AS 104 / Stellar/Galactic Astronomy & Cosmology / Winter 2017
Professor: / Dr. David W. Donovan
Office: / 2517 West Science
Phone: / 227-2453
Email: /
WWW: / http://physics.nmu.edu/~ddonovan/classes.html
Office Hours: / M W / 11:00 – 11:50 AM
T / 10:00 – 11:50 AM
M T W R / 2:00 – 2:50 PM
Other times by Appointment
Text: / The Cosmic Perspective : The Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology (8th Edition)
By Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, and Voit
Mastering Astronomy
Website: / http://www.pearsonmylabandmastering.com/northamerica/masteringastronomy/
Mastering Astronomy Registration Help / http://physics.nmu.edu/~ddonovan/classes/as104/MA_AS104_W2017.pdf
Learning Outcomes: / A student who obtains a grade of “C” or higher will have successfully completed the following Learning Outcomes:
· Through the successful completion of laboratory exercises, the successful responses to quiz and exam questions, and through the exercises requiring writing, students will demonstrate their abilities in quantitative reasoning and analysis.
· Through the successful completion of quizzes and exams and the completion of observational projects students will recognize and identify basic astronomical concepts that illustrate the proper relationships between the Universe, galaxies, stars, planets, and moons.
· Through the successful completion of quizzes and exams students will describe and contrast the stages stars pass through as they age over their lifetime.
· Through the successful completion of writing assignments and the classroom group presentation students will demonstrate their ability to present astronomical ideas found in various forms of media (including written publications, internet based productions, video clips, etc.) at a level appropriate for a member of the AS 104 class who has not been exposed to the materials themselves.
Grade Breakdown:
Fridays / Quizzes (Lowest 1 Dropped) / 15%
Labs / 20%
There are two each worth 10% / Midterm Exams / 20%
There are five / Writing Assignments / 10%
There are two / Observing Projects / 10%
Class Presentation / 5%
Tuesday, May 2, 2017 10 – 11:50 PM / Final Exam / 20%
NOTE: You must receive a passing grade in each part (Lecture and Lab) separately in order to pass the course as a whole. If you fail either part, regardless of your grade in the other part you will fail the course!!
THERE IS NO EXTRA CREDIT!! Doing poorly for a portion of the semester will not be corrected by any extra projects. Please do not assume you can replace poor work under any circumstances with any “additional assignments”!!
In the event that the University cancels classes on the day of a quiz or exam, be prepared to take the quiz or exam at the next available class period. Any homework or other assignment due to be turned in on the canceled day, should be turned in at the same time listed on the next day the university is open, whether or not the class is normally held on that day. Please be aware that the university cancels evening classes separately from daytime classes.
Students are expected to be proactive in dealing with issues that require missing class. The professor would prefer that students who are ill, not come to class and potentially spread their illness to other members of the class. The professor understands that on occasion unforeseen legitimate circumstances will arise such as family deaths or other family emergencies that requires a student miss class. In these cases, however, the student should expend every possible effort to keep the professor apprised of the situation (usually by email). Let the professor know when you expect to be back in class. It is unacceptable to wait until the next time you happen to be in class to let the professor know what is going on. If you choose to wait until you are in class again, the professor is within his rights to deny the making up of any missed work or even accepting previously completed work that was not turned in on time. Finally understand that the professor needs to be fair to all members of the class and may ask some questions about the situation. He might require appropriate documentation from additional sources such as a doctor or the dean of students. Students are expected to provide reasonable information.
The exams and quizzes in this course will usually occur on Fridays and their dates are noted on the syllabus. One of the quizzes given this semester will be dropped. There are no make-up quizzes or exams unless a proper reason is provided. You should discuss the situation with the professor and he will decide if the reason is appropriate. You are required to have a scientific calculator (not a notebook computer, graphing calculator is allowed but certainly not required) to work on problems. Much of these exams as well as quizzes will be more concept type questions than problem solving. However, there is some problem solving as well. Laptop computers and all other electronic devices (other than calculators) such as pagers, mp3 players, and cell phones are not allowed to be used at all during quizzes, exams, and student presentations!! Also sharing of calculators between students during exams and quizzes will not usually be allowed. Please bring a working, charged calculator to all class meetings.
You will not be allowed to use any notes on quizzes and exams. The professor will provide a set of formulas and constants that you may wish to use for the problems or questions. Anyone caught cheating on any assignment will receive a zero on the assignment.
Students bear the responsibility of making sure their work is legible and easily discernable to the professor. Any work which the professor cannot determine exactly what is presented is automatically scored as a zero (no points). It is not the responsibility of the professor to take extreme measures to ascertain whether or not the student has provided correct and proper information. The professor is willing to work with students on this, but if work is not legible, whether due to poor penmanship, poor printouts, staining of papers, insufficient ink or lead on the page, or any other reason why a paper cannot be read is solely the student’s responsibility. Moreover, students are required to comply with all instructions provided by the professor. Students may ask questions, but failure to follow instructions can result in the loss of points up to and including all points for the assignment.
Astronomy involves looking at the sky and observing. Therefore, there will be two observation projects that you will be responsible for. The full details of these projects will be provided on additional handouts. These projects will require you to observe the sky over an extended period of time, about 4 to 5 weeks for the moon project and about three months for the constellation project. In addition to your observing, you will also use the internet and other resources to add some material to your project write-ups. These projects are due at 5:00 PM on the dates indicated.
