Classes	MWF 3:00-3:50, 1415 BPS.
Instructor	Ed Loh, 3260 BPS, 884-5612, Loh@msu.edu
Office hours	MWF 12:00-1:00, 3260 BPS.
Grader	Kristen Garofali, garofal4@msu.edu
Textbook	Cosmic Perspective, 6^th ed., Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, & Voit, 2010. (Older editions are OK.)
Web	angel.msu.edu Look on angel for the updated syllabus.

Calendar (Click on date for slides)					Topic & Reading
		31		Aug	Overview. Learning science. Example with 51 Pegasi.
1543—The Copernican Revolution
			2	Sep	Finish 51 Peg. §13.1, discovery of extrasolar planets
		7			Daily and annual motions of the sky. §2. Celestial sphere.
			9	H01A01	Erathosthenes' measurement of the diameter of the earth. p. 65
	12				Hipparchus measures the distance to the moon.
		14			Ptolemy’s model. Tycho Brahe maps the sky. §3.1-3.2
			16	H02	Kepler studies Mars' motion. Measuring the relative size of Mars’ orbit.
				A02	Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion. §3.3
1838—Size of the Solar System & Distances to the Nearest Stars
	19				Kepler and Newton’s laws of motion §3
		21			Newton’s Laws
			23	H03A03	Newton’s law of gravity. Galileo’s discoveries. Starry Messenger
	26				Preparation for test. Practice test Practice test answer No preclass questions.
		27			Missouri (Show me) Club. 7:40-8:40pm, room 1420.
		28		AT1	Test 1
			30		Newton’s form of Kepler’s 3^rd Law. How big is the solar system? Parallax of Mars. pp. 30, 215, 495–496.
	3			Oct	How far are the nearest stars? Bessell, Henderson, & Struve. P. 495-496.
		5			Simple model of stars. §15.
			7	H04A04	Hertzsprung Russell Diagram.
	10				Spectral classification. Types of stars. Magnitude. §15
		12	14	H05A05	Adam’s discovery of a white dwarf. Nuclear fusion powers the stars. §14.2
	17				Lifetime of stars §16, §17
		19			Death of stars. §17
			21	H06A06	White dwarfs. §18.1
	24				Element production in supernovae. §17.3.
		25			Missouri (Show me) Club. 7:40-8:40pm, room 1420.
		26		AT2	Test 2 Practice test Test2-2010Answers
1929—Expansion of the Universe
			28		Measuring velocities: Doppler effect. §5.5.Pickering’s spectra of Mizar
	31	2	4	Nov H07A07	Hubble's paper of 1929: discovery of the expansion of the universe. Questions about the Big Bang. §20.
1965—Radiation from the Big Bang
	7	9			Discovery of the cosmic background radiation. §23.2 The hot Big Bang. §23.1
			11	H08A08	The universe at 3 minutes: the formation of helium. pp. 684–686.
Unsolved problem: What is the universe made of?
	14	16			Weighing the earth by timing fall of a ball. Weighing galaxies.
					Dark matter in galaxies. §22
			18	H09A09	Black holes and quasars. §18.3, §21.3
	21				Third test. PracticeTest3 PracticeTest3Answers
		23			No class
	28				Black holes, continued
		30			Universe at 400,000years. Recombination of hydrogen; matter and radiation become independent. WMAP satellite.
			2	Dec	WMAP weighs the universe. First stars.
	5			H10A10	Weighing the universe by timing the expansion of the universe with supernovae. Discovery of matter with a repulsive force. §22.4
		7			Weighing the universe, part 2
			9		Einstein’s theory of gravity. pp. 664-666
	12				Final exam, Mon., Dec. 12^th, 3:00-5:00, BPS 1415. Practice test. Answers

· Learning goals

o What is a science? 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. The key skills of science are interpreting data, making arguments, and devising tests. To “do science,” we will retrace a few discoveries by examining the data and interpreting the evidence.

o Astronomy content. 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.

· Grading. 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.

o Preclass questions are on angel. They are due at 1:00pm on the day of class.

o 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. If you registered your i-clicker for another class, you do not have to register again.

§ If you forget your i-clicker, you may write your answers on paper and turn them in at the end of class. You may do this no more than twice a term.

o 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 understanding every question.

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

· Public observing.

o 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. 9 & 10, Sept. 30 & Oct. 1, and Nov. 4 & 5 (See http://www.pa.msu.edu/astro/observ/public.html)

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