Astronomy 101-L.002, Summer Term 2003

Mon/Wed 14:00-16:00, Regener Hall 118

TA: Buckner Creel, creelbm@unm.edu

My goal this summer is to encourage you to learn about astronomy by engaging your interest in the weekly labs, the observing project, and general discussion. This class is not meant to be terribly difficult. However, I highly encourage you to read through the laboratory assignments ahead of class so that you can come prepared to class - they’re available on the web at http://www.unm.edu/~astro1/101lab/.

é Qualified students with disabilities needing appropriate academic adjustments should contact me as soon as possible to ensure your needs are met in a timely manner. Handouts are available in alternative accessible formats upon request.

Grading in this class will consist of 14 graded lab reports and 1 graded observing project. The course grade will follow these guidelines:

82% Laboratory reports (10 pts./lab, 14 labs, weighted evenly, due each class)

18% Observing project (30 pts, w/ possibility of 10 pts. extra credit, due Monday 7/28)

Note: Final grading will be lenient, while grading on individual assignments will be objectively critical to provide input into the material that you’re learning. Each class day we will work on a laboratory assignment (some are more experimental than others). This is the schedule for the class:

Students are allowed to miss 2 laboratories during the term. Those who are missing three labs at the end of the term will receive a failing grade for the course. Monday July 28^th will be a makeup lab; students can make up 1 lab that they have missed during the term. If you have missed 2 labs by the June 25^th, before the drop w/out grade date, Friday June 27^th, I will discuss with you your plans for the course. See information about the observing project below.

In addition, I will drive a van down to the Very Large Array (VLA) and give a tour there one Saturday during the term (tentatively Saturday July 19^th). Those who participate will receive 5 pts. credit. There are no scheduled lunar or solar eclipses this summer, but I might come up with another extra project. There are two minor meteor showers to observe, the June Lyrids and July Southern Delta Aquarids (see links on opposite side), but these will not be for credit.

The observing project will consist of the student completing 30 pts. of the observing projects listed on the laboratory web page. Some you can do at home, others you need to do at the observatory. Some of the home projects take over a month (of sporadic observations) to complete; on the other hand, you should be able to get most or all of your points at the observatory in one night. You will not be able to get full pts. by working at home.

The observatory will be open Friday nights from 21:00-23:00 in the evening during the term, with the last week’s observing night moved to Tuesday and available only for students whose turned in project was not acceptable. I’m sorry we observe late in the evening, but we can’t observe until after sunset. One can get to the observatory by taking Yale north from Lomas. Cross the bridge, go up the small hill and turn into the parking lot immediately to your left.

The observing project is mandatory. If you do not turn in an acceptable observing project, you will receive a failing grade. An acceptable observing project consists of 25-30 pts. of mini-projects completed similarly to the example I have posted in the classroom. I will be in Regener 118 conducting makeup labs on the project due date; projects will be accepted anytime before that date until the end of the lab.

I will warn you repeatedly that summer weather is highly unpredictable, and often stormy. My guess is at least half of the observing nights will be cancelled due to cloudy/extremely hazy weather. As such, I encourage you to try to attend as early in the term as possible, and keep attending until you finish your lab. I will attempt to work with students who have serious scheduling problems for Friday nights, but I will have very little sympathy for students who leave the observing project until the last minute and are clouded out.

Albuquerque weather forecast

http://www.weather.com/weather/local/USNM0004?par=Trans&site=magnet&promo=english&code=4920

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html - Astronomy Picture of the day

http://www.seds.org/messier/data2.html - The Messier Index, discusses large eye objects

http://skyandtelescope.com/ - Sky and Telescope magazine, info for amateurs/students

http://www.heavens-above.com/ - Find and observe satellites and satellite flares

http://www.badastronomy.com/ - discusses misconceptions, hoaxes and bad astro-movies

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html - info and dates for eclipses; very good

http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/zambia/highlights.html - movie of 1999 eclipse

http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/calendar.html - information about meteor showers

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/tercrate.htm - Meteor impact craters all over the Earth

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03379 - info on the dinosaur killer

http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/ - "Send your name to a comet aboard a satellite."

http://www.stonesofwonder.com/links.htm - Archaeoastronomy in the British Isles

http://www.geocities.com/cvas.geo/archaeoastronomy.html#sundagger - SW US