Course website: www.astro.virginia.edu/ae3f/AST1210
Course materials, announcements, and lecture notes will be made available
on the AST 1210 course website.
Instructor: Prof. Aaron Evans, 530 McCormick 229, 434-924-4896, aevans@virginia.edu.
Office hours: W, 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm.
Prerequisites: None. This course is designed for the student with little or no training in science. A reasonable background would include the usual high school chemistry course, although with a little effort even that may not be necessary.
Course Structure: Lectures will be given twice a week:
Monday and Wednesday at 2:00 pm - 3:15 pm in Clark 107
Grading: Grades will be based on
Tests: All exams will be
non-cumulative. They will be based on the material covered since the
previous exam. The format of the exams will be multiple choice.
A week before each exam, you have the option of submitting
sample test questions to me - I will select some of these questions
for the exam.
These sample test questions will be the only form of extra credit in the course. Requests for additional extra credit assignments will not be entertained.
Note that the use of electronic devices (including, but not limited to, calculators, cellular phones, PDAs, Pocket PCs, and pagers) during tests is strictly forbidden. All materials you bring into the room must be put on the floor under your seat during the examination.
The FINAL EXAM will be on Saturday, December 15, 2012 from 2 pm to 5 pm.
Take-home quizzes: Are designed to have students calculate various quantities discussed in class. Such calculations will give the students a better mathematical feel of class concepts.
Laboratory Exercises:
You will be required to complete two labs this semester, the Constellation Lab and the Telescope Observing Lab.
Constellation Lab:
This lab consists of learning the names and locations of the brightest stars and constellations, completing a worksheet, and passing a short quiz. The lab can be completed in a single night and you may repeat it until you pass.
Telescope Observing:
In this lab you will attend a single observing session at the Leander
McCormick Observatory and sketch at least three objects as seen through
the telescopes.
See the Lab Information page
for dates and times. You must sign
up for an observing session in advance.
Textbook: The Cosmic Perspective, Sixth Edition.,
by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, and Voit, published by
Addison Wesley. This book is required.
We will follow the text rather closely for most of the course. Additional updated material will be added in where needed. In the examinations you will be responsible for the material covered in the text as well as that presented in the lectures, whether or not it appears in the text.
Note that the Clicker, Mastering Astronomy, and Starry Night are not required for this course.
Courtesy: Students are expected to show some respect towards their fellow students. Cellular phones and pagers should be turned off during class. Students engaging in disruptive behavior (including loud talking) will be asked to leave. Students should arrive on time, and not leave before the class is ended.
Honor Code :
All activities done as part of your grade for this class are bound by the honor code.
Special Needs: If anyone has a condition which will make it difficult for them to carry out the work as outlined above or which will require extra time on exams, please let us know in the first week or so of class so that we can make appropriate arrangements.
| Lecture # | Month | Day | Chptr | Topic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aug | 29 | Curiosity | ||
| 2 | Sep | 3 | 1 | Our Place in the Universe | |
| 3 | Sep | 5 | 1 | Our Place in the Universe | |
| 4 | Sep | 10 | 2 | Discovering the Universe for Yourself | |
| 5 | Sep | 12 | 2 | Discovering the Universe for Yourself | |
| 6 | Sep | 17 | 3 | The Science of Astronomy | |
| 7 | Sep | 19 | 3 | The Science of Astronomy | |
| 8 | Sep | 24 | 4 | Understanding Motion, Energy and Gravity | |
| 9 | Sep | 26 | 4 | Understanding Motion, Energy and Gravity | |
| 10 | Oct | 1 | 5 | Light and Matter | |
| 11 | Oct | 3 | The Sun | ||
| Oct | 8 | 14 | Reading Day | ||
| 12 | Oct | 10 | 14 | The Sun | |
| 13 | Oct | 15 | 15 & 17 | Stellar Evolution | |
| Oct | 17 | Exam 1 | |||
| 14 | Oct | 22 | 6 | Telescopes | |
| 15 | Oct | 24 | 7 & 8 | Formation of the Solar System | |
| 16 | Oct | 29 | 12.1 | Meteorites & Asteroids | |
| 17 | Oct | 31 | 12.2,12.3 | Comets and Kuiper Belt Objects | |
| 18 | Nov | 5 | 9.3 | The Moon | |
| 19 | Nov | 7 | 9 | Interior Structure of the Terrestrial Planets | |
| 20 | Nov | 12 | 10 | The Atmosphere of the Terrestrial Planets | |
| Nov | 14 | 10 | Exam 2 | ||
| 21 | Nov | 19 | The Atmospheres of the Terrestrial Planets | ||
| 22 | Nov | 26 | 9 & 10 | Mercury, Venus and Mars | |
| 23 | Dec | 28 | 11 | The Jovian Planets | |
| 24 | Dec | 3 | 11 | The Jovian Moons | |
| 25 | Dec | 5 | 13 | Extrasolar Planets | |
| Final Exam - Saturday, December 15, 2pm - 5pm | |||||