Science and the Universe (ASTRO-150)
I. Announcements:
- All sample solutions have been posted in Section IV below. Slides that were shown in class for activities #18 - #23 have been collected here. Be sure to see Section III below to find other posted notes. Your grade, as of April 26, can be found here; if you spot anything amiss, email me ASAP with "ASTRO-150" in the subject line. Several assignments were distributed in the last couple of weeks. The remaining graded assignments were left in a tray outside my office at noon on April 27.
- The Final Exam is from 13:00hrs to 15:00hrs in Webster 16 on Monday, April 30. The study guide for the exam is posted here.
Be sure to look up the sample solutions to lecture tutorials / activities posted in Section IV below. The last few solutions will be posted on Tuesday, April 24, evening.
- Grades for the SECOND Midterm Exam: The key to the
multiple-choice questions in Section 1 is linked here (requires password).
If you suspect that there is an error in a score or if a score is
missing, please email me (with "ASTR-150" in the email subject line),
latest by April 6. The exam grade is posted here.
- Your midterm grades are posted here.
- The midterm exam (#1) and some graded activities were returned to students in class earlier in the week of February 26. Uncollected activities are placed in a box outside of Webster 948B. Please collect your activities as soon as possible.
- Grades for the First Midterm Exam: The key to the
multiple-choice questions in Section 1 is linked here (requires password).
If you suspect that there is an error in a score or if a score is
missing, please email me (with "ASTR-150" in the email subject line),
latest by March 10. The exam grade is posted here.
II. Course text, class schedule, and grading
- Primary textbook: Prather et al., "Lecture Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy," 3rd ed., Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013 (4th custom ed. for WSU) [ISBN 978-1-269-06091-2 1-269-06091-0]. We will follow this book closely. The syllabus of the course covers a sizeable number of the topics listed in the table of contents of this book.
III. Reading assignments
- The week of Jan 09: Positions and Motions of Stars.
- Read the first couple of exercises, on "Position" and "Motion", from Prather et al. (i.e., the primary textbook listed above). Also, read the links on how large the universe is and on the Celestial Sphere.
- The week of Jan 16:
- Read the third and fourth activities, on "Seasonal Stars" and "Solar versus Sidereal Day".
- The week of Jan 23:
- Finish the fifth activity, on "The Ecliptic" from Prather et al. Here is an animation that shows the relative orientation of the equatorial plane and the ecliptic:
- More on the ecliptic: Watch from 9:41 minute to 9:57 in the following video: Video.
- The week of January 30:
- Read the sixth activity, on Star Charts. (It may also help to watch the following video.)
- Read the 7th activity, on Kepler's 2nd law, as well as about other laws of planetary motion by Kepler, e.g., at this link. Help your understanding by using the interactive tool available here.
- The week of February 5:
- Read the 8th activity, on Kepler's 3rd law. Use the interactive tool on Kepler's laws to help your understanding of this law.
- Read the 9th activity, on Newton's law of the gravity. You may wish to watch this video on it.
- The week of February 12:
- Read the 10th activity, on Apparent and Absolute Magnitude of Stars: The class notes are linked here.
- The week of February 19:
- Read the 12th activity, on Parallax & Distance: Notes (PDF).
- The week of February 26:
- Read the 13th activity, on Spectroscopic Parallax.
- The week of March 5:
- Read the 14th activity, on the Electromagnetic Spectrum.
- The week of March 19:
- Read the 15th activity, on Telescopes and the atmosphere.
- Read the 16th activity, on Luminosity, temperature, and size..
- The week of March 26:
- Read the 17th activity, on Blackbody radiation. Read about a description of Wien's law.
- Mid-term exam is on March 29.
- The week of April 2:
- Read the 18th activity, on Types of Spectra.
- Read the 19th activity, on Light and Atoms.
- The week of April 9
- Read the 19th activity, on Doppler Shift.
- Read the 20th activity, on Star Formation & Lifetimes; see this
video on the subject.
- Read the 21st activity, on Binary stars.
- The week of April 16:
- On Star Formation and Lifetimes, and Stellar Evolution: Notes (PDF).
- The week of April 23:
- The Big Bang: A video describing what will be covered in class.
IV. Assignments and in-class activties
- Sample answers to activity #1: Position.
- Sample answers to activity #2: Motion.
V. Other links you may find interesting:
- A video describing the reason behind seasons.