Course Description and Purpose:

What makes astronomy special among the sciences? First, some of the philosophical reasons. Arguably, astronomy is simultaneously the most accessible and esoteric of the sciences. It is accessible because we are immersed in astronomy - we see astronomy in action every sunset and change of season. Astronomy seems very esoteric because, with the exception of the Earth, all of the objects in the Universe are very far away. Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences because it searches for the answers to timeless human questions raised by observations of the universe. Some of these questions are very practical and some are deeply fundamental: Why do the objects in the sky move and behave as they do? Do these objects hold meaning or danger? What season is it? Will the planting and harvesting seasons ever come again? Is it bad if the Moon turns the color of blood or if the Sun disappears at midday? What time is it? Where on the Earth am I? Where does the human race fit in the Universe?

Now for the fun part. Deep and philosophical implications are important, but the immediate world is equally important, and the fact is, astronomy is also incredibly exciting--one of the best collections of bizarre objects and facts around! You really can't go wrong with an enormously large universe of stuff to choose from! Is it esoteric if it's happening to you right now? Isn't it weird and wonderful to know that you're flying around the center of a galaxy at about a half a million miles per hour? And that all the atoms in your body were made by unimaginably crushing gravity and intense heat smashing atomic nuclei together deep in a star that, overpowered by its nuclear reactions, then exploded? Astronomy has more beauty and action than Hollywood will ever manage.

After an introduction to set the stage, we're going to start locally, understanding the changes in the sky overhead and how the Earth is put together. The Greeks were fantastic detectives, able to work out all sorts of things about the solar system from just a few clues. We can follow their arguments, and see more detail with telescopes, pushing out from the Earth. We'll extend our knowledge to the Moon and beyond, understanding how the minor objects (planets and other details) in the solar system were born and evolved to their present states. The Sun is the dominant member of the solar system and the nearest star, and we'll see what we can learn of its origin and structure by observing it. We'll extrapolate to other stars and find out how stars die - dwarves, pulsars, and black holes are interesting creatures. Moving further out, many stars form the Galaxy; we'll need to understand what makes up different kinds of galaxies. But the Galaxy is part of a cluster of other galaxies, which cluster in superclusters of clusters of galaxies. Then there is the basic structure of the whole Universe and, back to the local view, how life formed...

CORE Requirements:

Taken alone, ASTR 100 (Introduction to Astronomy) satisfies the CORE distributive studies requirement for a non-lab physical sciences course (CORE code PS). To satisfy the CORE Lab science requirement (CORE code PL) with ASTR 100, ASTR 111 (Observational Astronomy Lab) must be taken in the same semester; please note that there is generally a very long wait list for ASTR 111 and that your chances of getting into it if you are not already enrolled are small. Note that credit will not be given for both ASTR 100 and ASTR 101 (Introduction to Astronomy with Lab). Refer to the CORE Undergraduate Advising Guide for more details.

Textbook

Attendance and Preparation

In order to successfully complete this course, you will need to attend lectures and discussion sections. I expect you to be prepared for class by reading the assignments before class. You will be responsible for material covered in class and the discussion sections as well as material assigned in the text. There will be occasional unannounced exercises (described in a later section) during the lecture period.

Examinations:

Each examination will consist of multiple choice questions, numerical problems, and essay questions.

You must bring a pencil and your ID card to each test.

There will be two midterm exams, each given during class hours. Each test will cover material presented in the lecture, the discussion sections, and text. The tests dates are below and are also in the lecture schedule on the last page of the written syllabus. They are closed book with no calculators or notes of any kind.    
 
There will be a cumulative final exam which will cover all of the course material. The final exam is closed book with no calculators or notes of any kind. Because there will not be a separate test covering the last assigned chapters, the final exam will have a slight emphasis on that material. All students are required to take the final exam; the grade will be included in the computation of the final grade.

The University's policies on absences apply to exams missed for illness, religious observance, or University-sponsored travel.

Examination dates and location:

All examinations will be held in in our usual lecture room, PHY 1412. If for any reason, the University is officially closed on the day of the test, that test will be given during our next regularly scheduled lecture period.   

Midterm exams will be held in class on Tuesday, October 11, and Tuesday, November 15.
The University has set the date for the final exam as Friday, December 16, from 8:00-10:00 AM.

Homework assignments:

Assignments are due by 9:30 AM, as determined by the wall clock in the lecture room, on the due date in the trays near the podium.  Each discussion section has its own tray.  Please put your assignment in the tray for your discussion section.  You must hand in your homework, with your work shown, on or before the time due in order to receive full credit.   Homework will not be accepted for credit after the due date. 

Homework MUST be typed except for equations and drawings. Your instructor may ask you to submit the text some or all of your homework in electronic form to your TA as well; if so, your TA will give you instructions on acceptable file formats.  We must be able to read and understand your homework for you to receive full credit, so please present your work clearly.  Please show your calculations on any problems and justify all written answers. If for any reason, the University is officially closed on the day a homework assignment is due, the due date will be postponed until our next regularly scheduled lecture.

Working together:

In-Class Exercises:

There will be occasional in-class exercises given during the lecture. These will be unannounced and will cover and reinforce material discussed in class. Each exercise will be worth 5 to 10 points.

