Instructor: Dr. Jon Holtzman
Office: Department of Astronomy, Room 102
Office hours: By appointment, but generally available: immediately after class is a good time
Phone: 646-8181
Email: holtz@nmsu.edu
Web information: http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/holtz/a110, available directly or through Canvas (http://learn.nmsu.edu)
Class time: 11:30-12:20 Monday, Wednesday and Friday, in Biology Annex 102
Lab time: EITHER Monday 3:30-5:30 pm, Tuesday 1:30-3:30 pm, OR Tuesday 3:30-5:30 pm in Biology Annex 102. The lab is part of the class and comprises a significant part of the total grade.
Campus Observatory: you will need to visit the campus observatory twice during the semester; it will be open from 9-10 pm two days each week (Monday and Wednesday). See attached Observatory information pages; more details will be given in lab.
Teaching Assistants: Sten Hasselquist, sten@nmsu.edu, Astronomy Room 108, phone 646-6328, office hours Thurs 2:30-3:30 or by appointment; Laura Mayorga, lcmayor@nmsu.edu, Astronomy Room 110, phone 646-2107, office hours Tues 3:30-4:30 or by appointment. Both TAs have mailboxes in Astronomy Room 101.
Textbook/supplementary materials: There is no required textbook for this class. However, you will likely be asked to find material to read on the web, on which you may be questioned in class. In general, the lecture material defines the class, which is why class attendance is important.
Class notes are available on the class web site, and are probably your most valuable resource for reviewing and previewing what we do in class.
Lab text: AY 110G Lab Manual. This is required, and you must bring it (at least the appropriate lab) to every lab class. We will discuss options for obtaining it in class and lab.
Grades will be based on:
| Homework | 15% |
| In class questions | 5% |
| Lab reports | 30% |
| Midterm 1 | 12.5% |
| Midterm 2 | 12.5% |
| Project/paper | 5% |
| Final | 20% |
A total grade of 90% will guarantee you an A, 80% a B, and 70% a C, although it is possible that the cutoffs will be a bit lower than these. Most likely, a minimum grade of 50-60% will be required to barely pass the class.
As discussed below, ``clickers" will be distributed free-of-charge for the semester. These must be returned at the end of the semester: failure to return or replace these will result in your receiving an INCOMPLETE for the class, until the situation is rectified.
Attendance policy: Attendance at every lecture is highly recommended. This is especially true since we will not be following a specific textbook. Attendance will be taken at each lecture, and may be factored into your in-class question grade (see below). When you come to class, you are expected to be polite with respect to other, e.g., no cell phones or talking in class, except when discussing class material.
The lab reports are an important part of this class, as they constitute most of the out-of-class writing which is required. Because this course satisfies a general education requirement, writing is an important component of the course. Consequently, each lab report is required to include a description of the problem that the lab addresses and the techniques used to solve it, and a final discussion summarizing what was learned. It is important that these parts of the labs are written clearly and in good english. Lab reports must be completed by the beginning of the next lab section. You will collaborate with a group in the lab, but every person must hand in their own individually-prepared lab summary.
The first lab will meet the week of August 26. Because of Labor Day, there will be no lab the week of September 2.
The weekly assignments are designed to try to keep you up-to-date with the material so you will be prepared for exams without needing to review excessively. When you finish the homework, you will be able to immediately see how well you did.
There is a lot of material on astronomy available online. You are encouraged to look up things that we discuss to help your understanding. In some cases, assigments may be given where you have to research a specific topic or question and you may be asked about what you find when you come to class.
These clickers normally cost students more than $30. They are being provided to help keep course costs down. However, these clickers must be returned at the end of the semester. Failure to do so will result in a grade of Incomplete being assigned until the clicker is returned. If you lose the clicker, you will be responsible for replacing it! If you have your own clicker of the correct type (we are using iClickers), you should be able to use that; we will check and register these during the first lab.
General goals
The main goal of this class is that you will be more interested and
knowledgeable about astronomy and the process of science when you leave
this class than when you started it.
General education goals
This class satisfies the New Mexico general education requirement for
a laboratory science. This requirement is designed to help students become
competent in the following five areas:
The class is designed to attempt to educate in these areas through examples in
astronomy. Of course, we also hope that students come away from the class with
increased interest and knowledge in general astronomy!
Many of the core competencies are addressed through the laboratory section, so
students are urged to spend some time and effort thinking about the labs and
handing in assignments that reflect this thought.
Content goals
The class is split up into five main sections, as listed below. Some of the
questions we will address in each section are also given:
Lab Description
Lab is comprised of weekly indoor labs and two visits to the campus observatory
over the course of the semester.
The lab sections are taught and run by the TAs; if you have questions about
labs or lab policies, consult with them first, but the professor
has ultimate responsibility for both class and labs, so feel free to come
to him/her if you have any unresolved issues.
Indoor Labs
Lab sessions are scheduled for two hours each week. To increase your
understanding and efficiency, you must read the labs before coming to
the lab session. Some introductory questions may be asked to make sure
you're doing this reading.
LAB ACTIVITIES (65 points): This section is completed in groups. You will
work in groups of 3-4 people in the lab to answer questions from lab materials.
