AST 105 The Solar System
Fall 2011
PRISM #1863, 3 Credits,
Section E001
MWF 1:30PM – 2:20PM
Class meets in Room 1229
Final Exam 12-19-11 2:00PM-
4:00PM
First Class Date 9/7/2011
Last Class Date 12/16/2011
Instructor: Douglas Fowler
Office: Room: [unknown at
this time]
Office phone: [again,
unknown]
email: douglas.fowler@uwc.edu
Catalog Description
Contemporary understanding of the Solar System; the sky and
celestial motions; ancient astronomy; the Copernican revolution; light,
gravity, orbits, and astronomical instruments; formation of the solar system;
sun, planets and moons; asteroids, comets, meteors and meteorites; and the
origin of life. May be offered for three credits without laboratory work or for
four credits with laboratory work consisting of telescopic observation,
laboratory demonstration and/or astronomy exercises. Students may not receive
credit for both AST 100 and 105. Prereq: High school algebra and geometry or
cons. instr. NS; if 4 cr., also LS
Text: Either the 4th, 5th,
or 6th, editions of Koupelis and Kuhn’s text:
1. Kuhn, K. F. & Koupelis,
T. In Quest of the Universe (4th
Ed.), Sudbury , MA Bartlett ,
2004.
Paperback: 674 pages
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Pub; 4th edition
(February 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0763708100
ISBN-13: 978-0763708108
2. Koupelis, T. & Kuhn, K.
F. In Quest of the Universe (5th
Ed.), Sudbury , MA Bartlett ,
2007.
Paperback: 648 pages
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Publishers; 5
edition (April 13, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0763743879
ISBN-13: 978-0763743871
3. Koupelis, T. In Quest of the Universe (6th
Ed.), Sudbury , MA
Paperback: 638 pages
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Publishers; 6th
edition (February 2, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0763768588
ISBN-13: 978-0763768584
Also required: A calculator. This does not have to be an expensive,
graphing calculator - in fact, I would rather it not be (if you were already
made to buy one of these for some high school math class, its okay). I prefer
simple, scientific calculators like the TI-30 through TI-35 series (but any
brand will do – I am not plugging for Texas Instruments®).
1. Course
This course makes up the first half of a 2-semester
introduction to astronomy. The other course
is AST 106 – Stars, Galaxies and the Universe, offered Spring Semester (it uses
the same textbook). There is also a
companion course: AST 101, a lab course
on observational astronomy that focuses on the cycles and motions of objects
visible in the nighttime sky. Important note: You cannot get credit for
both AST 105 and AST 100; if you have already taken AST 100, you should not be
in this class.
In this course we present a brief introduction to our Sun,
planets, minor objects and structure of our Solar System. Our selected topics
will by no means represent the richness of the field, but it is hoped that the
student carries away some feeling for this subject and why we might want to
study it. Along the way we examine the scientific
method in the context of how we can even know
things and what this word know might
really mean (see the additional notes at end of this syllabus) .
2. Grading and Exams
Your grade for the course will be assigned according to the
percentage scale given in the table to the left. The total points that you accumulate on all
assignments, exams and quizzes, P,
will be divided by the total possible points on all of the assignments, exams
and quizzes, P0. This number, rounded to two significant
figures, will be multiplied by 100 to give your percentage score, S:
Your grade will be assigned according to the table at the upper
left.
|
Percentage score, S
|
Grade
|
|
90-100%
|
A
|
|
86-89%
|
B+
|
|
80-85%
|
B
|
|
76-79%
|
C+
|
|
70-75%
|
C
|
|
66-69%
|
D+
|
|
60-65%
|
D
|
|
0-59%
|
F
|
Points will accumulate from:
(1) Formal exams and other assignments, each worth 50
points. I am estimating between 5 and 10
of these including the final. These
exams or other assignments will be announced in class at least one week in advance. Formal exams will consist of short-answer,
matching and multiple-choice questions and some essay. In addition, these exams will always have a
mathematical component: You will have problems and computations to do. In most cases you will be allowed to use your
class notes during the mathematical part of an exam.
(2) In-class assignments and/or occasional quizzes. These
are worth 20 points. These may or may
not be announced.
(3) Out-of class assignments. These are worth either 20 or 50 points.
So, we have
assignments falling into two categories: Those worth 50 pts and those worth 20
pts. Except in special circumstances
(usually a prolonged illness or other event, requiring documentation), there
will be no make-ups on any work.