Discussion Sections:

Discussion sections do not begin until Thursday, September 8. The discussion sections are taught by graduate student teaching assistants (TAs), who provide a more informal and interactive environment for expanding upon and explaining the lecture material.  The discussion sections will involve additional material, short exercises, assignments to be handed in, quizzes, and possibly reviews before exams. You will also get your homework and exams returned to you in discussion sections.  Discussion sections meet in CSS (Computer and Space Sciences Bldg) Room 2400. Be sure to attend the discussion section meetings for which you registered:

The only way to switch discussion sections is through the Registrar's Office.  To keep the sections to reasonable size, unofficial switching is not permitted.  Your TA will also have office hours (which will be provided at the first section meeting); all students are encouraged to go to office hours with any questions they might have. As noted earlier, there will be quizzes and participation activities. If you will miss a section meeting, contact your TA; the same rules for apply for missed exercises and assignments in discussion section as apply for missed exams and homeworks in lecture!

Teaching Assistants:

ASTR100 has graduate students who lead the weekly discussion sections. You will get their names, office hours, and ways to contact them at your first discussion section meeting.  You can also find this information from the class web page, http://www.astro.umd.edu/~harris/ASTR100/sections.

Grades:

Grades will be calculated according to the following weights:

This table gives the minimum score needed to get a particular letter grade.  We follow the University's definitions for letter grades.  Exam scores will be normalized for a median score of 70%.

Grades for some discussion sections may be scaled appropriately (typically a few percent at most) so that the average grade given by each TA is similar. The only extra credit work will be described in the next paragraphs. There will be no other extra credit.

Extra credit

You may receive extra credit for visiting the Minerals exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  The emphasis of your three to five page writeup will be on the meteorites and other astronomically-relevant parts of the display.  Maximum scoring starts at 15 points  if the written assignment is turned in by October 11, 10 points if by November 8, and 5 points if by class on December 8.  You may hand in your extra credit assignment in class, directly to your TA, or put it in your TA's mailbox.  No credit will be given for extra credit assignments turned in after December 8.

All extra credit writeups must be turned in both paper and electronic forms to receive credit.  The deadline for sending in the electronic file is the same as for the paper copy. A human being will read the printed version with whatever sketches or other things you add by hand.  The electronic version is for computer analysis.

Please use these guidelines when submitting an extra-credit assignment:

• Make sure that your name and section number are typed at the top of your document.
• Prepare the electronic version in either MS-Word or plain ASCII text files.  The file name should be firstname_lastname.doc or firstname_lastname.txt.  Make sure your name and section number are typed in this file too.  If we can't read your file we will ask you to resubmit it in a form that we can read (plain text with line breaks is always safe). Your assignment will not be accepted until we can read the file. Examples of unacceptable formats are PDF files or images (scanned versions) of the pages.
• E-mail this file to your TA.  You must do this to receive credit.  TA email addresses are at http://www.astro.umd.edu/~harris/ASTR100/sections.  Don't worry about figures you may have drawn by hand -- it's just the text that we need by e-mail. 
  
• Needless to say, the text of the paper and electronic versions must be identical. If they are not, we will forward both to the Honor Council.

The Honor System: Code of Academic Integrity

At the core of the University is the Code of Academic Integrity. Acts of academic dishonesty include cheating, fabrication, aiding academic dishonesty by others, and plagiarism. Specifically, activities such as cheating on exams or quizzes, copying homework (for example from someone else, archived solution sets, a book, the web), knowingly permitting your homework or test to be copied, and submitting forged excuses for absences from exams are violations of this code. We will report all cases of suspected academic dishonesty to the Student Honor Council. The normal sanction for academic dishonesty is a course grade of `XF', denoting failure due to academic dishonesty. The Code of Academic Integrity is reprinted in full in the Undergraduate Catalog. If you have questions regarding appropriate behavior, please talk to your instructor. See also http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/code.html for a discussion of the Code of Academic Integrity and http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/whatis.html for definitions of academic dishonesty.

Missed Tests or Assignments:

The general policy for missed work is described in the section on Attendance and Assessment Policy in the Schedule of Classes, which lists the only allowable reasons for absence.  The instructor must be notified as soon as possible (Professor Harris for lectures, TAs  for discussion section matters).   For example, if you are sick on the day of an exam or other scheduled deadline, you must call the instructor before the test (University directory assistance has our phone numbers); if no one answers the phone, let it ring so you can leave a message on voice mail.  Students who intend to be absent for religious observance or university-sponsored travel should inform Prof. Harris by the last day for schedule adjustment, September 14, so we can arrange substitute exams or assignments, if applicable. Written documentation is required for all absences.  In addition to notifying the instructor as soon as possible, it is your responsibility to contact the instructor within one week of the original test to schedule a make-up test.  Make-up tests or exams will consist of short-answer and essay questions only, and will not contain multiple choice questions. 

Class Web Pages:

The homepage for this course contains this syllabus, schedules, contact information for the instructor and  TAs, and other useful information. The address is http://www.astro.umd.edu/~harris/ASTR100, or you can find it from the Department of Astronomy web page, http://www.astro.umd.edu.

Special Circumstances:

Students with a documented disability should let the instructor know as soon as possible to discuss academic accommodations. Students who intend to be absent for religious observance or university-sponsored travel should inform me by the last day for schedule adjustment, September 14, so we can arrange substitute exams or assignments, if applicable.

Additional Help:

Please do not hesitate to come to the instructor's or TA's scheduled office hours; we are resources that can only be of help if put to use. Let us also emphasize as strongly as we can that it is essential that you contact us early; if you wait until the last minute it is much less likely that we can help you.  Office hours won't fit everyone's schedule, so if you need to meet at another time other than the regularly-scheduled office hours, contact us after class, by phone, or via e-mail to arrange it.