Instructor: Dr.
Ringwald E-mail: ringwald[at]csufresno.edu and replace [at] with @
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Phone: 278-8426 |
Office hours: By appointment only until 2002 August 26
Office: McLane Hall, Room 11, in the new Building J (or "J-wing").
This is across the outdoor "hall" from McLane 149 and 151.
You don't need an appointment to come in during office hours. This
is time set aside for you, when I will be in.
Class objectives:
(1) To serve that most essential purpose of a good education: to
deprovincialize you, by showing what lies beyond the horizon, in space and
in time.
(2) To encourage a sense of awe, wonder, and curiosity about the Universe,
to foster an appreciation for the beauty of physical law. If you have
no other adventures in your life, then this will be it!
(3) To promote student understanding of scientific method, emphasizing how
we know what we know, and what we don't know.
(4) To practice critical thinking and reasoning skills, and to provide
experience with quantitative reasoning and graphics, all useful both in
and outside of science.
(5) To give students practice in crucial life skills, including making
full use of opportunities, thinking for themselves while at the same time
following directions, paying attention to detail, and many more.
Lecture meeting times and location:
Schedule 27510 (Section 03): MWF 12-12:50 p.m., McLane 162.
Students
must also register separately for labs: see
below. Astronomy labs start on the second week of class, on January
28-30.
Holidays: February 18 (Presidents Day), April 1 (Caesar Chavez
Day)
Required Course Texts:
(1) In Quest of the Universe (3rd
edition), by Karl F. Kuhn and Theo Koupelis (2001), which I'll refer to as
Kuhn.
(2) The Stars, A New Way to See Them, by H. A. Rey
(3) The blue PSci 21 Lab Manual, by S. White and F. A. Ringwald
(4) PSci 21 Class Notes, by F. A. Ringwald
(5) The Elements of Style, by W. Strunk Jr. and E. B. White
All should be available at the campus Bookstore, in the University Student
Union building.
Required Course Equipment:
(1) a looseleaf binder, for your
Class Notes; (2) a clear plastic ruler; (3) a flashlight (preferably with
a red filter for night vision);
(4) a scientific calculator (that has
scientific notation, and can calculate logarithmic and exponential
functions);
(5) a star wheel, available at the campus Bookstore for
about $3 as a paper "Edmund Scientific Star and Planet Locator." Better
plastic star wheels are available at the Downing Planetarium store (open
7-9 p.m. Fridays, and 2-4 p.m. Saturdays), or here.
Course web page:
http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~fringwal/psci21.html. Better bookmark
this one!
The textbook's web page is at:
http://www.jbpub.com/StarLinks/home.htm . It includes links,
questions, updates, and animations.
Course grades will be awarded for the following final
percentages:
85.0-100% = A; 70.0-84.9% = B; 55.0-69.9% = C; 40.0-54.9% = D; 0-39.9%
= F.
These percentages will be computed with the following weights:
5% 5% 5% |
[1] The number line of the Cosmic Calendar, due Friday, February 15. [2] Constellation Study Sheet, due Friday, April 5, [3] The Paper Titles and 100-to-250-word Summaries (see instructions), two copies of which are due Friday, May 3. 15%
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| tentatively scheduled for Friday, March 1 and Friday, April 26. 20%
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| 20%
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| two copies of which are due Wednesday, May 15, the last day of instruction for this class. 30%
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| which will be comprehensive (covering all material in the entire course), on Wednesday, May 22, 1:15-3:15 p.m. in the regular classroom (McLane 162). |
TENTATIVE Class Schedule (updated 2002 May 17).
