REVISED APRIL 17 (see parts in red, below).

ISP205, Visions of the Universe, is about the universe. Besides the astronomical content, we consider how observation, theory, philosophy, and technology contribute to the development of the science.

Classes	TuTh 12:40-14:00, 1410 BMPS Bldg.
Instructor	Ed Loh, 1219 BMPS, 355-9200 x2480, Loh@msu.edu
Office hours	TuTh 14:00-14:30, BMPS atrium, or by arrangement.
Teaching Assistant	Brian Thomas, thoma520@msu.edu
Textbook	Essential Cosmic Perspective, 3^rd ed. or 4^th, Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, & Voit, Pearson/Addison Wesley.
Web page	angel.msu.edu

	Calendar			Topic & Reading (§3 means chapter 3)
Laws of physics—the Copernican Revolution and the development of the laws of motion. Why does the sky change over the course of a day, a month, a year?
	9		Jan	Overview. Scientific discovery. §1, §2.1–2.3
		11		Birth of astronomy & birth of science. Ptolemy & Copernicus. §2.4, §3
	16	18		Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion. Newton’s Laws of motion §3, §4
	23	25		Radiation and spectra. §5
	30			Telescopes. §5
	29			Missouri Club for test 1: 7:00-8:00pm, 1415
		1	Feb	First test. Study guide 1. Test1-2005 Answers to Test1-2005
Planets—Spaceship Earth. How did the solar system form?
	6			Overview. §6.1–6.2
		8		Earth. Mercury, Venus, & Mars §7
	13
		15		Jovian Planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune). §8
	20			Origin of the solar system. §9, §6.3–6.4
		22		Planets around other stars. Life. §6.5, §18.
		22		Missouri Club for test 2: 7:40-8:30, room 1410
	27			Second test. Study guide 2. Test2-2005 Test2 2005wAnswers
Stars—the Sun. What powers the sun? What is the future sun? Where does oxygen come from?
		1	Mar	The sun. §10
	13			Properties of stars. §11.
		15		The future sun. §12
	20			Life history of low-mass & high-mass stars. §12
		22		White dwarfs, neutron stars, & black holes. §13
	27			Black holes.
		29		Our galaxy. §14.
	3			Third test. Study guide 3. Test3-2005 Test3-2005wAnswers
Universe—How old? How big? What is its story? What is the universe made of?
		5		Our galaxy. §14.
	10		Apr	Other galaxies. §15.1–15.3.
		12		Quasars & active galaxies. §15.4, 14.4.
	17			General relativity §13.3. Hubble’s Law, expansion of the universe. §15.2
		19		The fate of the universe §16.4
	24			The Big Bang and the early evolution of the universe §17
		26		Dark matter, and the formation of structure within the universe §16.1-3
				Missouri (“Show me”) Club. Date & time to be determined.
				Final exam, Thurs., the 3^rd, 8:00-10:00 pm. Final-05 Final-05wAns Study guide Part A; Part B (you should get get both parts, separately).

Doing science is a social and cooperative venture. Find a 205 pal with whom you can work on ISP 205. If you get stuck, your 205 pal may help. If you think you understand a concept, explain it to your 205 pal to see if he/she thinks your explanation is sensible and clear. Difficult concepts become clear with discussion.

The course grade will be based on in-class exercises and homework (20%), three tests (15% each), and a final exam (35%). Your lowest 10% of the in-class exercises will be dropped.

In-class exercises, which are done with clickers, serve three purposes: 1) to help you think about the class actively, 2) to check whether you have gotten the main ideas in the assigned reading, 3) during the class, to adjust the class to the students understanding. A class should ideally be a conversation between each student and the instructor; the clickers enable every student to “speak” to the instructor. Generally, the grading scale is 3 points for a correct answer and 2 points for trying. You must have a clicker to do the in-class exercises. If you already have a clicker, you do not need to purchase a new one. Either the old infrared or the newer radio-frequency clicker is OK. With the purchase of a textbook, the additional cost of a clicker is $5. If you forget to bring your clicker, you may borrow a clicker if one is available, or (this is limited to twice during the term) you may turn in written answers.

The Physics-Astronomy Department and Abrams Planetarium offer public observing at the MSU Observatory (at College Rd. & Farm Lane) one weekend each month. Public observing starts in late March. See www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/Programs/PublicObserving.html (It has not yet been updated for 2007.)

The astrophysics faculty gives a series of lectures for the public on current topics in astronomy. See Astronomical Horizons for the schedule. The first talk is by Prof. Mark Voit on the “Anthropic Principle and the Multiverse,” on Thurs, Jan 18^th at 7:30pm in the Planetarium.