Professor: Loris Magnani Office: Physics 238 or 241C Phone: 542-2876

E-Mail: loris@physast.uga.edu

Web Page: www.physast.uga.edu/~loris/astr1010/prob.html

Class Hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 2:30 PM - 3:20 PM in Physics 202

Office Hours: Monday and Friday 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM (or by appointment)

Textbook: The Cosmic Perspective - Bennett, Donahue,

Schneider, & Voit (5^th Edition) - REQUIRED

Grading: 4 in-class exams during semester - the lowest score exam of these is dropped so your grade depends on only 3 of these exams - each of the 3 accounts for 21% of your total, final grade

Final Exam - May 4, 2009 - 34% of your total, final grade

Online Homework - 3% of your total, final grade (see below for details)

You are responsible for attending class to find out exactly when the in-class exams will be scheduled. The date and time of the final exam are scheduled by the University.

As is clear from the above, there will be 3 in-class exams during the semester contributing to your final grade as well as a cumulative final exam. 97% of your grade is based on these exams; 3% is based on a new online homework that you will do electronically (see below). Outside of the exams and the online homework, there is no extra credit work or make-up procedure in case you are doing poorly. However, the lowest in-class exam grade will be dropped so you can afford to do poorly (or miss entirely) on one in-class exam. All the exams will be closed-book and closed-notes. For each exam I will provide you with a formula sheet, so that you can focus your studying on understanding rather than rote memorization. You may use a calculator for arithmetic only; all memory registers and programs must be cleared.

If you miss one of the exams due to serious illness or family emergency, a make-up exam will be administered within one week of the missed exam at a mutually convenient time. However, you will be asked to provide evidence of such illness or emergency and I am the final arbiter as to what constitutes an emergency. Alternatively, you can choose not to re-take ONE missed exam and then this missed exam will be the one that is dropped from consideration.

Letter Grades: The following system will be used: A is for an average of 95.00 or above, A- is for the range 90.00 - 94.99, B+ is for 87.00 - 89.99, B is for 83.00 - 86.99, B- is for 80.00 - 82.99, C+ is for 77.00 - 79.99, C is for 73.00 - 76.99, C- is for 70.00 - 72.99, D is for 60.00 - 69.99, and F is for any average below 60.00.

Note: Grades will NOT be rounded up or down to two decimal places or less: 89.99 is a B+ and will not be considered an A.

Course Description: In this course, you will study the development and current state of the astronomical ideas and concepts of our Solar System. The astronomy of all non-Solar System objects is covered exclusively in ASTR 1020, so if you want to learn about stars, or black holes, or cosmology, you’re out of luck (or you need to go through Drop/Add). We will spend the first third of the course talking about the motion of the planets and how the ancient, descriptive, geocentric view gave way to the Copernican model. We will use this part of the course to talk about Newtonian mechanics and the special and general theories of relativity. During the course, you will get a glimpse of how science works, and what types of questions it can - and cannot - address. This course is quantitative (we will be doing algebraic problems both on the homework and on the exams) because the science of astronomy is quantitative. Modern science describes nature best via precise mathematical relationships – and I will stress this in class. We won’t use anything more than algebra, but there will be plenty of that and I will assume that you have a working knowledge of high school algebra. If you don’t feel comfortable doing algebraic problems, then come see me within the first week, or drop the course. There will be almost no trigonometry in the course. As a final note, this is not the course to take if you’re only interested in “learning the constellations”. There will very little on positional astronomy or celestial navigation.

Course Objectives: You will learn a bit about astronomy and science in general. In the process, you will engage in complex thought, analysis, and reasoning. The course is more than memorizing “facts”; you will have to think about relationships and behaviors of esoteric objects and systems, and arrive at logical conclusions about them. Often, the most straightforward way of doing this will be to solve algebraic equations. Thus, we hope to develop your quantitative skills. By the end of the course, you will have insight into how modern science works and why it relies so heavily on mathematics.

Problem Sets: There are two types of problems sets: 1) a traditional homework assignment of 10-20 problems assigned each week, neither collected nor graded (BUT SEE EXCEPTION BELOW!). However, you should feel free to come and discuss these problems with me if they give you trouble or if you want to discuss them further. Your incentive for doing the problems is that many similar problems will show up on the exams. Solutions will be posted on the web page. 2) This semester I will experiment with an online homework assignment on a weekly or near-weekly basis. This online homework will account for 3% of your total grade. The online homework is accessed via a Student Access Kit included with your textbook. This kit will allow you to access the homework at the www.masteringastronomy.com website. After you register on the site as a New Student, enter the Course ID (you do not have to enter a Student ID). The course ID is MAMAGNANI09106. You should then do the first assignment which is an introduction to the system. I will discuss the details of this online homework system in class. If you bought a used book without the online access material, then, in place of the online homework, you will have to turn in the regular homework for the 3% homework grade.

There will be at least 14 "regular" homework assignments. You will have to turn in at least 10 of them to get any credit. Each turned in homework will be graded on a scale of 0-10 points.

Lab Component: The laboratory component of this course is SEPARATE and will not follow what we do in class. The lab sections (ASTR1010L or ASTR1020L) are run by me and my TA’s and often take place outdoors using telescopes and other equipment. If you want to have a look at the night sky and the wonders it contains, then you should sign up for either of the lab sections described above. But remember: The lab is separate from this course and is graded separately. You can take this course and never take the lab, or take the lab component in a different semester. Obviously, if you never take the lab component of this course, then this course counts only as a non-laboratory science in fulfilling any core requirements you might have.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

Please make a reasonable attempt to arrive on time. If you must leave earlier than the scheduled end of class, please use the upper exits at the top of the lecture hall. Class disruptions or distracting behavior will not be tolerated.

You are responsible for all topics discussed in class, all material covered by the homework problems, as well as all announcements about the course made in class. Although attendance is not mandatory, it is in your best interest to attend every class and absence from class does not excuse you from the responsibility of knowing what was discussed during classtime.

You are encouraged strongly to read ahead of time the assigned material in the textbook (see the tentative reading schedule below).

You are responsible for the material covered for homework even though it will not be collected or graded. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of doing the homework. Your quantitative skills will improve only by practicing conscientiously and consistently. I will be happy to discuss any homework problem with you during office hours (or at a mutually arranged time).

Ask for clarification on anything you find unclear, ambiguous, or unspecified. This includes both course policies and astronomical topics.

Know the rules concerning withdrawals and incompletes, published in the UGA Undergraduate Bulletin. Note that I will NOT withdraw you from the course for excessive absences. Note also that after the midpoint of the semester, a withdrawal is assigned a grade of WF, except in those cases in which the student is doing satisfactory work and the withdrawal is recommended by the Office of Student Affairs because of emergency or health reasons.

LIST OF TOPICS AND READINGS (Tentative)

Week of: Topics/Readings

January 4 - Class begins on Thursday; Introduction - Read Chapter 1

January 11 - Patterns of Motion - Read Chapter 2

January 18 - Ancient Astronomy; The Copernican Revolution - Read Chapter 3

January 25 - Newtonian Motion - Read Chapter 4

EXAM 1

February 1 - Electromagnetic Radiation - Read Chapter 5

February 8 - Relativity - Read Chapter S2

February 15 -Spacetime and Gravity - Read Chapter S3