This will be a closed-book, closed-notes exam, with 50 multiple-choice questions, and will last until 12:50 p.m. Bring number 2 pencils, scientific calculators, and 882-ES or 882-E Scantron forms, available in the campus bookstore. Material covered will include:

• The math covered in Homework Assignments 1 and 2, on pages A3-A4 and A5-A9 of the Class Notes, respectively. This includes powers of ten, scientific notation, the metric system, units conversions, angles, and altazimuth coordinates. I strongly suggest you practice these types of problems yourself, by reworking these problems. Don't just glance at them and think "Oh, I understand that": practice solving the problems yourself, and be able to solve similar problems. The examples on pages 24-31 and 51-52 of the Class notes can help.
  

• Practice calculating the length of one light-year, in kilometers. It is shown on page 31 of the Class Notes. Understand the concept of look-back time: as we look deeply into space, we're seeing back in time, because light takes time to travel.
  

• All the pages from pages 1 to 95 in the Class Notes marked "Required Reading." These include, but are not limited to, the following:
  
  • Know the difference between precision and accuracy. To remember this, it will help to redraw the targets on page 30 of the Class Notes.
    

  • The Basics of Astronomy, on pages 35-36 of the Class Notes. Know the basic layout of the Universe: that Earth and the planets orbit the Sun. The Moon is the only exception: it orbits Earth, once a month. The Sun is only one of billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. All these stars are many thousands of times farther away than any of the planets in our Solar System. We now know that many stars have their own systems of planets (called "extrasolar planets"). Know what a nebula is. (A nebula is a cloud of gas in space: some are observed to have stars forming in them, and some are observed to be thrown off by dying stars.) Know what galaxies are. (Galaxies are islands in space of billions of stars and many nebulae).
    

  • "The Value of Amateur Participation in Astronomy", on page 37 of the Class Notes. Know at least three ways in which amateur participation is important in astronomy.
    

  • Classical astronomy, on pages 48-52. Know what causes seasons (look it up) and what the ecliptic is (the path of Earth's orbit around the Sun, which to us on Earth looks like where the Sun moves through the sky, throughout a year).
    

  • Greek mythology and constellations, on pages 56-61. Go over especially the questions on Homework Assignment 2 (on pages A5-A8 of the Class Notes).
    

  • The flowchart on Standard (Idealized) Scientific Method, on pages 65-67 of the Class Notes. Explain why this flowchart is only an idealization (the steps can be done in just about any order), and what the word "theory" really means (any organized body of knowledge, and not just a guess, which is a hypothesis). Explain how, to be science, an idea must be falsifiable and reproducible. See also pages 67-73 of the Class Notes, on how science works, and on Occam's razor.
    

  • James "the Amazing" Randi and the $1 Million Paranormal Challenge, on page 74 of the Class Notes. Have a look also at pages 75-77 of the Class Notes.
    

  • Pages 78-79 of the Class Notes, on science and technology, and some fields of science mentioned in PSci 21.
    

  • The Motions of the Planets, on pages 81-95 of the Class Notes.
    

  • Aristotle's Four Proofs for Why Earth is Round, on page 82 of the Class Notes.
    

• The Stars by H. A. Rey, pages 9-35, 66-72, 108-121, and 127-135.
  

• The Introduction, Chapter 1, and 8.5-8.9 of Astronomy (6th ed) by Dinah Moche'.
  

• Lab 1 in the blue lab manual, on "Star Names, Maps, and Constellations."

I much prefer that people understand the big picture, rather than memorize minutae (e.g., the year Newton died): good scientists strive for this. On the other hand, some memorization is inevitable. Imagine trying to learn a language, and not knowing any vocabulary! Go over the readings, and take notes while reading, it can help enormously. Mathematical or physical constants (for example, the speed of light) will be provided, or will be unnecessary, from the nature of the problems.

Particularly important topics to know for the exam include:

• There will be no constellation identification on Mid-Term Exam 1, since we haven't yet had enough practice in observing constellations. There will be constellation identification on Mid-Term Exam 2 and the Final Exam, however.
  

• Why is Polaris special? (Polaris isn't especially bright: it's only a second-magnitude star, with about 50 other stars that are brighter than it is. Polaris is special because, purely by coincidence, it's nearly at the North Celestial Pole, the place in the sky directly above Earth's North Pole. There is no "South Star," or relatively bright star near the South Celestial Pole.)
  

• How Galileo's discoveries, particularly the phases of Venus, confirmed the heliocentric (or Sun-centered) theory of Copernicus.
  

• How Newton's laws of motion and gravity explained the laws of planetary motion that Kepler deduced from Tycho Brahe's observations.

• Why Earth has seasons. This is shown in Figure 21 (on page 121) of The Stars by H. A. Rey. It's not because Earth's orbit is elongated: it's because Earth's equator is tilted to the ecliptic, by 23.5 degrees.
  

• Newon's cannon: how Newton reasoned that firing shells from a cannon faster and faster would eventually result in a shell reaching orbital speed, and when fired even faster, would eventually reach escape speed.
  

• Why do astronauts float around weightless in a spacecraft that's orbiting Earth? It's because the spacecraft is going at orbital speed. The spacecraft falls down, like any other object in Earth's gravity, but it never hits Earth because it's also moving sideways at orbital speed, which is fast enough so it never hits Earth. It certainly isn't because the spacecraft is outside Earth's gravity, otherwise the spacecraft wouldn't stay in orbit around Earth. It also isn't because "there's no gravity in space." Gravity goes forever, and any massive object has gravity: it's what keeps Earth orbiting the Sun, and the satellites orbiting Earth.

Remember:

• Do all the readings one more time, and take notes while reading.
  

• Practice solving the math problems yourself.
  

• Practice drawing and labeling the most important drawings (particularly the ones on seasons, Newton's cannon, and on precision and accuracy).

Please also remember that my Office Hours are MW 1-3, F 1-2. You may come in other times too: please call (278-8426) or e-mail (at ringwald@csufresno.edu) and make sure I'll be in. If you need help with anything, I'd be more than glad to help you. Being totally lost is all the more reason to come.