Syllabus for ASTR
1303
Stellar Astronomy
Section # 33337 12:00 – 1:20 Tuesday and Thursday
Instructor:
James (Jim) Heath
Office Hours: Round
Rock Room 2308 MW 12:00 – 1:30 PM
Riverside Room 2247 MW 2:00
– 4:30 PM
Rio Grande Room 338 TTh 1:30 – 4:30 PM
Office Phone: 223-6052
E-mail: jheath@austincc.edu
Class Website: http://www2.austincc.edu/jheath
(Click on “The Starry Site”)
Text:
Astronomy Today ,
7th Edition by Chaisson and McMillan (Prentice
Hall)
We will only be using Volume 2:
Stars and Galaxies
Course Overview:
After a brief introduction to the
history and terminology of astronomy, basic laws of physics will be discussed
which are essential to the study of stars and galaxies. Then we will discuss the external properties
of stars, followed by a discussion of the internal processes that give rise to
these properties. The star that we know
best, the Sun, will be our example.
Finally, the "life histories" of stars will be presented as we
examine the changes a star undergoes from its "birth", throughout its
"life", to its inevitable "death".
Next, we will expand our scale
outward to investigate the stellar "neighborhood" we live in, the
Milky Way. The properties and make-up of
our galaxy will be discussed, as will its origin and evolution. But our galaxy is just one of many, and we
will discover many other shapes, sizes and types of ”island
universe“ as we expand our sight further to encompass the entire Universe. Some galaxies will be "normal" like
the Milky Way, but others will be strange indeed, and could contain keys to the
scale of the Universe. Finally, will we
discuss the Universe as a single object, where it came from, what it is now,
and what it will become.
Instructional Methodology and
Course Rationale:
This course is a lecture-based course which may
include class discussions, student projects and demonstrations. It is an introduction to Stellar Astronomy,
providing students with a science course suitable for transfer to a four-year
college or university. Therefore, the
course will be taught at the university level.
The course prerequisites are MATD 0390 (Intermediate Algebra) or
one year of high school algebra or the equivalent. One year of high school
science is recommended, but not required.
Purpose of this Course:
I've heard it said that the purpose
of education is to give people the ability to tell when someone is
"talking rot" and when they are making sense. This skill is becoming even more important in
the modern day, surrounded as we are by science and technology. Con-artists and opportunists are learning to
wrap themselves up in technology to better deceive people: astrologers are starting to carry around
laptop computers, for example. I believe
that science courses should help give people the tools they need to become
"scientifically literate," and be able to evaluate "scientific
claims" in their lives as consumers and voters. It is my hope that this course can serve part
of that purpose.
Goals and Objectives:
The simplest and most obvious goal
for this course is to convey to you the basic concepts of stellar
astronomy. I realize that only a few of
you would even consider a career in astronomy, so this course is not necessarily
"pitched" to future scientists.
I hope to be able to give you enough of a background in the
"facts" and theories of astronomy to be able to understand claims
made by astronomers in the popular media, and maybe
even enjoy astronomy as a hobby.
A deeper goal for this course is to
give you practice in "thinking scientifically." In-class material, as well
as most graded activities, are intended to help you improve your
abilities to organize, reason, make conclusions based on evidence, and
otherwise think logically. Other activities
will help you practice other aspects of a scientific mind, such as creativity,
ability to observe, and the practice of examining your own attitudes and
"biases." These are skills
that employers are looking for, and skills a scientifically aware citizen
should have. Everyone has these skills
inside them, and part of my job is to help you sharpen these skills.
Of course, the most important goal
in this class is to have fun. Astronomy
is an exciting field that is changing every day, and a fun hobby to
pursue. I hope some of my enthusiasm
about science and astronomy will be infectious.
Remember that a lot of the responsibility for this rides on you: you can only have as much fun as you allow
yourself to have. Be involved in the
class! Be energetic!
Grading System:
I.
