AS 102 - The Astronomical Universe

Prof. Merav Opher - Fall 2011

Course Catalog Summary: The birth and death of stars. Red giants, white dwarfs, black holes. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, and other galaxies. The Big Bang and other cosmological theories of our expanding universe.

Instructor: Professor Merav Opher (Office: CAS 514B); 617.358.6385; mopher@bu.edu

Teaching Assistants:

Ms. Rachel Paterno-Mahler (rachelpm@bu.edu) , Office: 524, phone 617.353.6554
Mr. Michael Valdez (msvaldez@bu.edu), Office 508 but he will held his office hours in CAS524

Office Hours:

Professor Opher: Wednesday 2-3PM, Friday 2-3PM, and by appointment
Ms. Rachel Paterno-Mahler: Monday 11-12AM, Tuesday 11-12AM, and by appointment

Mr. Michael Valdez: Wednesday 11:00AM-12:00PM, Thursday 11:00pm-12:00pm and by appointment

Lecture Times: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from 1-2pm, in CAS 522.

Daytime Laboratory Section Times: (all take place in CAS B4)

A2 - Wednesdays 3:30-5:00 (TA - Ms. Rachel Paterno-Mahler)
A3 - Mondays 2:00-3:30 (TA - Ms. Rachel Paterno-Mahler)
A4 - Wednesdays, 11:00-12:30 (TA - Ms. Rachel Paterno-Mahler)
A5 - Tuesdays 12:30-2:00 (TA - Mr. Michael Valdez)
A6 - Thursdays 3:30 - 5:00 (TA - Mr. Michael Valdez)
A7 - Thursdays 2:00-3:30 (TA - Mr. Michael Valdez)

Nighttime Laboratory Times:
Every clear Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday beginning September 13th, on the roof of the CAS building, starting at 8:30pm.

Textbook:

"21st Century Astronomy: Stars and Galaxies" - Third Edition - by Hester, Smith, Blumenthal, Kay, & Voss

It is important to get the 3rd Edition, as problem numbers and other content will differ from previous editions.

Click here for a useful website for studying for the course

Laboratory Exercises: Written instructions and worksheets for the labs in this course are to be downloaded, printed, and brought to lab. A link to the lab download page is here. Note that all written materials are in PDF format.

Grading: The course grade will be computed by weighting your performance in the following areas by the percentages listed:

Laboratory (6 day labs and 2 night labs)	20%
Homework (5 assignements)	12%
Groups Debates (6)	8%
Midterm Exams (2)	35%
Final Exam	25%
Total	100%

Synopsis of Course: This course is intended to be an introduction to Astronomy, and the physical sciences in general, for the non-major (Astronomy and Astronomy-and-Physics majors should be enrolled in AS202). We will show that from a few simple physical laws and principles many of the seemingly complex phenomena in stars, the galaxy, and the universe can be understood by almost everyone. This course has no prerequisites and we assume no prior knowledge of physics, astronomy, chemistry, or math. We will present all of the basic foundation needed to understand why star shine, how galaxies age, and how old and how big the universe is today. The realm of this course is space beyond our solar system. We will spend only a little time discussing the planets or Earth (these are covered in detail in AS101, which is NOT a prerequisite for this class). Through the lectures and labs in this course, we hope that you will come to appreciate that the finest telescope is really the human mind, where imagination and understanding triumph over mathematical ability.

This course is composed of lectures, daytime laboratory work, nighttime laboratory work, in-class midterms exams, laboratory reports, homework, and a final exam. The lab work is a very important element of this course. It consists of daytime laboratory section meetings with the TAs, and two visits to the rooftop observatory during the semester. In the labs, you will gain experience in using the physical tools of astronomy and a practical knowledge of the night sky. Although the lab only makes up 20% of your course grade, there is a caveat to that percentage: I will not pass anyone who fails the lab portion of this class. That is, if your midterm exams and final exams are solid "A" work, but you decided you had better things to do than go to the lab sections, I will give you an "F" grade! But the opposite is also true - if your exam grades are suffering, doing well in the lab could bring your course grade up.

In addition to the regular daytime laboratory section meetings, you are expected to complete two nighttime laboratory exercises based on observations conducted from the roof of the CAS building. The night labs will take place on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays when the weather is clear at 8:30pm. You are free to attend any of the three nights each week. You do need to complete the first night lab exercise during the first half of the semester (September 12 - October 27) and the second night lab exercise during the second half of the semester (October 31-December 12). We will not be doing the first lab exercise after October 27, nor the second lab exercise before that date.

