TIME AND LOCATION: Tu, Thur, 11:00-12:15, Clarke 107
INSTRUCTOR: Mark Whittle
OFFICE HOURS: Room 216, Astronomy Building, Telephone 924-4900 Office hours Wed, Thur, 2-3pm; (or by appointment); electronic mail: dmw8f@virginia.edu
WEB PAGE: http://www.astro.virginia.edu/class/whittle/astro124/
Astronomy web page: http://www.astro.virginia.edu
Hawley's web page with ASTR 124 course notes: http://www.astro.virginia.edu/class/hawley/astr124/
TEACHING ASSISTANTS: Teaching Assistants are available to provide assistance and answer questions about the general course material. Their office hours are Monday 5 - 8 pm, Tuesday 9 am - 12 pm, Wednesday 4 - 7 pm, and Friday 2:30 - 5:30 pm, Room 268 in the Astronomy Building from Sept 6 through Dec 10. TA help is also available at the same location during night lab (M,T,W,R 8--11pm) if it is cloudy. See the TA Schedule Page for more information.
TEXT: Seeds, Foundations of Astronomy available at the University Bookstore. You may also find useful, the web notes of Dr Hawley's class since he has written up in a concise manner much of the ASTR 124 course content.
ATTENDANCE POLICY: While class attendance is at your option, it turns out that students who rarely attend class almost always get lower grades (typically by a whole letter grade). This is partly because some material is only discussed in class, partly because the exams tend to reflect the emphasis given in class, and partly because the material is sufficiently extensive and new that students require multiple exposure to master it. You must, however, attend the scheduled exams and the final. Makeup exams are given only at the discretion of the instructor. See me before the exam if you have a conflict.
EXAMS: There will be two midterm exams each worth 100 points and a final exam worth 200 points. The questions on the exams will be multiple choice, true/talse, and short answer, and will be based on the lectures and the textbook. The exams are closed book, and calculators are allowed. The midterms are on Sept 30 and Nov 11.
LAB WORK :
A) Constellation Quiz :
All students must take the constellation identification quiz, which
is worth 25 points (see Student
Information Sheet for details). The quizzes are held in the
student observing area, M,T,W,R ( not F) at 9-11 pm with a tour of
the constellations given by the TA from 9 -- 9:15pm. Quizes start
Sept 6 and end Dec 9. Try to avoid nights near full moon since
fewer stars are visible. In order to manage the large number of students taking
the quiz, the grading will be as follows: full credit can be obtained
during September, but therafter the maximum possible credit will
decline linearly, becoming zero at the end of the semester. Since
you have all semester to meet this requirement, NO EXCUSES of any kind
will be accepted for failure to complete the lab.
B) Telescope Observing Lab :
An optional lab for 25 points
extra credit. The lab involves sketching three objects
though our 6-inch or 10-inch telescopes and one object through our
26-inch McCormick telescope (see Student
Information Sheet for details).
The lab runs Mondays and Thursdays starting Sept 20 ending Dec 9.
Use the deparatment web site to sign up to book your day
here,
and then meet the TA by the Astronomy
department sign outside the front of the Astronomy building at 9:00pm
exactly. Bring your car if you can (but its not necessary).
ADDITIONAL OBSERVING OPPORTUNITIES: There are public nights at the McCormick Observatory, on the first and third Friday of every month, and one public night at the Fan Mountain Observatory on Friday Oct 8. Free tickets for the Fan Mountain open house are available from the Astronomy Department secretary.
GRADES: Counting the midterms, final and constellation quiz there are 425 points possible. Viewing this as `out of a hundred', the grade boundaries will be approximately 85 (A/B), 75 (B/C) and 65 (C/D). There may be slight shift of these boundaries so that about 60% of the class would get a B or better. Only after these grade boundaries are defined will the Telescope Observing Extra Credit Lab be added. Your final grade will then reflect this score. Intermediate grades (+ or -) will be assigned. Pass/Fail students must get D- or better to `pass'.
Both the Constellation lab and the Telescope Observing extra credit lab each equivalent to about a plus/minus grade interval (eg the difference between C+ and B- or between B- and B).
HONOR CODE: I would like to remind you that ALL work for this class is subject to the Honor Code, that is, it must be yours and yours alone. You may, of course, consult with myself or TAs on course material, but the exams and lab work should be exclusively your own.