Welcome to Astronomy 101 - General Astronomy. In this course, we will attempt nothing less than to describe in detail and understand on a physical level most of the major components of the *entire* observable universe -- and all within the brief period of 10 weeks! We'll probe spatial scales that run from the microcosm of the interiors of atoms to the very largest structures within our universe -- enormous "superclusters" of galaxies, spanning hundreds of millions of light-years across. We'll investigate time scales as brief as the first microseconds of the universe's existence, and as long as the multi-billion year lifetimes of the stars. Along the way, we'll pay close attention to the tools we use -- both physical and theoretical -- to learn what we know about the universe, and carefully outline some of the outstanding questions in our continued exploration of the greatest frontier of all.

The subject of astronomy, arguably encompassing the entire bleeding universe, is unsurprisingly a diverse and extensive field of study, requiring a little knowledge of chemistry, geology, and atmospheric sciences, in addition to fundamental particle physics, optics, general relativity, and many others subjects beyond the scope of this course. We'll cover a very large body of scientific material, including but not limited to (and in no particular order):

1. Describing the physical and temporal scales of the universe and the key components within it -- planets, stars, and galaxies, and the structures within which these are found.
2. Constructing a detailed picture of the origin and evolution of our solar system, galaxy, and universe - what we know, how we know it, and what we're still confused as all hell about.
3. Reviewing what we've learned about life in our own (and other) planetary system(s), and what those data imply about the distribution of life-bearing worlds in the universe.
4. Comparing and contrasting the formation and evolution of the various types of stars, and the roles that each type plays in the chemistry of the cosmos.
5. Interpreting the structures and processes that shape the development of galaxies and their distribution in the universe.
6. Exploring the basic techniques employed in astronomical science -- from naked-eye observations and simple geometry to the most modern space-based detectors and high-performance computer simulations.

As I said, this is a lot of material -- but by actively engaging yourself in the lectures and reading, I am confident that by the end of the course you will have earned a firm, college-level understanding of these important ideas.

The following book is required for the course:

• Bennet et al. The Essential Cosmic Perspective - Fourth Edition published by Pearson/Addison-Wesley.

We will be using the text quite a bit for weekly readings and in-class discussions - bring the book with you to every class. In addition, I will be assigning various additional readings when a particular topic demands it, mostly in the form of articles available on the internet, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know if routine internet access is a problem for you.

Speaking of the internet, the homepage for this course -- which you will be needing to check in on at least weekly, can be found at:

http://www.astro.washington.edu/laws/classpages/a101/

If you have any problems accessing the homepage, please contact me via email right away by sending email to laws@astro.washington.edu.

Lecture sessions (MWF) will generally follow a standard format in which I will offer presentations based on and augmenting the current reading material; these presentations will be made available online for your review following the lecture. That being said however, there will be little that is "standard" about what happens in our class. We will interrupt ourselves often for in-class discussions, and you will be expected to participate actively and be prepared each day to answer questions when called upon in lecture. I believe stongly that the best class is a dynamic, active environment in which the students and instructor(s) interact closely, and I will definitely be implementing those beliefs in this class!

During Quiz Sections (TTh), you will meet with your assigned TAs in smaller groups (20-25 students) for additional activities. These will often serve to highlight or enhance lecture material, or to more deeply explore concepts we don't cover significantly in lecture. Quiz sections are also where you will take -- wait for it! -- weekly quizzes (no way!), and will also be the primary venue for discussing any homework assignments. Finally, your TAs will specifically make time available during quiz sections each week to address questions you might have on the reading and lecture material -- and beware -- if you don't show up with questions about the material, they will certainly have questions ready to ask you!

Needless to say, your attendance at both Lecture and Quiz sections is mandatory. Most of you are full-time students, and so I consider this to be your "full-time" job -- and at this job, the Boss insists that you're at work each and every day. The good news is that I'm going to work very hard to make it easy for you to want to come to class. Astronomy is a beautiful and exciting topic that I love talking about, and I can assure you that there will be no shortage of energy and (often unintentional!) entertainment at the front of the room. I've been called many things by my students, but "boring" is definitely not one of them. More significantly, though, I will make sure that this class challenges you -- challenges your thinking, challenges your abilities, and changes who you are. We will be taking on astronomy at the College Level, and that means you will likely have to work quite hard in order to succeed; attendance at Lecture and Quiz sections is by far the single best thing you can do to improve your understanding of the subject and maximize your grade.