Boston has terrible weather, so be sure you complete your night lab exercises EARLY in the given half-semester. If you wait until the last available night and it turns out to be cloudy, you will receive a zero for that lab exercise!

There is an answering machine with a recorded message telling whether for a given night the rooftop labs will be held or not. The phone number is 617.353.2630, and the message is finalized at around 8pm. Finally, rooftop observatories are cold, windy places - DRESS WARMLY!

The laboratory component will be computed based on the six daytime lab exercises and the two nighttime lab exercises. Passing the laboratory component consists of scoring at least 68% of the total points available. Failing the laboratory component, and hence failing the course, requires scoring less than 68% of the total lab points.
Bring the manual for each lab printed. The TAs wont have extra copies and you will miss the lab!

Homework: There will be five homework assignments, due on the dates listed in the schedule/calendar page. As for the lab component, homework is a required component for passing this course. Students failing the homework component (ie., scoring under 40%) will also fail the course. News: I will drop the lowest score of HW's.

Debates: The class will be grouped into teams as assigned bellow. I grouped them based on students as in each laboratory section-see bellow. There will be time then to prepare in lab for the debate. The groups will be: (G1) dust; (G2) light elements (H, He); (G3) heavy elements; (G4) gravity; (G5) fusion/dark matter; (G6) visible light; (G7) x-ray light; (G8) infra-red light; (G9) magnetic fields and (G10) neutrinos. We will have 6 debates between the groups (check the calender) where each group will have to present and defend their importance to each phenomena discussed. Each debate will last 25 minutes (2.5 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes of debate). You will be asked to come with a same color representing your group at the date of the debate. Representative of each group will be chosen randomly by me at the beginning of each debate.
The winners of the debate will recieve 12 points; Second place will recieve 10 points;  The rest will recieve 8 points. The group that was not prepared at all will recieve 5 points. All group members will receive the same grade for their project, which will carry 8% of their total course grade.

Section A2: G1 and G2
Section A3: G3 and G4
Section A4: G5 and G6
Section A5: G9 and G10
Section A6: G8
Section A7: G7

Exams: There will be two in-class, closed book, Midterm exams. The first will be on Friday, October 7th and the second on Friday, November 4th. Exams will be of 50 minutes duration and consist of multiple choice and true-false questions. There will be no short essay questions and no long mathematical proofs or detailed equations. Because each of the exams is a closed book exam, you will be asked to leave your books and backpacks, purses and hats at the front of the lecture hall during the exams.

Make-up exams will not normally be given to people with ordinary excuses (illness, family conflicts, plane tickets, etc.). Extraordinary excuses will be handled by oral exams. Oral exams will be of one hour duration, taken by appointment only, and must be completed within one week of the missed exam. Grading for oral exams is A, B, C, D, and F - there are no plus or minus grades for oral exams.

Final Exam: The final exam will be from 12:30-2:30pm on Wednesday, December 21th. It will be closed book and cover all the material in the course. Note that the final exam is not at the usual class meeting time or day of the week. The final exam time and date cannot be changed for anyone. If you have a known schedule conflict, change it now or see me to withdraw from the course.

Attendance, Late Policy, Ethics: Attendance at all lectures, exams, and daytime laboratory section meetings is mandatory. The Late Policy is simple: if you turn in an assignment late, it receives no credit. This applies to homework and laboratory exercises. It is important that students submit for evaluation work that is properly executed and attributed. I encourage you to study together, but to independently write up and submit your homework assignments. You may help each other to find how to solve a problem, but you must present your own discussion of the steps needed to achieve the solution. Do not copy from another student or from another student's work (including students not in this class).Students are reminded that their behavior is governed by the CAS Academic Conduct Code. Copies of the Code are available in CAS 105. I am required to state that cases of suspected academic misconduct will be referred to the Dean's Office.

Schedule/Calendar: The lecture and lab schedule/calendar will follow the development in the textbook, though the emphasis will be somewhat different. The lecture material may be adjusted to different dates to accommodate a varying lecture rate. Exam dates will not be changed, though exam coverage may change slightly. Please take some time to become familiar with the schedule, and/or copy it into your own calendar. [A condensed, PDF version of the schedule can be downloaded by clicking here.]

There will be as well a Planetarium visit-most likely in the week of Oct 17 

Drop and W-Grade Dates: The last day to drop AS102 without a "W" grade is Tuesday, October 11th. The last day to drop AS102 (but receive a "W" grade) is Friday, November 11th.