Always do the readings before class:
Week | M | W | F | Read by Monday of next week |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | - | 1/23: Introduction & class syllabus | 1/25: Powers of Ten, Scientific Notation, Metric System (Kuhn Prologue) | Kuhn Prologue (pp. 2-13), and this entire syllabus. |
2 | 1/28: Units Conversions (Kuhn Prologue) | 1/30: The Light-Year, Look-Back Time (Kuhn Prologue); also Amateurs in astronomy (Class Notes) | 2/01: Wiped out on bicycle! | Kuhn 1-1 and Rey, pp. 9-35, 66-72, & 108-117 |
3 | 2/04: A Brief Tour of Space and Time, your "Ultimate Address" (Kuhn Prologue) | 2/06: The Cosmic Calendar (Kuhn Prologue & Class Notes) | 2/08: The Cosmic Calendar, part 2 (Class Notes) | Kuhn 1 & 2 and Rey, pp. 118-121, 127-135 |
4 | 2/11: Classical astronomy and seasons (Kuhn 1 & Rey); Video, "A Private Universe" | 2/13: Classical astronomy (continued), Scientific Method (Kuhn P-1, 1-3, 1-4, & Class Notes) | 2/15: Scientific Method (Kuhn P-1, 1-3, 1-4, & Class Notes); Homework 1 due (Cosmic Calendar number line) | Kuhn 3 |
5 | 2/18: Holiday | 2/20: Motion, from Copernicus to Galileo (Kuhn 2 & Class Notes) | 2/22: Motion, from Galileo to Newton (Kuhn 3 & Class Notes) | Re-read the Class Notes, Lab I, Rey's book, and Kuhn, Prologue and Chapters 1-3 |
6 | 2/25: More on motion and physics (Kuhn 3) | 2/27: Review | 3/01: Mid-Term Exam 1, covering the Class Notes, Lab I, Rey's book, and Kuhn, Prologue and Chapters 1 to 3 | Kuhn 4 |
7 | 3/04: Atoms, Light, and Spectra (Kuhn 4) | 3/06: The e/m spectrum (Kuhn 4) | 3/08: Video, ``Infrared: More Than Meets the Eye''; Blackbody radiation (Kuhn 4); The Doppler effect (Kuhn 4-7) | Kuhn 5 |
8 | 3/11: Telescopes (refractors vs. reflectors)(Kuhn 5 & Class Notes) | 3/13: Telescopes (aperture, resolution, & magnification)(Kuhn 5) | 3/15: CCDs, eyes, and cameras (Kuhn 5 & Class Notes) | Kuhn 7 and pages 6, 37 [right], 57 [right], and 75 of the Orion catalog |
9 | 3/18: Small telescopes (Kuhn 5 & the Orion Catalog) | 3/20: The Solar System (Kuhn 7) | 3/22: The Solar System (continuted); Extra-solar planets (Kuhn 7-7) | Kuhn 6 |
- | 3/25: Spring Break | 3/27: Spring Break | 3/29: Spring Break | - |
10 | 4/01: Holiday | 4/03: Planet Earth (Kuhn 6-5) | 4/05: Moon phases & eclipses (Kuhn 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, and Rey, pp. 136-138); Homework 2 due (Constellation Study Sheet) | Kuhn 8 and Rey, pp. 136-138 |
11 | 4/08: The Earth's Moon (Kuhn 6) | 4/10: Mars (Kuhn 8) | 4/12: Mercury, Venus, atmospheres (Kuhn 8) | Kuhn 9, 10, & 11 |
12 | 4/15: The Outer Solar System (Kuhn 9) | 4/17: Small Bodies (Kuhn 10) | 4/19: The Sun (Kuhn 11 and Class Notes | Re-read the assigned pages from the Class Notes and the Orion catalogs, and Kuhn 4-11. |
13 | 4/22: The Sun and nuclear physics (Kuhn 11 & Class Notes); Stars (Kuhn 12 & Class Notes) | 4/24: Review | 4/26: Mid-term Exam 2, covering Kuhn Chapters 4 to 11, the Orion catalog (pp. 6, 37 [right], 57 [right], and 75), and pages 78-A-1 to 99 of the Class Notes. | Kuhn 12, 13, & 14 |
14 | 4/29: Stars (Kuhn 12 & Class Notes) | 5/01: Interstellar Matter and Star Formation (Kuhn 13 & Class Notes) | 5/03: White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars (Kuhn 14 and Class Notes); paper titles and summaries due (see instructions) | Kuhn 15, 16, 17, & 18 |
15 | 5/06: Black Holes and Relativity (Kuhn 15 and Class Notes) | 5/08: The Milky Way (Kuhn 16); Galaxies and Hubble's Law (Kuhn 17) | 5/10: Cosmology (Kuhn 18 and Class Notes) | Kuhn 19; also start re-reading the Class Notes, Kuhn (Prologue and Chapters 1 to 18), all assigned parts of Rey's book and the Orion catalog, and all labs, especially The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (IX). |
16 | 5/13: Life in the Universe (Kuhn 19 and Class Notes) | 5/15: The Most Influential Scientific Findings of All Time; paper due (see instructions) | 5/17: Optional review | Re-read the Class Notes, Kuhn (Prologue and Chapters 1 to 19), all assigned parts of Rey's book and the Orion catalog, and all labs, especially The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (IX). |
