ISP 205 Visions of the Universe

2006 Fall Semester, Section 1

Final Exam Information

The final exam is Wednesday, December 13 at 8:00PM in 158 Natural Resources.

The review for the exam will be Thursday, December 7, at 7:00PM in 101 Biochemistry. Please note that the building will be unlocked from 6:45 to 7:15 ONLY, so please be prompt!

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Lectures and class calendar

Date Topic Reading LON-CAPA Reading Assignment (due evening before lecture at 9:00PM)
8/29 Introduction none none
8/31 The Night Sky Ch. 1, 2.2–2.4 1
9/5 The beginnings of astronomy 3.2–3.3 2
9/7 Motion and Energy 4.1–4.4 3
9/12 Light 5.1–5.2, 3.4 4
9/14 Telescopes 5.3 5
9/15
First set of astronomyplace.com tutorials due
9/19 The solar system; clues to its formation 6.1–6.3 6
9/21 Extrasolar planets 6.4–6.5 7
9/22
Second set of astronomyplace.com tutorials due
9/26
Midterm 1
9/28 The terrestrial planets 7 none
10/3 The jovian planets 8 8
10/5 Comets, asteroids, and impacts 9 9
10/6
Third set of astronomyplace.com tutorials due
10/10 The nearest star, our sun 10 10
10/12 Classifying the Stars 11 11
10/13
Fourth set of astronomyplace.com tutorials due
10/17 Life as a low-mass star 12.1–12.2 12
10/19
Midterm 2
10/24 Life as a high-mass star 12.3–12.4 13
10/26 The stellar graveyard 13.1–13.2 14
10/27
Fifth set of astronomyplace.com tutorials due
10/31 Black holes 13.3, 14.4 15
11/2 Measuring distances 15.2 through p. 385 16
11/3
Sixth set of astronomyplace.com tutorials due
11/7 Galactic recycling 14.1–14.3 17
11/9 Galaxy types and evolution 15 18
11/10
Seventh set of astronomyplace.com tutorials due
11/14
Midterm 3
11/16 Dark matter 16.1–16.3 none
11/21 The expansion of the universe 16.4, review ch.1, p. 333–334 19
11/28 Evidence for the big bang 17 20
11/30 The beginning of time 17 21
12/1
Eighth set of astronomyplace.com tutorials due
12/5 Life on earth 18.1–18.3 22
12/7 Extraterrestrial intelligence? 18.4–18.5 23
12/13
Final Exam (8:00–10:00 pm, 158 NR)

Astronomy Place Tutorials (www.astronomyplace.com)

To have your scores recorded, you will need to enter the class id, cm309089.

When you register, please use your "@msu.edu" email address when asked to give an email account. Instructions for how to save your work are included here.

Set Tutorial Due Grading
1
 Scale of the Universe
9/15

credit for completion

Seasons must be 100% correct
Eclipses extra credit
Phases of the Moon must be 100% correct
2
 Orbits and Kepler's Laws
9/22
 credit for completion
Motion and Gravity must be 100% correct
Energy credit for completing tutorial, quiz not assigned
Light and Spectroscopy must be 100% correct
Telescopes extra credit
Doppler Effect must be 100% correct
3
 Formation of the Solar System
10/6
 must be 100% correct
Detecting Extrasolar Planets extra credit
4
 Shaping Planetary Surfaces
10/13
 must be 100% correct
Surface Temperature of Terrestrial Planets must be 100% correct
5
 The Sun
10/27
 must be 100% correct
Hertzprung-Russell Diagram credit for completion
6
 Stellar Evolution
11/3
 must be 100% correct
Black Holes extra credit
7
 Measuring Cosmic Distances
11/10
 must be 100% correct
8
 Detecting Dark Matter in Spiral Galaxies
12/1
 must be 100% correct
Hubble's Law credit for completion

Astronomy Links

Clicker Information

Each clicker has a 6-digit registration number in the battery compartment as shown. During the first three weeks of the course, one of the reading assignment questions will be to enter this number. When you answer an in-class question, you will see the last three digits of your number appear on the screen at the front of the room. These numbers appear in the same location each time, so you can tell if your answer was recorded.

image of clicker id

Exam review questions

  1. Exam 1
  2. Exam 2
  3. Exam 3
  4. Exam 4

Grade Calculator

On LON-CAPA there is a folder entitled "Scores." In this folder are a set of documents that hold the percentage score for the three midterms, the in-class scores, astronomy place tutorials, and the CAPA reading assignments. Each score should be a number between 0 and 100. If the score seems to be in error, please let myself or Katie know immediately. The astronomy place tutorials marked extra credit have already been applied, but not the clickers or the OBAFGKM exercise.

If you are curious about your grade, I have written a JavaScript grade calculator. Enter the percentage scores as reported on LON-CAPA and a fiducial final exam score and it will compute your final grade.