Each group will hand in a single write-up of these questions with the
names of all of the group members. Please try to write things up neatly:
illegible handwriting cannot be graded. These writeups should be handed
in at the end of the lab session.
SUMMARY: (35 points): This section is to be completed on an individual
basis. What we are looking for in a summary is a description of what
you learned (or did not learn) from the lab; it can also include your
opinion of the lab, addressing both positive and negative points. Most
labs also include some questions at the end that might provide some
guidelines about what you might talk about in the summary.
Summaries are to be typed or well-written in black or blue ink. They
should be between around 1 page typed (double spaced) or 2 pages
hand written.
If you complete the lab activities in less than 90 minutes (out of a 120
minute lab session), we want and expect that you will stay in class and
work on your summary while things are fresh in your mind. If you can
hand in everything before you leave, you won't have labwork to do
during the week (aside from reading the next week's lab)! Otherwise,
the summaries will be due at the beginning of the next lab meeting.
Campus Observatory
You must visit the campus observatory twice during the semester: once during
the first half (before October 16) and once during the second half.
The observatory will be open on Monday and Wednesday from 9-10
PM; additional information or changes will be given in class. It is
usually much more crowded, and thus takes more time, if you go just
before the mid-semester date and/or just before the semester ends; if
you go early in the first half of the semester, and then early in the
second half, you will probably spend less time there.
Also, remember, the weather is unpredictable, so saving things for the
last few nights in the period can be dangerous!
There will be a TA present (not necessarily one of the TAs for our
particular class section), who you will have verify what objects you have
looked at. You will to go to the observatory and look at several objects
that the TA is showing. You should then hand in a written description
of each object (color, shape, etc.) to your lab TA using
forms
that
are available on the class web page. BRING FOUR OF THESE FORMS
TO THE CAMPUS OBSERVATORY WHEN YOU GO! For each object,
we want you to look up information about each object and write
it down along with your object description.
The campus observatory is located next to the NMSU track.
Grades
Labs are worth 100 points each. We will drop the lowest two lab grades.
Each campus observatory report is also worth 100 points. Lab scores
comprise 30% of your total grade in this course.
There will be a 25 percent penalty for each week after the due date. No
labs will be accepted more than two weeks late (basically, they wouldn't
be worth much by that point). If you have a valid excuse (medical reasons, etc.),
talk to your TA. Late submission can be handed to your TA in person or dropped in
their mailbox.
Miscellaneous
You are expected to read the lab manual before each lab meeting; the
labs will make much more sense if you spend a bit of time getting
acquainted with them beforehand. Arrive on time. Please turn
off cell phones, as they are a huge distraction; if they become a
problem your lab instructor may take further action.
Lab Philosophy
The labs are used as tools to aid in the understanding of the concepts explored
in the lecture. These concepts are expanded upon by applying them in a
practical manner in the classroom and at the campus observatory.
You will probably do well in lab if you do the following:
If you have questions about an upcoming lab or about one that you have
completed, be sure to stop by during office hours.
The assignments, except for midterms, mostly refer to assignments
in Canvas.
Note that these will generally be due Friday classtime, unless otherwise
noted in class. The assignments include both reading and a set of
homework questions; only the questions are graded. When you do the online
assignments, take advantage of the online feedback so that you go away
from the problems understanding more, whether you got them correct or not.
Week
Subjects
Assignment
Lab
8/23
Intro class
8/26-8/30
Science: astronomy, pseudoscience.
Canvas: Pre-class assessment
Introduction lab
9/4-9/6 (Labor Day)
Motions of stars and sun; seasons
Science
NO LAB
9/9-9/13
Moon.
Motions, Seasons and Moon
The Origin of the Seasons
9/16-9/20
Motion of planets. History. Kepler's laws
Motions of Planets
The Surface of the Moon
9/23-9/27
Overview: our place in the Universe / solar system
Solar system overview; Midterm
Measurement
9/30-10/4
Overview: Milky Way galaxy, galaxies
Milky Way and Galaxies
Shaping Surfaces in the Solar System
10/7-10/11
Overview: expansion of the Universe, distances.
Universe and Distances
Galaxy Morphology
10/14-10/18
Newton's Laws of Motion. Gravity. Orbits.
Kepler's and Newton's Laws
Measuring distances using parallax
10/21-10/25
Gravity as a mass probe, dark matter. Light.
Orbits/Dark Matter
Kepler's laws
10/28-11/1
Spectra. Continuous spectra. Reddening
Light. Midterm 2
Optics
11/4-11/8
Emission and absorption lines. Stellar spectra
Spectra
The Power of Light: Understanding spectroscopy
11/11-11/15
Brightnesses of stars. Measuring motions.
Stars and Doppler Shift
The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
11/18-11/22
Life in the Solar System. Temperatures on planets. Greenhouse effect.
PROJECT DUE
Introduction to the geology of the terrestrial planets
12/2-12/6
Life in the Universe. Extrasolar planets. Stars and elements.
Canvas post-course assessment. Class evaluations
Review
Jon Holtzman
2013-08-23