Please note:
Schedule # | Day | Time | Place |
---|---|---|---|
27521 | Monday | 5:30-7:20 p.m. | McLane 258 |
27532 | Monday | 5:30-7:20 p.m. | McLane 264 |
27543 | Monday | 7:30-9:20 p.m. | McLane 258 |
27554 | Monday | 7:30-9:20 p.m. | McLane 264 |
27565 | Tuesday | 5:30-7:20 p.m. | McLane 258 |
27576 | Tuesday | 5:30-7:20 p.m. | McLane 264 |
27580 | Tuesday | 7:30-9:20 p.m. | McLane 258 |
27591 | Tuesday | 7:30-9:20 p.m. | McLane 264 |
27602 | Wednesday | 5:30-7:20 p.m. | McLane 258 |
Lab Safety: These astronomy lab sessions take place after dark. If safety becomes a concern, the Campus Police provide an escort program. Radio-equipped, uniformed, trained escort officers will accompany persons to their destinations on campus during hours of darkness. Call 278-2132, or pick up an emergency phone to request an escort officer. Be sure to check their badges, before going anywhere with them. The Campus Police also provide car battery assistance and other services. They can be reached in an emergency by calling 911.
Lab requirements: A flashlight is required for map reading at observing sessions. Flashlights with red filters are recommended, for night vision. A scientific calculator and a clear plastic ruler are required as well. In addition to the activities in the lab manual, students will become familiar with the constellations, asterisms, and bright stars. We will also learn how to use a telescope to view the Moon, planets, star clusters, gaseous nebulae, and galaxies. I expect that, by the end of the course, you will be able to find even faint, hard-to-find objects, using the telescopes while working from maps.
Field trips: Up to three times this semester, we will be observing off-campus, at a dark-sky site a half-hour drive from campus called the Range. For the first of these lab sessions (on 2/4-6), we start at 5:30 p.m.; for the second (on 3/4-6), we start at 6:00 p.m.; and for the third (on 4/8-10), we start at 8:00 p.m., so plan your schedule accordingly!
These dates are subject to change due to poor weather. Please check with Dr. Ringwald's web page ( http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~fringwal/psci21.html) or voicemail (278-8426) after 4:00 p.m. on the days of the labs, for any last-minute changes due to poor weather.
We do not cancel labs for poor weather. In poor weather, we meet in the lab classrooms (McLane 258 and 264) at the regular times (5:30 and 7:30 p.m.).
If you miss a lab, then you will receive a zero for that lab. There will be no make-up labs without an excused absence for a compelling reason (e.g. job interview, illness documented by a doctor's note). Any student with three or more unexcused absences from lab will receive an F in the course. Astronomy labs start on the second week of classes, on January 28-30.
TENTATIVE Lab Schedule (updated 2002 May 17). Always read
the lab description (in the blue Lab Manual) before lab and be ready for a
quiz.
Week | Dates | Moon | Lab |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 1/21-23 | FQ 21 | No Lab |
2 | 1/28-30 | Full 28 | Star Names, Maps, and Constellations (Lab I). Meet in the lab classrooms (McLane 258 & 264). Bring flashlights! |
3 | 2/4-6 | LQ 4 | Meet at the Range at 5:30 p.m. In case of poor weather: Meet in the regular classrooms, and do: The Mystery Constellations [II]. |
4 | 2/11-13 | New 12 | The Mystery Constellations [II]: Meet in the lab classrooms. (or Range, if cancelled last week) |
5 | 2/18-20 | FQ 20 | No lab: Presidents day holiday |
6 | 2/25-27 | Full 27 | Introduction to Telescopes [Lab IV]: Meet in the lab classrooms. Use the Moon as a target, or the water tower from indoors, in poor weather. |
7 | 3/4-6 | LQ 6 | Meet at the Range at 6 p.m. In case of poor weather: Meet in the regular classrooms, and do: the Basics of Optics and Telescopes [Lab VI]. |
8 | 3/11-13 | New 14 | Monday:
The Basics of Optics and Telescopes (Lab VI): Meet in the lab classrooms.
