Astronomy 312: Galactic & Extragalactic Astronomy Section 1, Spring 2014

Lecture: Tuesday and Thursday

Location: Rita Hollings Science Center, room 112

Time: 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm

Office: 129 RHSC

Office hours: TR 10:00-11:15 am

Phone: (843) 953-3609

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.

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Syllabus

Prerequisites/Corequisites: MATH 221 and ASTR 311

Required materials: An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, B. W. Carroll & D. A. Ostlie (2nd Ed.)

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. The course will cover our Galaxy the Milky Way and a description of the nature and evolution of galaxies. You will learn about exotic objects in our Universe such as neutron stars, black holes, and active galactic nuclei. On a larger scale you will learn about the structure of the Universe. The course concludes with a description of the evolution and the early stages of the 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.

Grades

Your final grade will be calculated as follows:

Homework	20%
Midterm 1	25%
Midterm 2	25%
Final	30%

Grades will be curved to account for the varying difficulty level of exams. 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.