Tests
To evaluate student progress in the
course, four tests will be given, approximately one every month. Each test will be worth 17% of the final
grade, for 68 % total. The tests will
NOT be comprehensive (but there will be certain concepts that will recur
throughout the semester, so don't forget everything too quickly!), and there
will be no final or midterm exams. Exams
will consist of definitions and essay questions, some of which can be chosen
from lists. Since I realize that many
students have "math anxiety," no required essay question will be
mathematical in nature. This math
deficiency will be compensated for on the homework assignments.
The exams will be mostly essay
because I am interested in testing your understanding of the material, not just
your raw knowledge. The
emphasis will be on the ability to analyze (break things apart) and synthesize
(put things together), rather than your ability to memorize facts. Accordingly, I will focus more on whys and
wherefores in my lectures, instead of throwing a stream of trivia at you, which
would bore all of us. However, I do NOT want
my own words regurgitated back at me on the tests. You will be expected to explain things in
your own words, and in plain English. I
also prefer essay questions because I am a believer in partial credit.
Research Paper -- Since anyone can have a bad day,
any student wishing to do so may submit a short paper (approximately 1000
words/five pages) on a topic appropriate to the course. To insure that only the latest information is
used, the references for the paper are required to be magazine articles from
the past five years; no books allowed.
Internet articles may also be used, but they may not outnumber magazine
articles! There must be at least 5
different references. The grade received
on this paper will take the place of the WORST test grade received during the
semester. The point of the paper is to
go beyond what is discussed in class, so papers that just repeat what is said
in class will not receive good grades! In
the interest of time and sanity (both mine and yours), please try to decide on
a topic and discuss it with me by November 22 at the latest and have it turned
in by December 6.
II.
Homework Assignments
In addition, five homeworks will be
given over the course of the semester, each 3 questions in length. Each will be worth 3% of the final grade, for
15% total. As answers will be posted to
the Website the day homeworks are due, no late homework will be accepted. Students are allowed to cooperate on
homeworks, but deliberate copying will be severely punished! I am a great believer in rewarding effort, so
partial credit will be happily given to people who attempt the problems, but
for some reason or another, can't follow through to the end. Thus, I encourage you to show all your work
on the homeworks. Answers without
explanation will receive NO CREDIT!
My philosophy behind homeworks is as
follows. Many times we read a fact in a
textbook, like "the density of Saturn is so small it would float in
water" or "the mass of Jupiter is such-and-such", and blindly
accept it. Such blind acceptance, both
in science and in "real life", is dangerous. The purpose of the homeworks is to get you to
confirm these "facts" for yourselves.
Many of the great computations of astronomy can be done by non-science
majors using high school freshman algebra and a calculator!
High-school algebra is a
pre-requisite for this class, so I will not (and should not be expected to)
take up class time to re-teach it.
Please go over the section of the Website on Basic Math; I will be glad
to discuss it with you during my office hours.
I generally discuss homeworks only briefly in class, but I will happily
discuss problems in detail during my office hours.
Finally, I often hear students
(especially fine arts students) complain that they are not "mathematically
inclined", whatever that means. I
look upon such remarks with the same displeasure as I would look upon a
computer jock's whinings about not being "artistically" or
"linguistically inclined".
Art, mathematics, philosophy, etc., are all integral parts of the human
experience, and the total person should have some proficiency in all of them. Science is not the exclusive purview of fat,
balding, old males with German-sounding names; far too many people that do not
fit this description sell themselves short, just like society tells them
to. Such beliefs are not allowed in my
class. You can all do it!
III.
Opinion Paper
10% of the grade will be determined
by a short (3-5 page) opinion paper. The
purpose of this paper is to motivate you to think about your own attitudes and
feelings towards science, and a chance to be creative in your writing. The topic will be more fully discussed in
class, and details of the paper are attached.
The Opinion Paper will be due November 9.
IV.
Website Summary and Class
Participation
For
7% of the grade, I ask students to find a location on the World Wide Web that
is related to astronomy, and tell me about it.
Write a one page summary in your
own words of what’s on the Website, and include a printout of the first
page of the site. The Website that you
review CANNOT be one that is already linked to the class Website! You must find something new! The review is due September 6.
.