Every Friday morning at 11:30am when the TAs and I get together for our weekly meeting, I'll use a specially designed random-query device (a quarter) to determine whether or not we'll have a brief, four to five question quiz during the following Tuesday's quiz sections. Heads -- we will have a quiz Tuesday; tails -- we'll wait till the following Thursday for the quiz. If we do have a quiz on a Tuesday, we will not have one on Thursday, so that the net effect is one quiz per week, randomly distributed between Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Your TAs and I will know in advance what day the quiz will be on, but they're sworn to secrecy, and you won't coax it out of me either! These weekly quizzes are designed to encourage you to keep up with the material as you're going along, rather than letting material build up to some massive and generally wasted cram session just before the exams -- and the random distribution provides an extra incentive to attend each and every discussion section.

In addition to the weekly in-class quizzes, you will also have a weekly reading assignment tied to popular-level astronomy articles in the general press. Listed on the home page of this class are several web resources for current astronomy news, and each week, you must select at least one new article from one of these sources, read it, and prepare a one or two paragraph report in which you a) summarize the main content of the article and b) note any questions it raises in your own mind. These will be collected every Thursday in your Quiz Section, and will be graded on a strict credit/no credit basis.

To further promote this discussion of current astronomical news, at the beginning of each Wednesday's lecture I will choose at random one student from the class to present her/his notes on their weekly reading. This presentation will entail nothing more than standing up briefly, describing your article to the class, and chatting intelligently about it for a few minutes. For this effort, the chosen student will receive a full 5% extra credit on their final grade.

We will have two one-hour midterm exams. I will, however, be following a rather unusual examination strategy which not only reflects my general philosophy on education, but will also continue this odd thread of "randomization" running through the syllabus so far. Read the next few paragraphs carefully...

One week prior to the exam I will hand out to the entire class a list of 8-12 "essay" questions which thoroughly probe your understanding of the material we have covered in both lecture and the reading assignments. They will be challenging questions, which reflect the topics that I consider to be essential to an understanding of the current state of the science of astronomy, and represent the sort of questions that I would expect any one who passes my class to be able to address in an intelligent manner. Your answers to this set of questions will not be specifically collected and graded, but you are encouraged to work out in detail answers to each of them in the week before the exam. During that week, up until 24 hours before the exam, I and the TAs will be happy to look over any notes you've made and provide extra assistance to you in formulating "good" answers.

On the morning of the exam, I will stand in front of you and select at random two questions directly from the list I provided. You will then be required to answer those two questions as completely as possible in the time allowed. If, as I hope, you have done your work ahead of time, you should feel very confident in your answers and the test should be a breeze -- after all, you knew what the questions were!

The two essays will count for a full two-thirds of your exam grade, and the remaining one-third will be determined by your answers to 15-20 multiple-choice questions. In most cases, these will test fundamental bits of astronomical knowledge, and in particular, your understanding of points that I will specifically note in class as "common misconceptions" in astronomy.

The grades for the course will be determined as follows:

Weekly Quizzes (8 x ~5.5% each) 45%

Weekly News Reading 10%

Exams (2 x 20% each) 40%

Quiz Section Participation 5%

This of course yields a 'percentile' score, based on a perfect score of 100. Translating this onto the 0.0-4.0 scale used for reporting grades to the College will necessarily involve some mathematical voodoo -- the average percentile score (typically around 70%) will be assigned a grade of 2.9, with percentile scores higher or lower receiving suitably higher or lower grades.

No makeup quizzes or exams will be given, and no late reading assignments will be accepted. If you are forced by any circumstance to miss turning in an assignment or being present for a weekly quiz, you will receive a zero for that quiz or homework. However, the two lowest quiz and homework scores for each student will be dropped, so that you may "safely" miss two quizzes and two homework assignments without penalty to your grade.

No makeup exams will be given. If you will be forced to miss a scheduled exam, please contact me as soon as possible to make other arrangements. Any student who misses an exam without my prior consent will receive a zero on that exam.