ASTRONOMY 100 Winter 2012
Ted Coskey
Office: RS 172
Phone: 206-934-6447
OFFICE
HOURS: 9:30-10:15 M-F.
email: ted.coskey@seattlecolleges.edu
FAX: 206-934-5807
This is a general, non‑mathematical survey
course in Astronomy. The book we will
use is Astro, by Backman/Seeds. In addition you need to purchase the SC1
Constellation chart. It costs around three dollars. You may have to ask the cashier for it.
Please, read
the appropriate material before coming to class. During the quarter we will discuss
telescopes, constellations, the earth, the moon, planets, the sun, stars in
general, exploding stars, galaxies, quasars, the beginning and the end of the
universe, life in the universe and more.
Your final grade will be based on the following:
Test
#1, covering Chapters 1‑8 = 200 points
Test
#2, covering Chapters 9-15 = 200 points
Quizzes
and homework (I will throw
out your lowest homework grade
and your lowest quiz grade.
12
out of 14 at 50 points each) = 600 points
Total =
1,000
Decimal grades will be assigned as follows:
Grade Percent Grade Percent
|
4.0 |
98.0-100 |
|
2.3 |
78.0-78.9 |
|
3.9 |
96.4-97.9 |
|
2.2 |
77.0-77.9 |
|
3.8 |
94.8-96.3 |
|
2.1 |
76.0-76.9 |
|
3.7 |
93.2-94.7 |
|
2.0 |
75.0-75.9 |
|
3.6 |
91.6-93.1 |
|
1.9 |
74.0-74.9 |
|
3.5 |
90.0-91.5 |
|
1.8 |
73.0-73.9 |
|
3.4 |
89.0-89.9 |
|
1.7 |
72.0-72.9 |
|
3.3 |
88.0-88.9 |
|
1.6 |
71.0-71.9 |
|
3.2 |
87.0-87.9 |
|
1.5 |
70.0-70.9 |
|
3.1 |
86.0-86.9 |
|
1.4 |
69.0-69.9 |
|
3.0 |
85.0-85.9 |
|
1.3 |
68.0-68.9 |
|
2.9 |
84.0-84.9 |
|
1.2 |
67.0-67.9 |
|
2.8 |
83.0-83.9 |
|
1.1 |
66.0-66.9 |
|
2.7 |
82.0-82.9 |
|
1.0 |
65.0-65.9 |
|
2.6 |
81.0-81.9 |
|
0.9 |
63.0-64.9 |
|
2.5 |
80.0-80.9 |
|
0.8 |
61.4-62.9 |
|
2.4 |
79.0-79.9 |
|
0.7 |
60.0-61.3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Test #1 will be given Tuesday, February 7 (week 6). Test #2
will be a one-hour test given during our scheduled final exam time. Homework and quizzes will be assigned roughly
weekly. Due dates will be announced when
the assignment is given out and will usually be due about a week later. See the schedule below for details.
Please TYPE or at least
PRINT neatly any homework that you turn in to me. Try to be neat on in‑class
quizzes. Use a dark pen or if you must,
a dark pencil. Do NOT use spiral notebook paper as it makes a mess!
I'm sorry, but I do not like to accept late homework or
allow makeup quizzes unless you talk with me about it first. In general, the first quiz that you miss will
be the one thrown out and the first homework that you miss will be the one
thrown out. If I do accept late work, I
may deduct five points or more depending on how late it is and why it is
late. I will, however, throw out
your lowest homework grade and your lowest quiz grade. My phone number is listed above and the
school is listed in the phone book.
EXTRA
CREDIT: TERM PAPER
For extra credit you may do a term paper worth up to 5 points added to your final point average. (This would increase your grade by 5%.) The paper should be 5 to 8 typewritten pages (about two thousand words). You should use at least five good references-"Science" magazine articles of reasonable length, books other than our text or other introductory astronomy texts, as well as good references from the internet. The paper should be heavily referenced with footnotes, endnotes or citations. It should have a bibliography page.
Please
check with me when you pick a topic and when you have an
outline. Do so early in the quarter so that you do well on
the paper.
The paper will be due Monday, March 12 (week 10).
Please, write your paper in
your own words. Remember
that PLAGIARISM
is illegal.