Also included in this 7% is your
participation in in-class discussion activities. These might be individual activities
discussed with the whole class or discussions in groups of two or three. You must be in class to get these points;
make-ups will only be allowed for excused absences.
Summary of Grading System:
Tests (4 @ 17% apiece) 68%
Homeworks
(5 @ 3% apiece) 15%
Opinion Paper 10%
Website Review and Class
Participation 7%
Total 100%
Course
Policies:
Withdrawals
and Incompletes – In compliance with Physical
Sciences Task Force Policy, I will not grant incompletes, except in the most
extreme circumstances. In all
circumstances, extensive documentation of reasons will be required. The withdrawal date for this class is
November 17. You are responsible as an
adult learner to withdraw yourself if you wish.
Attendance – A number of studies in science education have
revealed that class attendance is a very important factor in determining the
final grades of college science students.
Attendance is even more
important than the teacher, the textbook,
the student’s GPA or even the student’s IQ!
Yet these same studies reveal that some college students enjoy
exercising the “freedom to miss class” that college affords, and their grades
suffer as a result.
Class
time is when you can interact with your fellow students and with the
instructor. More pragmatically, class
time is when you find out what’s going to be on the test! In this class, there will be nothing required
on the test that is not discussed in class.
Conversely, with the exception of a few personal anecdotes and
historical vignettes to add flavor to the class, everything said in class will
be on the test in one form or another.
There is no substitute for coming to class.
Because
attendance is so important to your success in this class, we will have the
following attendance policy:
After FOUR (4) unexcused absences, I reserve the right to withdraw you from the class without further notice.
Notice
that this doesn’t mean I will automatically withdraw you, merely that I reserve
the right to do so. It is possible
to get an absence excused, by producing a documented valid excuse.
Valid excuses include, but are not limited to
a.
Personal
illness or other medical emergency
b.
Illness or
death of family member
c.
Loss of
transportation (one time only)
d.
Work conflict
(one time only)
e.
Jury duty
f.
National
Guard duty
Valid excuses must come with written documentation (doctor’s note,
mechanic’s receipt, etc.) to be counted.
It is your responsibility to provide this documentation, and to notify
me as quickly as possible of your absence, so that I won’t withdraw you!
Attendance will be taken, either verbally, or by
sign-in sheet, during class. Anyone not in roll is class when roll is
called will be counted absent, and must have a valid excuse (see above) for not
being there.
Scholastic
Dishonesty – Standard
ACC Policy: Acts prohibited by the college
for which discipline may be administered, including but not limited to cheating
on an exam or quiz, plagiarizing, unauthorized collaboration with another in
preparing outside work. Academic work
submitted by students shall be the result of their thought, research, or
self-expression. Academia is defined as,
but not limited to tests, quizzes, whether taken electronically or on paper;
projects, either individual or group; classroom presentations and homework.
A Note on Cheating:
I
expect and demand that everything you do in this class will be your own work. Studies have shown that increasing numbers of
college students think that cheating is acceptable, and it simply is not. Claiming someone else's work as your own is
plagiarism, and both the college and I have a very low tolerance for it. Please take pride in your work, and be
honest. Note that this does not forbid
students from working together. If you
are doubtful about where the line is between collaboration and plagiarism, talk
to me, and we'll work it out before you turn things in.
Academic
Freedom – Students are free to disagree
with instructors on matters of opinion or personal philosophy, and will incur
no penalty from doing so. However,
instructors will judge student work based upon its relation to the current
state of mainstream scientific fact and theory.
Student
Discipline – Matters of student disciple
will be adjudicated by the instructor on a case-by-case basis, in conjunction
with the Task Force Leader or Dean.
Students will want to consult with the Office of Student Services or the
Associate Dean at their campus on such matters.
Students
with Disabilities – Standard ACC Policy: Each ACC
campus offers support services for students with documented physical or
psychological disabilities. Students
with disabilities must request reasonable accommodations through the Office for
Students with Disabilities on the campus where they expect to take the majority
of their classes. Students are
encouraged to do this three weeks before the start of
the semester.
