Astronomy 25

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Astronomy 25 Frontiers in Astronomy
Course overview, goals, objectives
About course logistics About you About me The
courses flavor.
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Course Logistics

• Syllabus and Schedule of Activities
• Syllabus
• General Schedule of Activities
• Extra Credit
• Honesty and emergency handouts.

Syllabus
Extra Credit
Honesty etc.
Schedule
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Course Logistics

• Grades (see syllabus for details)
• Based upon 200 assigned points
• Exams (50 pt midterm and 50 pt final 50)
• Class activities/quizzes (20 pt 10)
• Homework (15 assignments, 50 pts total 25)
• Class presentation (20 pt 10)
• Class presentation feedback (10 pt 5)
• Extra credit and bonus points (0-20 pts or more
  10).
• Grading follows 90 and above for an A, 80-89.9
  for a B, etc.
• Monitor your in-semester grades for accuracy!

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Course Logistics

• Required course materials
• Easy internet access
• Access to a printer (library). Note all
  assignments to be handed in via print (i.e., no
  handwritten or emailed assignments accepted).
• Recommended course materials
• Any review astronomy text book that covers stars,
  galaxies, and the Universe (i.e., Ast 5, 10).

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Course Logistics

• Adding and dropping
• Class availability to late adds
• Drops for first day no-shows.
• Emergency procedures
• If alarms sound, we descend to the first floor,
  and out onto the grassy area
• In lock-down, we stay put
• If I die, call campus emergency.

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Course Logistics

• General Schedule of Activities
• Consult daily to be sure you are on task
• Pay particular attention to the deadlines
• Extra credit is handed to me
• First assignment due Monday!

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Course Logistics

• Secrets to Success
• Pay attention to deadlines
• Do any assigned reading before the lecture
• Read homework questions before the lecture
• Attend lectures with PowerPoint lecture notes
  from the web site
• Work in groups
• Do not wait to the last minute to prepare for
  exams
• Do some extra credit
• Supplement your assigned readings with related
  readings
• Ask questions. Think.

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Course Logistics

• Goals
• Learn about critical predictions made by
  mainstream astronomical models
• Learn about when/where mainstream astronomical
  models fail
• Explore cutting edge theories about the Universe
• Discover the art in scientific processes.

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About You

• Your standards of excellence
• You have a collegiate spirit of intellectual
  pursuit
• Question, listen, think
• You are respectful to the classroom and its
  members
• You follow the ethical guidelines in the Sierra
  College Student Handbook
• You arrive on time
• Phones, etc, are gone.

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About Me

• Professor Barry Rice
• B.S Physics Astrophysics
• Ph.D Astronomy star formation
• Botany, especially carnivorous plants
• Biodiversity conservation (The Nature
  Conservancy)
• Photographer
• Martial artist
• Office Hours (noted in class) V322B
• brice_at_sierracollege.edu 916-660-7942.

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Course flavor topics

• I Classical physics in a nutshell (3 weeks)
• II Classical astronomy (3 weeks)
• III Special relativity (2 weeks)
• IV Particle physics--standard model (1 week)
• V Inflationary big bang theory (1 week)
• VI Dark matter (2 weeks)
• VII General relativity and dark energy (2
  weeks)
• VIII Misc. topics student presentations (2
  weeks).
• --Supernova remnants
• --Active galactic nuclei
• --Hyper-dimensional geometry
• --Time
• --Solutions to field equations.

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Course flavor delivery methods

• I Sage-on-the-stagestandard lectures
• II Numerous videosshort and long
• III Readings from numerous sources
• IV Wikipedia readings1,2
• V Your initiative
• VI Student presentations
• VII Homeworks.
• 1Giles, J. 2005. Internet encyclopedias go head
  to head. Nature, 438 900901.
• 2Reliability of Wikipedia (accessed August 2010).

Accuracy issues
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Enrollment
As I set enrollment, complete your Information
Card Record the Astro 25 ID in your notes!
(This 4-digit appears on the upper left hand
corner of the card.) It is not your Student ID,
nor is it your SSN, not is it the same as any
other Astronomy ID you may receive in another
course This number should be used on all
assignments and correspondence with me.