Tuesday and Wednesday: Meet at the Range at 7 p.m. In case of poor weather: Meet in the regular classrooms, and do: the Basics of Optics and Telescopes [Lab VI]. |
9 | 3/18-20 | FQ 22 | Spectroscopy (Lab V): Meet in the lab classrooms. |
- | 3/25-27 | Full 28 | No lab: Spring break |
10 | 4/1-3 | LQ 4 | No lab: Cesar Chavez Day |
11 | 4/8-10 | New 12 | Meet at the Range at 8 p.m. In case of poor weather: Meet in the regular classrooms, and do: the Revolution of the Moons of Jupiter [Lab VII]. |
12 | 4/15-17 | FQ 20 | The Revolution of the Moons of Jupiter [Lab VII]: Meet in the lab
classrooms. (or Range, if cancelled last week) |
13 | 4/22-24 | Full 27 | Micrometeorites (Lab VIII): Meet in the lab classrooms. |
14 | 4/29-30,5/1 | LQ 4 | The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (Lab IX): Meet in the lab classrooms. |
15 | 5/6-8 | New 12 | Galaxy Classification (Lab X): Meet
in the lab classrooms. |
16 | 5/13-15 | FQ 19 | Lab Final Quiz and planetarium show: Meet in the lab classrooms. |
Don't miss class. Listening to lectures and participating in discussions are much more effective than reading someone else's class notes. Active participation is even better: it will help you retain what you are learning.
Sorry, but I cannot give make-ups for mid-term exams, nor can I give exams in advance. These classes are far too large for it. Even with smaller classes, I can never be sure that a makeup was really fair, since it must be different from the regular exam. If you must miss a mid-term exam for a compelling reason (e.g. job interview or illness documented by a doctor's note), I will void the part of the course grade that mid-term would have counted and count the rest of the grade as 100%.
If for any reason a student leaves the classroom while an exam is being given, the student may not re-enter the classroom as long as that exam is still taking place. The student's leaving the exam will be taken to signify that the student has finished that exam. This includes trips to the bathroom, so plan ahead.
All students are required to remove hats and sunglasses during all exams, because they have in the past been used to aid cheating. Students may not use calculators, pagers, or cell phone that can communicate outside the classroom during exams. Any students found attempting to do so will get an F in the entire course, because that constitutes cheating.
However, if you do collaborate, it must be genuine collaboration: not one person doing all the work, and the others blindly copying. That's cheating! Therefore, while you may work together, write up the results separately, in your own words. A dead giveaway is when I get two papers that are exactly the same. Do people think I don't notice it?
Modifying someone else's paper slightly, or changing the words around, or stringing someone else's paragraphs together, even if they're cited, is no better: none of these dubious practices make it your paper. For information on the University's policy regarding cheating and plagiarism, refer to the Schedule of Courses (Legal Notices on Cheating and Plagiarism) or the University Catalog (Policies and Regulations).
To prevent plagiarism, two copies of both the paper titles and summaries and the papers themselves are due, on the appropriate dates (due May 3 for the titles and summaries, and May 15 for the papers). I must have two copies, or the paper (or summary) gets an F. I will keep one of the copies of these papers and summaries on file, for life. If I find a plagiarized paper, the student will receive an F for the entire course. I may also send the plagiarized paper to the Dean and other university authorities (e.g. coaches) and recommend the student be expelled from the Universityor the degree be revoked, if I don't find it until 10 years from now. Do NOT plagiarize!
Go to Dr.
Ringwald's home page
Last updated 2002 May 17. Web page by Dr. Ringwald
(ringwald[at]csufresno.edu and replace [at] with @)
Department of Physics,
California State University, Fresno