Plagiarism is using someone else’s work and not
giving them credit. If you use someone else’s work, you must give them credit
by citing the work. This is true when
you quote them, but it is also necessary when you rephrase their work. You must use citations, endnotes or footnotes
Heavily throughout your paper. Remember that I can pretty easily Google
phrases to be sure you are not ‘cutting and pasting’ from online sources or
even from books or magazines as many of them are now online.
The course is a five-credit course listed under
The Natural World. It is in the Physical
World column.
[I may give you an NC (no credit) if you request
it in writing BEFORE finals week.]
If there
is any student in this class who has need for test-taking or note-taking
accommodations, please feel free to come and discuss this with me.
STUDENT LEARNING
OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:
Communication
* Read and listen actively to learn and communicate.
Please, try to stay ahead in the reading and
homework. Feel free to see me whenever
you have questions about the course.
HAPPY
QUARTER!
Ted
THE SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE DUE TO ILLNESS, WEATHER, ETC.
EXTRA
PLACES TO LOOK
University of Washington observatory
Call 685.7856
for information as to when the on-campus
observatory is open to the public or check on the web at http://www.astro.washington.edu/pages/outreachtools.html
Seattle Science Center
planetarium.
Call
443-2001 for information about shows, times and prices.
WEB SITES
http://sites.google.com/a/southseattle.edu/writing-center/
SSCC Writing Center
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
(picture of the day)
http://www.nasa.gov/
(NASA)
http://www.stsci.edu/
(space
telescope)
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/index.html
(you control the Powers of Ten concept)
Sky chart
http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/Yoursky
The Seattle Astronomical Society
Many of the videos that I show are from the
History Channel and are available online in their entirety through youtube.com
or Netflix.
ASTRONOMY 100
YOU MUST READ THE CAPTIONS THAT GO WITH THE PHOTOS
Week 1
M intro, discuss ch 1 with Powers of 10
T discuss ch 2 (The Sky)
W discuss 2 (Cycles)
TH discuss 2 (Cycles) and pp 49-52 (tides), homework out (HW) on telescopes
F discuss ch 4
Week 2
M discuss ch 4
T discuss ch 4 and 5
W review
TH Quiz on chs 1, 2, and 4 and
tides, discuss ch
5 HW due on telescopes,
HW out on astronomers
Week 3
M NO CLASS TODAY, MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY
T discuss ch 5 Discuss homework on telescopes
W discuss ch 5
TH discuss ch 6 HW due on astronomers, HW out on HR diagram
F review
Week 4
M Quiz on chs 5 and 6
T discuss ch 7
W discuss ch 7 and 8 Discuss astronomers homework
TH discuss ch 8 HW due on HR diagram, HW out on ‘explore’
F discuss ch 8
Week 5
M discuss ch 8
T discuss ch 8
W review HW due on why we explore
TH quiz on chs 7 and 8, video, Universe
F review and finish video
Week 6
M discuss term paper and distance, Discuss homework on ‘why we explore’ Handout on distance
T TEST on chs 1-8
W discuss ch 9 HW out on galaxies handout on star clusters
TH discuss ch 9
F discuss ch 10 handout on galaxies
Week 7
M discuss ch 10 and distances in astronomy
T discuss ch 11 Handout on the big bang theory
W discuss ch 11 video, The expanding universe (20m) HW due on galaxies
TH Review video Apollo (28m)
F Quiz on chs 9-11 HW out on the Star Chart
Week 8
M NO CLASS TODAY, PRESIDENT’S DAY
ch 13
T discuss ch 13-earth, the Moon Handout, the planet table
W Mercury and Venus Handout on the planet interiors
TH ch 13, Mars
Week 9
M Review, video The Grand Tour(1st 22m)
HW out on Planets
W ch 14, Jupiter The Grand Tour continues
TH ch 14 Jupiter and Saturn
F ch 14, Saturn
Week 10
M ch 14, Uranus , Neptune
Extra Credit Term Paper due, March 12
T ch 14, Neptune, Pluto HW due on planets, HW out on space missions
W ch 14, Pluto, Eris and beyond Discuss homework on planets
TH Review
F Quiz on ch 14 Discuss ch 15, life
Week 11
M ch 15, Life EVALUATION HW due on space missions
T ch 15
W Review for the “end test” video on “the moon”
------------------------------------------------------
TH Finals week begins
Final exam: see
newsprint for day/time
THIS SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE!