Welcome to the Astronomy 162 course! You are about to start a journey of discovery of the Universe in which you have been born. Over most of your life, you will be looking down to the ground, to earthly objects that are at a very small distance from you, focusing your attention in getting along with your life in the Earth. We are like microbes that spend all of our lives in the same grain of sand in an immense beach, oblivious to the huge world around you. The Earth is a tiny fraction of Creation, and we should endeavor to know the universe that we are part of.
If matter in the universe had a fixed price per unit mass, and the Sun cost $1000, then Jupiter would cost $1, and for the Earth you would not even get a worthless penny. Our Milky Way Galaxy would cost the entire Gross Domestic Product of the USA accumulated for the last decade. Over the whole part of the universe that we can observe, there are just about as many galaxies as there are stars in our Galaxy. And, as you will learn in this course, the universe may be much bigger than the part of it that we can observe.

Our lives last for only about 100 years, but the universe has existed for 15 billion years, and will continue to exist for much longer. Any actions we take today will be irrelevant a short time from now, unless they help to construct a more prosperous, just society for the future human beings to live in peace and harmony in the universe. This course will give you an opportunity for turning your head upwards, learn about the real universe you are part of, and contemplating it. You will learn about the Sun, how it was born, how it works, how it will die. You will learn about other stars, about the matter between the stars, about our Galaxy and other galaxies. You will learn that we see the universe in the past, and we can contemplate not just its present state but all of its past history. You will learn how the atoms in your body were made in the universe. You will learn that all the matter that makes yourself, the Earth and the whole universe was at one time uniformly spread around in space, and started its existence in an immensely dense and hot beginning at the time of the Big Bang. You will learn how people have used science to learn all these things. Hopefully, an awareness of our universe can give us a perspective of our existence as a human society, and of what we can hope for our future.

Office Hours

Regular Office Hours will be held in my office in Room 4021, McPherson, at the following times:

Monday 12:50 - 2:00pm
Wednesday 2:00-3:15pm
Thursday 9:00-10:00am


Teaching assistant office hours: These will be held in Room 4001 or 4014, McPherson, at the following times:

Tuesday 3:00-5:00 (for October 16, this is changed to 4 to 6pm)
Thursday 1:15-3:15 (for October 18, this is changed to 5 to 7pm)


The teaching assistant is Susan Kassin

Come to the office hours whenever you have any question, about the lectures, about the book, about a homework or exam, or simply questions about other things in astronomy you want to find out! The teaching assistant and me are here to help you study, so don't hesitate to come to office hours. Students who ask questions during the lectures and use office hours always do better in their courses. If you cannot come during regular office hours, I can make a special appointment to see you in my office at a different time. Simply ask me after class or e-mail me.

Textbook

The textbook we will use in Astronomy-162 is "Universe", by W. J. Kaufmann III and R. A. Freedman. I will use the 5th edition. The syllabus specifies the chapters that are required reading, accompanying every lecture. It is highly recommended that you read what is assigned in the syllabus before every lecture. The assigned reading will complement what will be taught in the lectures; it will also help you to prepare questions, which you can ask during class.

Syllabus

The syllabus page will give you the information on the material to be covered at every lecture. Every lecture has a number of key questions and key points. The key points provide you with a brief summary of the most important things you need to have learned for this lecture. After you attend the lecture, you can review the key points to see if you understand what they all mean. If you do not fully understand them, that means you have not learned the material sufficiently well to get a good grade in this course. You should then prepare questions that you can ask in class or during office hours.


Similarly, if there are key questions that you do not know the answer to, it also means that you did not completely understand the lecture. Make sure to ask me about that before the exam is upon you! You are strongly encouraged to ask questions, during class and in office hours. The only time I will not be able to answer your questions is during the exam... =:-)

Exams:

There will two midterms and a final exam for this course. All of these will be based on multiple choice questions. All the students need to take these tests and exams in order to pass the course.

The final grade will be determined according to the following rule:

• Midterm Exams (October 22 and November 26): 20% each.
• Final Exam (December 6): 40%
• Homeworks (see below): 20% (4% each of 5 homeworks)

Homeworks:

There will be five homeworks you will need to complete. Homeworks will be due at the next lecture after they are handed out in class. A homework will be the same as a short exam, consisting of multiple choice questions, except that you will do it outside class, between two successive lectures.

Absolutely no late homeworks will be accepted! If you cannot attend on the day a homework is handed out, or the day it is due, make sure to ask one of your fellow students to pick it up or to hand it in for you.

• Dates homeworks will be handed out: September 21, October 3, 15, 31, November 14
• Dates homeworks will be due: September 24, October 5, 17, November 2, 16.

As a voluntary activity, you will be able to write a paper in this course. Writing a paper is not necessary to obtain a good grade. However, after all the letter grades have been determined from the homeworks and exams, those students who have written a good paper, and who have not already obtained an A from their exams and homeworks, may have their letter grade raised in recognition of their work. To write a paper, you should join with a group of students who will choose a topic of discussion related to astronomy, read a book, and meet to discuss that topic and write a paper about it.

All papers will be due on November 5.

Here is the detailed information for organizing the group discussion and writing the paper:

Instructions for Paper

You will also find a list of suggested topics and books that can help you write a well-informed paper.

Towards the end of the course, we will have discussions in class where some of the students who have written papers will summarize them, and will be asked questions by myself and by students in class during an open discussion.

Roof and Planetarium Nights: Find opportunities that you will have during the quarter to observe through the telescope, attend planetarium shows, and hear some star talks.

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The Hubble Deep Field

The Hubble Deep Field

COBE Picture of the Milky Way

The Cluster of Galaxies and Gravitational Lens Abell 2218

Movie

A supermassive black hole has been discovered in the center of the Milky Way, at a distance of about 25000 light years. Supermassive black holes have been found in the centers of many other galaxies and are believed to be responsible for quasars, which are extremely luminous sources in the universe. Our own black hole (named Sagittarius A*) has a mass of 3 million solar masses, and at present it seems to be dormant because little matter is in its vicinity and moving down the throat of the monster. In the movie, you see images of stars taken in infrared light within the central light year. The gravitational attraction of the black hole on these stars is so large that they move faster than any other stars in the Galaxy. While stars appear almost stationary in other images of the sky, in this one you can see how stars move along their orbits around the center over a time of only several years.

The Radio Image around the M87 Galaxy observed with the Very Large Array

Cosmology in a Computer

The NCSA has put together a fascinating exposition Cosmos in a Computer featuring some of the latest state-of-the-art simulations of our Universe. Be sure to try the exhibit map to navigate the site.

What is astronomy about? Since ancient times, astronomy has been about watching the sky. At present, precisely when scientists are rapidly advancing in the understanding of astronomy, most people are being deprived of the magnificence of the sky because of pollution and city lights. But thanks to the internet, we can watch pictures of celestial objects by using the resources in a multitude of websites. Explore the links provided here, which will bring you to images of star clusters (open and globular), gaseous nebulae, galaxies, etc. As part of learning astronomy, you simply need to have a good idea of what all these objects really look like.

Among many other links below, you can try the Astronomy Picture of the Day, where every day a different picture of some interesting object in the sky is displayed. If you then go to the index, you can click on any class of objects you wish, to access the archive of all images that have been displayed in the past. You should try also the Messier and NGC catalogues, the Ohio State University Astronomical Picture Gallery, and the Hubble Space Telescope Image Archive. The astronomical society of the pacific and other links listed here will provide you with resources for writing a paper and learning more on astronomy.