Tuesday, Thursday 8:30-9:50AM, Room 118 Physics-Astronomy Building
This is an introduction to astronomy for non-science majors. The goal of the course is to give you an outline of what we do (and don’t) know about the universe on size scales from planets on up, and also to teach you a bit about how science works. Major topics will include the scientific method, the laws of physics (and what happens when you break them), the solar system, how stars work, galaxies, and cosmology (the overall structure and evolution of the universe). Some algebraic equations will occasionally be used.
Instructor: Jack Baldwin, Room 309 Physics-Astronomy Bldg., Phone 432-9264
Office hours: 2-3 Monday, 10-11 Tuesday, 11-12 Thursday, or by appointment.
Text: “VOYAGES THROUGH THE UNIVERSE (2ND EDITION)” by Fraknoi, Morrison & Wolff.
Web site: http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/isp205/sec-1/ contains a copy of this syllabus and is likely to hold announcements, grade curves, etc in the future.
Midterms: 3 Midterms, each for the full class period. Tentatively scheduled for Sept. 20, Oct. 11 and Nov. 15.
Final exam: This will be held at the assigned place and time for this course. Tentatively, the time is Monday, Dec 10, 8-10PM, but it is up to you to double check later in the semester, at the official web site http://www.reg.msu.edu/calendar/. The exam will be 1hour and 20 minutes long, and will only cover the material given after the third midterm. That is, the final will just be like another midterm.
Extra Credit. From time to time there will be a 1-point extra credit question asked just before the end of class. These will be open-notebook, short answer questions. The goal is to encourage you to attend classes and to take decent notes. These extra points will be added onto your score on the next midterm.
Grading system: each midterm and the final will be given equal weight. The final course grade will be based on a to-be-determined curve. But students who average less than 50% correct answers should expect to fail the course.
Chapter numbers from the text are indicated in square brackets…. [8,9] means the material is covered in chapters 8 and 9, etc. The midterms and final will be on the material actually covered in the lectures, but the lectures usually will be on material found in the book.
Aug 28,30. The size of the Universe. The scientific method, “laws” in physics, the four forces [Prologue].
Sept 4,6. Laws of motion: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, Newton [1,2].
Sept 11,13. Radiation and spectra [4]. Maybe a bit about telescopes[5].
Sept 25,27. The Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars [8,9].
Oct 2,4. The giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) [10]. Rings, moons and Pluto [11]
Oct. 9 Comets and
asteroids [12]. The origin of the Solar System [13].
Oct 11. MIDTERM
Oct. 16,18. The Sun: an example of a star [15], The surface of the sun [14].
Oct 23,25. Analyzing starlight [16].Types of stars [17,18], The evolution and death of stars [21,22].
Oct 30, Nov 1. The birth of stars and the search for planets [20]. Search for life elsewhere [Epilogue]
Nov 6,8. Our Galaxy (the Milky Way) [24]. Other galaxies [25].
Nov 13. Quasars and active galaxies [26] ( This
lecture will be on Final, not on Nov 15 Midterm).
Nov 15. MIDTERM
Nov 20. General Relativity [23].
Nov 27,29. Cosmology…
the nature and evolution of the universe [27,28].
Dec 4,6. Recent breakthroughs in Cosmology.