, if a particular exam turns out to be exceptionally hard, I will ease up a bit on the conversion from percentages to grades.
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| Exceptions? |
If you want special permission to turn in work late, or to take an exam at a different time, you must make arrangements with me in advance! As a rule, I only grant exceptions in truly exceptional cases, and do not grant them when it would not be fair to offer them to only one person in the class. For example, if you need to turn in a problem set late because you're having chemotherapy, I will gladly help accomodate you. However, if you would like to do extra credit work because you're disappointed in your grade, then I will probably not grant you an exception, unless I decide to offer it to the class as a whole. In general, keep me informed. |
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| Textbooks |
The official textbook is "Stars, Galaxies, & Cosmology: The Cosmic Perspective" by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, & Voit. It covers astronomy at a basic, non-mathematical level, and gives the reader a good physical understanding. There is also a more comprehensive version of the book, called "The Cosmic Perspective" that contains the same material, but also some additional chapters on planets. If you find the longer version more cheaply, go for it and just ignore the other chapters. We will be using the fourth edition, but it's not drastically different from the third edition. If you can find the latter used, and don't mind giving up the on-line material (which can be helpful), feel free to use the older edition if it saves you money. I will put copies of the book on reserve in the Physics-Astronomy library (6th floor of PAB). The
Cosmic Perspective, Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, and Voit. |
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| Prerequisites |
None, officially, but we will be using algebra and logarithms from time to time. I will also assume that you can handle the Web. |
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| Astronomy Links |
Sloan Digital
Sky Survey (SDSS): Optical images and spectra
Astronomical Abstract Service (ADS)
Hubble Heritage Image Gallery Find others you like? Let me know! |
| Monday |
Wednesday |
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| 9/26 | Introduction: What's What? (PDF)
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| 10/1 | Forces, Gravity, Motion, & Matter (PDF)
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10/3 |
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| 10/8 |
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10/10 | Spectra - Emission & Absorption (PDF)
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| 10/15 | Stellar Spectra, Brightness, & Distance (PDF)
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10/17 | Energy in Stars: Fusion, Neutrinos, & More! (PDF)
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| 10/22 | Stellar Structure & The HR-Diagram (PDF)
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10/24 |
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| 10/29 |
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10/31 | The Death of Low Mass Stars (PN & White Dwarfs) (PDF)
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| 11/5 | The Death of High Mass Stars (SN & Black Holes) (PDF)
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11/7 | Exam!
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| 11/12 |
Veteran's Day! No Class! |
11/14 | The Interstellar Medium, Star Formation, & HII regions (PDF)
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| 11/19 | The Hubble Sequence of Galaxies & Stellar Populations in Galaxies (PDF)
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11/21 | Dark Matter, Clusters, Lensing, & Interactions (PDF)
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| 11/26 | Distance Scale & Large Scale Structure (PDF)
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11/28 | The Expansion of the Universe & the Big Bang (PDF)
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| 12/3 | The Cosmic Microwave Background (PDF)
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12/5 | Dark Energy, & The Curvature of Space(PDF)
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| 12/10 | Final! 8:30-10:30 AM
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