There are also five short (two to four pages) writing assignments. Details on how these writing assignments are to be done will also be presented on another handout. The topics for the writing assignments have been chosen for you. Do not choose your own topics please. As with other additional assignments, these are due at 5:00 PM on the dates indicated.
During the last four to five weeks of the course ALL students will present group projects to the class. Details on these presentations will be provided on an additional handout. Essentially all members of the class will be randomly placed into three to six person groups. Each group will be given a topic to prepare a ten-minute presentation on to give to the class as a whole during these last weeks of the semester. Students are expected to be present for and to give proper courtesy to their classmates during these presentations. All student presentations are fair game for quiz and test questions!!
Laboratory work is part of your final grade. Reminder: You must receive a passing grade in each part (Lecture and Lab) separately in order to pass the course as a whole. If you fail either part, regardless of your grade in the other part you will fail the course!! It is quite likely your laboratory instructor will not be the same as your lecture professor. While the Laboratory grade is a part of your AS 104 Course grade, each Laboratory instructor will have a separate syllabus outline the policies of the Laboratory portion of the course. Labs begin in the FIRST WEEK OF CLASSES!!!
Attendance at all labs is mandatory. Make-ups for quizzes and labs will only be provided for at the discretion of the professor. This will occur only for reasonable excuses. Desire to go home for the weekend or to go hunting are not considered reasonable excuses. Informing the professor BEFORE an absence is more likely to result in a make-up than informing the professor after the absence. A missed lab is a zero for that experiment and all associated work!!
If you must miss a lab, you are required to notify both your normal lab instructor and the lab instructor of the lab you wish to attend instead. It is not always possible due to space limitations that
you will be allowed to attend a different lab section. Please be sure BOTH instructors have agreed before you just show up to a lab period.
There will be questions that pertain to material only covered in laboratory on most quizzes and exams. Anything covered in Lab is fair game!!!
Because of the amount of work done in this class, falling behind will cause a severe hardship to a student. Catching up is extremely difficult. In order to prevent this from occurring, homework and labs must be turned in on time. Any assignment not turned in on time may incur a 10% per day late penalty. Moreover, no work will be accepted more than one week late. If you have a specific problem that requires your work to be turned in late, you should discuss the situation with the professor.
Quiz and exam solutions will be available on the World Wide Web. The location of my webpage is http://physics.nmu.edu/~ddonovan/classes.html If you need assistance in learning how to use the world-wide web, see your professor. Please NOTE: I am NOT USING Moodle or NMU EduCat.
The professor is always willing to discuss the grading of materials. Students should review their returned work promptly. If they believe an error in grading has been made, they should arrange to meet with the professor as soon as possible after the work is returned. Grades will not generally be changed after the student has had the work in their possession for more than one week. The work should not have been further marked upon or changed in any way by the student if they wish to discuss a graded item. The professor is happy to discuss what is correct or not correct about an item with a student, but there is no discussion on the number of points awarded or deducted by the professor.
The professor makes every effort to return collected work in a timely fashion. There may arise situations in which writing assignments and/or observation projects may not be returned before the next writing or observing assignment is due. Students are reminded that in spite of the fact that you may not have gotten your previous assignment back and seen that you failed to follow directions, this does not mean you cannot be held to following the directions on the subsequent assignments. The handouts and their directions remain enforceable unless the professor indicates otherwise. As always, if you are unclear on directions, you should ask the professor for clarification.
The professor will retain in his possession all final exams for a period of one year. Students may make arrangements to see the work during this year. The professor is not going to provide specific grades over the phone or on email at any time prior to final grades being displayed on MYNMU (this usually occurs on Thursday after graduation).
If you have any questions or problems talk to the professor. If you need any special arrangements, they should be arranged prior to the problem, unless this is completely impossible (a rare occurrence!)
Food of any kind (including snack food) is not allowed in the lab or classroom. Please do not bring it in. Drinks will be permitted as long as care is taken not to have spills occur and the drinks do not result in loud noises. If excessive spillage or noise occurs, drinks may be restricted as well. This policy includes all exams and quizzes
The professor will make every effort to respond to all email ( ) questions received by 5 PM Monday through Friday, with a response by 10 PM Monday through Friday.
Students are expected to regularly check their NMU issued email accounts for any messages the professor may send out to the class as a whole or to an individual in the class. Moreover, when students ask the professor a question requiring an answer, it is expected for students to check their email in an equally timely fashion and to confirm the receipt of the answer, and if necessary provide any answers to questions the professor may have posed about the situation. The professor reserves the right to cancel any deals proposed in email correspondence if the student fails to confirm the deal with a final email.
The professor will also make every effort to have all handouts available on his web site
(http://physics.nmu.edu/~ddonovan/classes.html ) for download if you should lose your copy.
Again Please Note: I do not use Moodle or NMU EduCat!
Students in this class are expected to conform to a code of academic honesty. While it is encouraged for students to work together, there are situations where work is expected to be the student’s whose name appears on the work. Quizzes and exams are obvious examples of where cheating will not be tolerated. In lab work, it will often be the case that both partners will have identical work. However, both partners are to turn in lab sheets, and both partners are expected to participate equally in completing the lab tasks. It is not acceptable for one partner to do all the work, while the other merely watches and writes. Both partners are expected to understand the lab exercises. If you have questions on what is considered appropriate, ask your professor.