Astronomy 130: Introductory Astronomy II
Sections 1, 2 Fall 2011
Lecture: Tuesday and Thursday
Location: Rita
Hollings Science Center, room 125
Time: 10:50am
- 12:05 pm
Instructor: Dr.
George Chartas
Office: 129 RHSC
Office
hours: TR 12:30-1:30 pm
Phone: (843)
953-3609
Email: chartasg@cofc.edu
A preliminary outline of the course can
be found at the SCHEDULE website. Some of this material is subject to change
and this site will be constantly up-dated so please check it before each class.
_____________________________________________________________
Syllabus
Required materials:
The textbook for the course is Universe 9th Edition
by Roger A.
Freedman, William J. Kaufmann and Robert M. Geller. You will also need a
scientific calculator capable of computing exponential functions.
Course Objectives:
One of the goals of
this class is to reveal to you some of the wonders of our cosmos. Astronomy 130
will begin with an introduction to the nature of light and a description of the
optics and telescopes used by scientists to collect electromagnetic radiation
from objects in the Universe. You will learn about the nature of stars and our
own star the Sun. The course will cover the birth, evolution and death of stars
and the nature of galaxies including our own Galaxy the Milky Way. You will
learn about exotic objects in our Universe such as neutron stars, black holes,
quasars and active galactic nuclei. The course concludes with a description of the
evolution of the Universe and a presentation summarizing ongoing searches for
extraterrestrial life in our Universe.
I recommend that you
review the material before it is presented in class. This will help you to
better understand the concepts and enjoy the class. I expect your active
participation in the class.
Astro-News:
Each
class will contain a segment called Astro-News. Every student will be expected
to give a 5-minute presentation during Astro-News (only one presentation per
student over the entire course). The presentation may be in PowerPoint,
keynote, overhead or blackboard.
Astro-News will cover events that have been recently presented in a
recognized astronomy media source.
Great
sources of astronomy news include:
(a)
the Science Section of the New York Times
(see
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/index.html),
(b)
the NASA News Website
(see
http://www.nasa.gov/news/index.html),
(c)
the Hubble Space Station News website
(see
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/),
(d)
the Sky and Telescope news site
(see
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news), and
(e)
the spaceweather website
(see
http://www.spaceweather.com/).
Midterm Exams Homework and Quizzes:
There
will be 3 midterm exams over the semester. The worst score of the three may be
dropped. Homework will be assigned after each chapter and I expect it to be turned
in by the assigned due date listed on the schedule web site. Several quizzes
will be given during lectures. The quizzes will be based on material already
presented in lectures. There will be a final exam that will cover most of the
material presented in the lectures.
Grades
Your
final grade will be calculated as follows:
Homework |
10% |
Quizzes |
15% |
Astro-News
and Participation |
10% |
Midterms |
40% |
Final |
25% |
Your
number grade will be converted into a letter grade as follows.
>85% |
A |
80-84% |
A- |
76-80% |
B+ |
72-76% |
B |
68-72% |
B- |
64-68% |
C+ |
60-64% |
C |
56-60% |
C- |
52-56% |
D+ |
48-52% |
D |
44-48% |
D- |
<44% |
F |
Special Needs
If you have any special needs or disabilities that
might require special arrangements to be made for any aspect of this course,
please let me know at the beginning of the semester or as soon as you become
aware of them.
Class Policies:
Cellular technology: Please respect your classmates and keep
your cellular devices off.
Cheating:
Violations of the College of Charleston
Honor Code (including cheating or attempted cheating) will be referred to the
Office of Student Affairs for adjudication. Examples of cheating include
copying test or quiz answers, using cellular technology to communicate
information during a test or quiz, copying homework answers verbatim from an
external source.