The theme song for this course goes something like this: "How does what we have observed or theorized about objects in the Universe -- Earth, Sun, nearby stars, star clusters, variable stars, Milky Way, nearby galaxies, superclusters, and the expansion of the Universe -- lead us to believe we KNOW the age and size of THE Universe and our place in it?" If you think carefully about it, this is a song that absolutely could not be composed overnight. It has had many composers and lyricists over centuries of time, and the verses keep changing and growing.
In this course, we will learn the parts of the song that apply directly to our galaxy the Milky Way and our place in it. We start with the dance of the ancient astronomers and move to the physics waltz. Then, it's "let there be light." These verses are followed by "twinkle, twinkle little (and big) star" and "here comes the Sun." Humans have yet to come up with a dirge mournful enough to describe what would happen should we venture too close to a black hole, although one has been composed that questions the presence of intelligence in the Milky Way. (See Jim Post, The Crooner from Outer Space, The Galaxy/Lighten Up.) We will consider the birth of the Universe, and maybe its death far, far into the future. There is no refrain for what came before the "Big Bang."
For most of you, this is the first time you will have heard this song. Just like any song, it is going to be hard to learn it all the first time you hear it. Hopefully at the end of this quarter you will have discovered enough about the Universe to want to keep on "singing." Who knows? Maybe some of you will join the choir and help turn it into a fully fledged symphony!
Each of the lectures starts with a list of the learning objectives associated with that lesson. The lectures, tutorials, exercises, review questions, self-assessment activities, etc. are all geared towards helping each learner reach those learning goals. If you know the information associated with each objective, then you will do very well in this course. We have provided both "learning benchmarks" and "milestones" in our listing of assignments and due dates so that each student can personally monitor his or her progress.
By the end of this quarter, each student should be able to
Astronomy today is no longer memorizing the names of the constellations, nor mapping the location of stars, nor learning the mythology associated with the patterns. Astronomy today has moved away from the study of tides on Earth, from the phases of the Moon, and the study of ancient astronomers. Rather, astronomy today is the application of the physics we know here on Earth to the rest of the Universe. As a science (said to be the oldest as well as the newest science), astronomy is involved in the unending process of observing, theorizing, adjusting, modifying, observing, and so on.
Starting with Sir Isaac Newton, we have come to learn that all that works here on Earth, works in the Universe. The force of gravity that caused the proverbial apple to fall on Newton's head also keeps the Earth in orbit around the Sun, the Sun in orbit around the center of the Milky Way, the Milky Way tied to a small local group of galaxies. Gravity from all objects clear across the Universe is felt by our Earth (albeit with an immeasurably small influence).
We start with the familiar first. We learn a little about the night sky so that we may later know where our studied objects are. We learn about how enormously huge the Universe is and a rough time scale for its evolution. We then move on to form the foundation for our study: scientific methods, matter and energy, universal motion, gravity, light, and telescopes as time machines.
To enhance our study of the stars, we investigate our star the Sun. The course then moves on to the nomenclature used by astronomers to classify and understand stars: How far away are they? What are they? What are they made of? How are they born? How do they live and die? Our work will examine many stars located in the "solar neighborhood." We stop briefly to ponder the bizarre nature of some remnants of what once were massively luminous stars: neutron stars and the enigmatic black holes.
During the last third of the quarter, we move to a study of our galaxy, the Milky Way, to an overview of the other galaxies in the Universe, to the expansion of the Universe (and how we know all this). We investigate how we've come to know our location in the Galaxy, the kind of galaxy that it is, and how our galaxy compares to others in the Universe. After reminding ourselves briefly about how enormously huge our universe is, and the circumstances of its birth, we stop to consider the possibility of there being life, any form of life, besides ours in the Milky Way.
Our lecture sessions will be a combination of the introduction of concepts, tutorials on those concepts, and practice questions to get an idea of whether or not you are understanding what is being discussed. There will be opportunities for you to write about what you have learned as well as extend your knowledge to different circumstances. You will meet many of the students sitting around you as together you struggle over the abstract ideas being presented. We expect to spend only half of each lecture actually "lecturing." Our goal here is to guide you and monitor your personal efforts in learning.
Images used during lecture (if not represented in our text) will be posted on-line after each lecture; however, the actual content of each lecture, the outline of what your instructor presents, may not. You will need to attend lecture in order to get the content. We have many opportunities in lecture to practice what will be in the project exercises and on the final exam; plus, the tutorials are geared towards providing meaningful analogies that help students retain information.
