Classes	MWF 3:00-3:50, 1415 BPS.
Instructor	Mr. Ed Loh, 3260 BPS, 884-5612, Loh@msu.edu
Office hours	MWF 12:00-1:00, 3260 BPS.
Grader	Jacob Gordon, gordon70@msu.edu
Textbook	Cosmic Perspective, 6^th ed., Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, & Voit, 2010. (Older editions are OK.)
Web	angel.msu.edu

	Calendar				Topic & Reading
		1		Sep	Overview. Learning science. Example with 51 Pegasi.
1543—The Copernican Revolution
			3		Finish 51 Peg. §13.1, discovery of extrasolar planets
		8			Erathosthenes' measurement of the diameter of the earth. p. 65. Hipparchus measures the distance to the moon.
			10	H01	Daily and annual motions of the sky. §2. Celestial sphere.
	13				Ptolemy’s model. Tycho Brahe maps the sky. §3.1-3.2
		15		A01	Kepler studies Mars' motion. Measuring the relative size of Mars’ orbit. §3.3
			17	H02	Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion. §3.3
1838—Size of the Solar System & Distances to the Nearest Stars
	20				Galileo invents the telescope. (Sidereus Nuncius pp. 64–67.)
		22		A02	Newton’s laws of motion §3
			24	H03	Newton’s law of gravity
	27				Preparation for test. Practice test Practice test answer
		28			Missouri (Show me) Club. 7:40-8:40pm, room 1420.
		29		T01	Test
			1	Oct	How big is the solar system? Parallax of Mars and Venus. pp. 30, 215, 495–496.
	4				How far are the nearest stars? Bessell, Henderson, & Struve.
		6			Simple model of stars. §15. Hertzsprung Russell Diagram. §15.2
			8		Adam’s discovery of a white dwarf.
	11			H04	Nuclear fusion powers the stars. §14.2
		13	15	A04	Lifetime of stars §16, §17
	18			H05	Death of stars. §17, §18
		19		A05	Missouri (Show me) Club. 7:40-8:40pm, room 1420.
		20		T2	Midterm exam. Practice test Test2-2009Answers
1929—Expansion of the Universe
			22		Measuring velocities: Doppler effect. §5.5.
	25				Pickering’s spectra of Mizar
		27			Test 2, lessons from
			29		Hubble's paper of 1929: discovery of the expansion of the universe. §20.3
	1			Nov H06	About Hubble’s Law.
1965—Radiation from the Big Bang
		3	5	A06	Discovery of the cosmic background radiation. §23.2 The hot Big Bang. §23.1
	8	10	12	H07	The universe at 3 minutes: the formation of helium. pp. 684–686.
Unsolved problem: What is the universe made of?
	15	17		A07	Weighing the earth by timing fall of a ball. Weighing galaxies.
					Dark matter in galaxies. §22
			19	H08 A08	Black holes and quasars. §18.3, §21.3
				H09	Review
	22			A09	Third test. PracticeTest3 PracticeTest3Answers
		24		T3	No class
	29				Black holes, continued
		1		Dec	Universe at 400,000years. Recombination of hydrogen; matter and radiation become independent. WMAP satellite.
			3	H10	WMAP weighs the universe. First stars.
	6			A10	Weighing the universe by timing the expansion of the universe with supernovae. Discovery of matter with a repulsive force. §22.4
		8		H11	Weighing the universe, part 2
			10	A11	Einstein’s theory of gravity. pp. 664-666
	15				Final exam, Wed., Dec. 15^th, 3:00-5:00, BPS 1415. Practice test. Answers

Astronomy is not a book of facts to be learned. Besides the facts of the astronomical phenomena and the scientific explanations, astronomy is also a practice having certain skills such as interpreting data, making arguments, and devising tests. Ast207, the Science of Astronomy, has two goals: to learn a few topics in cosmology and to practice doing science. To “do science,” we will retrace a few discoveries by examining the data and interpreting the evidence.

This term, Ast207 will focus on cosmology, the study of the structure and content of the universe on the largest scales. We will examine and interpret the evidence for the key discoveries in cosmology. Four epochal discoveries will be our focus for the first part: the Copernican revolution, the measurement of the distances to the nearest stars, Hubble's discovery of the expansion of the universe, and the discovery of the radiation from the Big Bang. For the remainder of the course we will examine topics of current interest in cosmology.

Doing science is a social and cooperative venture. Find a 207 pal with whom you can work on Ast207. If you get stuck, your 207 pal may help. If you think you understand a concept, explain it to your 207 pal to see if he/she thinks your explanation is sensible and clear. Difficult concepts become clear with discussion.

You may work together on your homework assignments, but you must hand in your own solutions. Late homework may be handed in up until the time the graded papers are returned. Not every question will be graded on the homework assignments, but you are responsible for doing every question.

The course grade will be based on pre-class question sets (5%), in-class exercises (9%), homework (23%), first test (5%), midterm (14%), third test (14%) and final exam (30%). Your three lowest pre-class scores, lowest homework score, and three lowest exercise scores will be dropped.

The in-class exercises use i-clickers. Register your clicker at iclicker.com. If the identification number has been rubbed off, you may register it in class, which does not require your reading the number.

The Physics-Astronomy Department and Abrams Planetarium also offer public observing at the MSU Observatory (at College Rd. & Farm Lane) from 9:00–11:00 on Sept. 17 & 18, and Oct. 15 & 16. (See http://www.pa.msu.edu/astro/observ/public.html)

For other skywatcher’s information, see the web site for Abrams’ Planetarium www.pa.msu.edu/abrams.