When calculating your
final grade, I will throw out (1) your lowest score of the 50 point exams or
assignments, AND (2) your lowest two scores of the 20 point quizzes or
assignments. If you are not here for any
exam, quiz or assignment, then that will count toward one of your thrown-out
scores.
Final Exam
The final exam is
required for all students. The final is scheduled for Monday, December 19,
2011 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm.
3. Academic
misconduct:
“All suspected incidents of academic misconduct shall be
handled using UW System rules, chapter 14.
Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following
examples: cheating on an examination, collaborating with others in work to be
presented, contrary to the stated rules of the course; submitting a paper or
assignment as one’s own work, when part or all of the paper or assignment is
the work of another; tampering with the laboratory experiment or computer
program of another student” (from UWS 14.03). Further definition of academic
misconduct can be found in UWS 14.03.
UWS 14 is available to all students in the library; additionally, all
students receive a copy of this policy during their orientation.
4. Attendance:
There is no specific penalty for non-attendance per se.
The schedule of exams and homework due-dates will be announced in
class. And these dates may change, and being absent when such changes are announced
will not be considered an acceptable excuse for missing an exam or
turning in an assignment late. If
you do miss class, you are responsible for contacting me to discuss makeup of
any missed material.
If you need to miss a class or test because of a religious
or cultural holiday, please see me as soon as possible so we can make an
alternative arrangement.
A note from Professor
John Beaver:
I would now like to make a personal
observation, gleaned from many years of teaching introductory astronomy: Students who don’t come to class get
depressingly yucky test scores. I
know that I am wasting my time writing this.
If you are actually and truly reading this right now, then you are
probably not one of THOSE students who skips every other class and thus gets
Z-minuses on the tests. But anyway, I’ve
said it. It feels good to get it off my
chest.
I have made the same observations and I agree with the above
statement.
Again (special
circumstances): A grade of zero will be assigned for any missed exam,
unless you have a legitimate, verifiable, and unavoidable reason for missing
the test. If you miss a test because of
an unforeseen emergency, arrangements to make it up must be made as soon as is
physically possible. If you know you
will be unable to make a particular test date, arrangements to reschedule the
test must be made at least one week before
the regularly scheduled date for that test.
5. Additional
thoughts
(a) We hope that
you will learn a little something of how science works and little of what
science is (and is not). Implied here will be some understanding of how we know things and what is actually meant
by knowing. For those of you with a bent toward
philosophy, we are touching on the subject of epistemology: “The study of the method and grounds of knowledge
esp. with reference to its limits and validity” (Gove, 1976).
Consider an example provided by Israel Scheffler (1965):
Sheffler remarks, a student “has, for example, learned that E = mc2, but cannot, unless
he can supply suitable supporting reasons, be said to know (in the strong
sense) that E = mc2.” (pg.
9). A lot of this course will involve
supplying those supporting reasons, especially in terms of observational
evidence. Deriving the formula E = mc2 will be well beyond
the scope of this course, but we will use this formula when discussing energy
generation in stars. However,
Scheffler’s point will be well taken – on any assignment or essay question, you
will have to supply supporting reasons.
So we are not just dealing here with a lot of memorization.
(Also, I make use of citations and references in this syllabus to set an
example: I expect you to reference and cite your sources on any assignment you do outside of class.)
(b) There is the
pure aesthetic beauty found in the study of astronomy (as well as in any aspect
of nature). We recall the famous quote
by astronomer Carl Sagan (1973):
“We are made of star stuff.” (pg.
190).
I remember the introduction to the Golden Nature Guide Stars (Zim & Baker, 1951):
“Use this book when you are
watching the stars, constellations, and planets. Thumb through it at odd moments to become
familiar with the sights you may see.
Carry this book along on trips and vacations.” (pg. 7).
This comes under the heading of what has been called
‘life-long learning.’ I would feel like
a success if I could just get some of you to carry a book, any book, around
with you to open and read at those ‘odd moments.’
“In the dime stores and bus
stations
people talk over situations,
read books, repeat quotations,
draw conclusions on the wall.”
Bob Dylan, Love Minus Zero No Limit (1964).
6. References
Beaver, John “Syllabus,
Astronomy 100” Menasha , WI
Dylan, Bob “Love Minus Zero
No Limit” from the album Bringing It All
Back Home, Columbia Records, 1964.
Gove, Philip B. (Ed.) Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged. Chicago
Sagan, Carl The Cosmic Connection, New York
Zim, Herbert S. & Baker,
Robert H. Stars, New York