Make-up
Policy –As
stated before, no late homeworks will be
accepted. Tests missed may be made up
out of class at times to be arranged if the student possesses an adequate
excuse (see “Attendance” above).
Extensions may be granted to papers in extreme circumstances.
A Note about
There
is no substitute for reading the book.
Research has shown that one of the keys to learning science is to have prior
knowledge "hooks" that give you someplace to "hang" new
knowledge. Your own life experiences
will provide some of these hooks, and I hope you will share them in class
discussions.
Some truths about taking this
class:
·
It
is not unreasonable for me to expect you to come to class on time every day
that you are physically able.
·
It
is not unreasonable for me to expect you to take notes in class.
·
It
is not unreasonable for me to expect you to do all the assignments.
·
It
is not unreasonable for me to expect you to read the book.
All
of the above are essential to your learning in this class, or any science
class. You are all adult learners, and I
will treat you like adults, responsible for your own learning. I provide the opportunities; you must provide
the energy. If you think that any of the
above are unreasonable, then you will have a difficult
time in this class!
And
remember, the only really stupid
question is "Who cares?"
COURSE
OUTLINE
Section
1: The Foundations of the Scientific
Method
AUG
23 Introduction to course Ch
1, 1-11
AUG
25 The
History of Stellar Astronomy Ch
2, 31-41
AUG
30 Isaac Newton Ch
2, 47-54
SEPT
1 The
Nature of Light Ch
3, 57-63
SEPT
6 Electromagnetic Radiation Ch 3,
63-74
SEPT
8 The
Nature of Matter Ch
4, 77-84
SEPT
15 Spectroscopy Ch 4, 84-94
SEPT
20 TEST
#1
Section
2: Stars, Outside and In
SEPT
22 The
Sun, a “Typical” Star Ch 16, 382-406
SEPT
27 Nuclear Fusion Ch
16, 406-413 Ch
21, 528-533
SEPT
29 Parallax
and Magnitude Ch
17, 417-423
OCT
4 Stellar
Temperatures Ch 17, 423-430
OCT
6 The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram Ch 17, 430-435
OCT
11 Binaries and Stellar Mass Ch
17, 436-440
OCT
13 TEST
#2
Section
3: The Life and Death of Stars
OCT
18 The
Interstellar Medium Ch
18, 445-462
Star Formation Ch
19, 465-481
OCT 20 The Life Story of the Sun Ch
20, 491-505
OCT 25 The Lives of Massive Stars Ch 20, 505-508,
511-514
OCT
27 Stellar Explosions Ch
21, 517-536
NOV
1 Stellar Corpses I:
Pulsars and Neutron Stars Ch
22, 539-551
NOV
3 Stellar Corpses II:
Black Holes Ch
22, 551-568
NOV
8 Star Clusters Ch 19, 482-487
Ch
20, 508-511
NOV
10 The
Milky Way Galaxy Ch
23, 570-600
NOV
15 Types of Galaxies Ch
24, 603-610
NOV
17 Galaxy Clusters and Formation Ch 24, 611-614
Ch 25, 635-645
NOV
22 The
Extragalactic Distance Scale Ch
24, 615-617
NOV
24 THANKSGIVING!
NOV
29 Active Galaxies and Quasars Ch 24,
618-631
Ch
25, 646-658
DEC
1 The
Expanding Universe Ch 26, 661-667, 677-680
DEC
6 Cosmology Ch
26, 667-677
Ch 27, 683-703
DEC
8 TEST #4
|
DUE DATES |
|
|
September
6 |
Website
Review |
|
September
15 |
Homework
#1 |
|
September
20 |
TEST
#1 |
|
September
29 |
Homework
#2 |
|
October
11 |
Homework
#3 |
|
October
13 |
TEST
#2 |
|
October
27 |
Homework
#4 |
|
November
8 |
Opinion
Paper |
|
November
8 |
Take-Home
Test handed out |
|
November
22 |
Take-Home
Test handed back |
|
December
1 |
All
Extra Credit |
|
December
6 |
Homework
#5 |
|
December
6 |
Research
Papers |
|
December
8 |
TEST
#4 |