ISP205, Visions of 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, 3260 BMPS, 884-5612, Loh@msu.edu
Office hours	TuTh 14:00-14:30, BMPS atrium, or by arrangement.
Teaching Assistant	Nicholas Earl, EarlNich@msu.edu
Textbook	Essential Cosmic Perspective, 4^th ed., 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?
	13		Jan	Overview. Scientific discovery. §1, §2.1–2.3
		15		Birth of astronomy & birth of science. Ptolemy & Copernicus. §2.4, §3
	20	22		Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion. Newton’s Laws of motion §3, §4
	27	29		Radiation and spectra. §5
	3		Feb	Telescopes. §5
	3			Missouri (“Show me”) Club for Test 1: Tues., 7:00-8:00pm, 1415
		5		First test. Study guide 1. Test1-2005 Answers to Test1-2005
Planets—Spaceship Earth. How did the solar system form?
	10			Earth. Overview. §6.1–6.2
		12		Venus §7
	17			Mars
		19		Jovian Planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune). §8
	24			Rings around Jovian Planets. Origin of the solar system. §9, §6.3–6.4
		26
	2		Mar	Missouri Club for Test 2: Mon., 7:00-8:00pm, room 1415.
	3			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?
		5	Mar	Planets around other stars. §6.5
	17			The sun. §10.
		19		Hot-plate model of stars. Properties of stars. §11 Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
	24			H-R diagram of star clusters.
		26		The dying sun. Life history of high-mass stars. §12. Creation of the elements.
	31			White dwarfs, neutron stars, & black holes. §13
		2	Apr	Our galaxy. §14.
		2		Missouri Club for Test 3: Thurs., 7:15-8:15, room 1420.
	7			Mass of galaxies. Other galaxies. §15.1–15.3.
		9		Third test. Study guide 3. Test3-2005 Test3-2005wAnswers
Universe—How old? How big? What is its story? What is the universe made of?
	14			Hubble’s Law, expansion of the universe. §15.2
		16		Quasars & active galaxies. §15.4, 14.4.
	21			Radiation from the Big Bang. The young universe. §17
		23		Helium production in the Big Bang—fossil from the 3-min old universe.
	28			Weighing the universe. What is the universe made of? §16
		30		Weighing the universe with distant supernovae. Discovery of repulsive gravity. §16.4
	28			Missouri Club for Final Exam. Tues., 7:00-8:00pm, room 1415.
				Final exam, Wed., the 6^th, 3:00-5:00, 1410 BPS. Study guide Final-05 Final-05wAns

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 (14%), three tests (17% 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. The grading scale is 3 points for a correct answer and 2 points for trying. You must have an i-clicker to do the in-class exercises. (The old infrared clickers will not work.) If you already have a clicker, you do not need to purchase a new one. 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. We start using clickers on Jan 20^th.

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 2009.)

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 “Milky Way’s Biggest Black Hole,” on Thurs, Jan 22^nd at 7:30pm in the Planetarium.