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, 6th 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. 11th, 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.