Sections in this course are more than just a question-and-answer time. A lot of work and learning takes place in sections, and you will find the TAs to be knowledgeable and extremely helpful. Our TAs will be providing some review, showing you different ways of understanding the concepts introduced in lecture, overseeing the exercises that apply the concepts, and more. If the ongoing efforts of a borderline student are well known by the TA, chances are she or he will earn a slightly higher grade.
| You should make every effort to attend every single lecture and section to maximize your grade in this course. We do not grade on a curve (see below); you are entirely in control of how well you do. |
Lectures are from 10:30 - 11:20 am. Please be on time. Sections occur on either Tuesday OR Thursday of each week. On the "off-section" day, you are expected to work on the on-line assignments or visit your TA during his or her office hours.
The assignments consist of both graded and non-graded work. For graded work, the application exercises that are done in sections are your primary concern. These exercises may be stand-alone or those involved in our observing projects where we work with real data:
The course calendar lists the "lecture topics," chapters to read (before coming to class!), and the due dates for assignments. Let this calendar be your guide as to how to be best prepared for each upcoming week.
Please bring your course pack with you during ALL lectures and ALL sections!
Exercises: Observational astronomy today consists of research, forming questions, forming hypotheses, writing observation proposals, doing the observations, reducing the data (from raw numbers to spectra or images), analyzing the data for results (measuring, graphing, looking for correlations, doing statistics on the data), and then writing up the results for publication. As much as possible, we have tried to reproduce these processes in the exercises, especially those connected with the projects. Thus, they will consist of inquiry, simple calculations, mapping, data gathering and analysis, and discovery.
Problem solving is as much a part of astronomy as it is in real life. Where possible, we have tried to steer away from a "cookbook" exercise. If you do not know the answer to a question, then make your best guess and write down the logic you used in making that guess. Original thinking and solid logic are as important as getting the right answer. You will often find during this course that for much of what we observe in the Universe we have no answers; this fact is what keeps astronomers busy their entire lives.
Tutorials: The tutorials in this course are designed to help clarify those concepts that students find most difficult to understand. They usually start out with amazingly simple questions and gradually build upon those logically to reach the final level of learning. Relevant analogies are brought in to assist in this process. We’ve had many students tell us, "I finally got it!" after working through a tutorial. These are NOT graded so that you will feel free to make your best guess without being penalized.
Exams: We have only a final exam in this course. It will take place in ARC 147, 8:30 am - 10:20 am, December 14, 2009. The exam will be cumulative, and you will have lots of practice on the concepts that will be included.
Readings and Reading Quizzes : Text - Bennett et al., Cosmic Perspective: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology (5th ed), paperback or eBook. Relevant review, problems, and "test yourself" questions are linked from our course calendar and are an integral part of your learning in astronomy. The reading quizzes are contained in Catalyst Tools pages, and have specific deadlines beyond which they will absolutely not be available. These are automatically graded and your score entered into your gradebook. You should read the relevant sections of our text BEFORE the topics are covered in lecture or sections. We will drop your lowest reading quiz score.
Participation: Staying actively involved in learning astronomy is important. We are encouraging your participation by offering participation points when you complete a Mastering Astronomy "self-guided tutorial" survey or a "Process of Science" activity survey on-line. There are 23 possible participation tutorials or processes of science activities through Mastering Astronomy; we will count only 20 of them, leaving you free to not do 3. Remember, though that there are participation points also offered in sections - so please check with your TA!
There is only one exam in this class - the final one. It will test your knowledge, understanding, comprehension, and synthesis of the course material. The questions will come from the exercises, tutorials, lecture notes, text, and videos, with about this order of importance. The final exam will be comprehensive and just one means of assessing your learning of astronomy this quarter. The exercises, quizzes, participation, and performance in sections are just as important.
Item |
Weighted Percentage |
Reading Quizzes |
15% |
| Participation (lectures and sections) |
10% |
Exercises |
55% |
Final Exam |
20% |
|
|
The assignment of quarter grades is not on any kind of a normalized curve in this version of Astronomy 101. This means that the mean on any given assignment is irrelevant to how you are doing; you should not care about whether or not you got above average, only that you are doing your very best to succeed. You will receive a grade based on your overall percentage for the quarter. The quarter percentages and the corresponding grades are as follows:
| Qtr % | grade |
Qtr % |
grade |
Qtr % |
grade |
Qtr % |
grade |
Qtr % |
grade |
97 |
4.0 |
88 |
3.3 |
78 |
2.6 |
68 |
1.8 |
58 |
0.8 |
96 |
3.9 |
86 |
3.2 |
76 |
2.5 |
66 |
1.6 |
56 |
0.7 |
94 |
3.7 |
84 |
3.0 |
74 |
2.4 |
64 |
1.4 |
≤ 55 |
0.0 |
92 |
3.6 |
82 |
2.8 |
72 |
2.2 |
62 |
1.2 |
|
|
90 |
3.5 |
80 |
2.7 |
70 |
2.0 |
60 |
1.0 |
|
|
In past quarters, approximately 10% of the students got a 4.0; the average grade for this course hovers around a 3.1 - 3.2. [NOTE: There may need to be some balancing of exercise and section points at the end of the quarter based on an overview of TA grading practices.]
