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.
Graders	Vincenzo DelVillano, delvill1@msu.edu, & Robert Valentic, valent93@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 the date for slides)					Topic & Reading
		29		Aug	Overview. Learning science. Example with 51 Pegasi.
			31		Finish 51 Peg. §13.1, discovery of extrasolar planets
1543—The Copernican Revolution
		5		Sep	Daily and annual motions of the sky. §2. Celestial sphere.
			7	H01 A01	Erathosthenes' measurement of the diameter of the earth. p. 65
	10				Hipparchus measures the distance to the moon.
		12T1			Ptolemy’s model. Tycho Brahe maps the sky. §3.1-3.2
			14	H02 A02	Kepler studies Mars' motion. Measuring the relative size of Mars’ orbit.
	17				Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion. §3.3
		19T2			Newton’s Laws of motion §3
			21	H03 A03	Newton’s law of gravity. §4.4-4.5
	24				Galileo’s discoveries. Reading from Starry Messenger.
1838—Size of the Solar System & Distances to the Nearest Stars
		26T3			How big is the solar system? Parallax of Mars. pp. 30, 215, 495–496.
			28	H04 A04	How far are the nearest stars? Bessell, Henderson, & Struve. P. 495-496.
	1			Oct	Simple model of stars. §15.
		3T4			Magnitude. Discovery of a white dwarf.
			5	H05 A05	Hertzsprung Russell Diagram. Spectral classification. Types of stars. §15
	8				Hertzsprung Russell Diagram of star clusters §15.3
		10T5	12	H06	Nuclear fusion powers the stars. §14.2
	15			A06	Lifetime of stars §16, §17
		17T6			Death of stars. §17
			19	H07	Element production in supernovae. §17.3.
	22			A07	Pressure. Perfect gas law.
		24T7			White dwarfs. §18.1
1929—Expansion of the Universe
			26	H08 A08	Measuring velocities: Doppler effect. §5.5. Pickering’s spectra of Mizar
	29	31T8			Hubble's paper of 1929: discovery of the expansion of the universe.
			2	Nov H09 A09	Questions about the Big Bang. §20.
1965—Radiation from the Big Bang
	5				Discovery of the cosmic background radiation. §23.2
		7T9			The hot Big Bang. §23.1
			9	H10 A10	The universe at 3 minutes: the formation of helium. pp. 684–686.
What is the universe made of?
	12	14T10			Weighing the earth by timing the fall of a ball. Weighing galaxies.
					Dark matter in galaxies. §22
			16	H11 A11	Dark matter.
	19
		21			No class
	26				Black holes and quasars. §18.3, §21.3
		28T11			Million-solar-mass black hole in the Milky Way
			30	H12 A12	Universe at 400,000years. Recombination of hydrogen; matter and radiation become independent. WMAP satellite.
	3	5T		Dec	Proving/disproving. Instrument design. WMAP weighs the universe.
			7	H13 A13	Einstein’s theory of gravity. pp. 664-666
	11F				Final exam, Tues., Dec. 11^th, 3:00-5:00, BPS1415. Practice test. Answers CheatSheet

· 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. Six epochal discoveries will be our focus: the Copernican revolution, the measurement of the distances to the nearest stars, Hubble's discovery of the expansion of the universe, the discovery of the radiation from the Big Bang, the discovery of dark matter, and the discovery of dark energy.

· Grading. The course grade will be based on pre-class question sets (5%), in-class exercises (10%), homework (10%), tests (55%), and final exam (20%). Your three lowest pre-class scores, lowest homework score, three lowest exercise scores, and lowest test score 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 is not accepted, since answers will be posted on the day the homework is due. Not every question will be graded on the homework assignments, but you are responsible for understanding every question.

o If you must attend a university sponsored event or you are sick, you may be excused with a note from the person in charge or your doctor.

o The weekly tests will be given during the first 12 minutes of class. The tests must be taken on the scheduled dates. If you miss a test for an excused reason, your average will have fewer tests.

o An alternate final exam time will be arranged for students who have 3 exams on the scheduled date.

· 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 Friday and Saturday nights on Sept. 21 & 22 and Oct. 19 & 20 (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.