| Working together is encouraged: much learning takes place when discussing the material and concepts with your classmates. You are welcome to help each other find answers and discuss approaches to answers. ALL WORK TURNED IN, HOWEVER, MUST BE IN YOUR UNIQUE WORDS AND PHRASES . Points will be deducted when non-original work is found. In cases where plagiarism is suspected, we have been advised to refer the work to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and appropriate disciplinary action will be decided on that level after discussions with the student or students involved. |
There have been isolated instances in the past where students have not heeded the above caveats, and we referred them and the evidence to the appropriate level for discipline. For additional guidelines on Academic Honesty and the rights of instructors, TA's, and students, please read carefully: http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm |
IMPORTANT! If you are ill, whether it is a bad cold or the pandemic flu (or worse) that plagues us now, STAY HOME! We will believe you and will work with you through email or other electronic means to help you complete the work. We want you to succeed. We also want everyone to stay healthy. There may be days when either your instructor or TA is ill. We will do our best to notify you with as much lead time as possible, stating alternatives to not having lecture or sections meet.
Attendance: By law, we cannot grade on your attendance; that is, whether or not you are physically present in the lecture hall or classroom. However, we can and will grade upon your participation. We do this through last-minute essays, pop (nongraded) quizzes, discussion, tutorial work, and other ways we have yet to think of. Active participation is an essential part of learning! Astronomy is a difficult subject, and you will need to approach it from every means available, including mentally and physically being there. We will be forming a community of learners; if you habitually miss classes unexcusably, could you honestly say that you were really part of the course and deserve course credit?
Late assignments: In general, we will not accept late assignments. However, there may be specific cases where turning in an assignment late is simply unavoidable. If you foresee such a time, then let your TA know as soon as possible!
Missed on-line reading quizzes: Each of these quizzes will have a set deadline at which time it simply disappears from student access. There will be no exceptions to this policy since feedback to the questions will be provided immediately after the deadline. However, we will drop your lowest reading quiz score that will have the same effect as missing one quiz.
Missed final exam: The final exam is scheduled for the place and time provided in the University of Washington Final Exam Schedule. If the final exam time conflicts with other plans of yours, please do not take this course, or plan on getting a "0" for 20% of the course.
Basically, as your instructor, I will do everything within and to the best of my capabilities to help each student excel in this course. I have worked hard for years to develop a course that will guide students step-by-step to an understanding of the Universe and everything in it: how we view it, the physics, the magic of light, the awesomeness of stars, the importance of the Galaxy and our place in it, our dependence upon the Sun, the multitude of galaxies there are, and how it all probably began and might end. This is a dynamic course, just like the field it covers, and I welcome suggestions.
I hope to convey the fascination that science holds for me and the advantages to the methods within which scientists are constrained.
Within the framework provided, students should feel free to express themselves, to bring new ideas, to toss aside the baggage of misconceptions, and to explore whatever topics excite them further. The monitoring of the knowledge gained in this course is rewarding for me.
I hold to the statement: "Knowledge is Power." An understanding of how the Universe works seems to open up a part of the brain that needed to know. Things should start to make sense. Your small part in this universe will seem both extremely miniscule and ultimately essential. I also hold to the fact that mathematics is the language of the Universe and to do science, we must include math.
I believe that every student wants to succeed, and that they want a challenge that takes work to meet. There is no substitution for high standards of performance. I will guide every student who wants to participate to meet those high standards.
I will work just as hard as the students in this course. While realizing that not every single student will be enamored with astronomy, I dislike it immensely when a student fails.
Realistically, each student is responsible for his or her learning; I can provide only the conduit - the framework - for their reaching their personal goals in this course.
To modify a student's view of our world by helping her or him learn about the physics of the Universe, our place in it, and how we know what we do. The personal reward that comes from watching a student advance from a limited description of the stars to a critic of our knowledge of the birth, evolution, and possible fate of our universe is unsurpassed.
My research involved the study of the atmospheres and evolution of nearby, sun-like stars. I was part of the Canadian team’s search for extra-solar planets, a search that turned up no candidates at the time, but two confirmed stars with planets more recently. For one of these, Pollux in the constellation of Gemini, my research helped eliminate possible alternatives to the radial velocity variability observed in the star. This disproving of an alternate hypothesis led the way to the convincing evidence of an orbiting, Jupiter-like planet.
Current research revolves around developing ways to assist undergraduate, non-science majors excel in astronomy courses. More about me, your instructor, can be found at: http://www.astro.washington.edu/larson/