Syllabus
Astronomy
18: Planets and Planetary Systems
Spring Quarter 2009,
UC Santa Cruz
Instructor: Professor
Claire Max
Office: Center
for Adaptive Optics, room 213
(The small building just downhill from
Nat Sci 2)
Phone: 459-2049
Email: max@ucolick.org (please put "Astro18" in the e-mail subject line)
Office
Hrs: Thursdays 1-2 pm
Other meeting times can be arranged by
phone, e-mail, or in person
TA:
Stefano
Meschiari
Office:
Interdisciplinary
Sciences Rm 159
Phone: 459-5722
Email:
stefano@astro.ucsc.edu
(please put "Astro18" in the e-mail subject
line)
Class
Days: Tuesdays and Thursdays
Class
Times: 2
– 3:45 pm with a short break halfway
Location: Natural
Sciences 2 Annex room 102
Class
Web Sites:
1)
The main class web site will be http://www.ucolick.org/~max/AY18.2009
2)
The class will also have a website on WebCT
3)
There is a website associated with our main textbook The Cosmic Perspective: The Solar System (5th Edition) with
media update. When you purchase the book, you will
find instructions inside the front cover for how to log in to this web site.
Course
Description, short version:
Overview of our solar system and those recently discovered around nearby stars.
Topics include formation of planets, structure of planets, moons and rings,
asteroids and comets, ground-based and space-based observations, and physical
processes. Intended for science majors and qualified non-science majors.
Knowledge of high school physics and an understanding of mathematics at the
Math 2 level required. Offered in alternate academic years. (General Education
Code(s): IN, Q.)
Goals of Course:
1)
Understand the unifying physical concepts underlying planetary formation and
evolution
2)
Become familiar with the Solar System -- it's our home in the Universe!
3)
Get to know other solar systems besides our own: Join in the excitement of discovery!
4)
Gain an appreciation of how science works
5)
Improve your skills in quantitative reasoning
Course
Description, Longer Version:
Exploration
of our own Solar System by spacecraft and by astronauts has yielded a dramatic
new understanding of our immediate neighborhood in the universe. And
since 1995, more than 300 planets have been discovered around other nearby stars, giving us the new
perspective that solar systems are common phenomena in our galaxy. We
will learn about planets, their moons, planetary rings, comets, asteroids,
meteoroids, and life in our solar system and others. However, we will not treat these topics as a list of facts
to be memorized. Rather, we will
employ elegant and simple physical concepts – gravity, energy, and light –
to understand the processes that lead to solar systems and form planets. All
the necessary physical concepts will be presented and discussed in class and in
reading material. We will be using math tools that will be reviewed in
sections: exponential notation, logarithms, algebra, basic geometry, and, for
those who have seen it before, basic introductory calculus. By using scientific techniques to study
the solar system, we will gain an appreciation of how science works not only in
astronomy but in other fields as well.
Main
Text: "The Solar
System: The Cosmic Perspective,
5th Edition with Media Update”, by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, and Voit. There is also a somewhat longer version
of this text that includes The Solar System as well as the rest of astronomy; this
is called simply “The Cosmic Perspective, 5th Edition with Media Update.” The Solar System: The Cosmic Perspective is supposed to be in stock at the Bay
Tree Bookstore.
Handouts:
There will be handouts
of reading material, available in class and on the class UCSC WebCT
website. You can find out the link
and password for the website by coming to class.
The
enterprise of science:
The
legendary Berkeley chemist Joel Hildebrand wrote the following in 1957:
“I
distinguish two aspects of science: content and enterprise; one is classified
knowledge, the other is the way in which scientists work and think. The
one way in which we write up our results, in papers and books, in the passive
voice, gives the impression that we start with precise measurements and proceed
by strict logical steps to incontrovertible conclusions. The way we really do it – starting with hunches,
making guesses, making many mistakes, going off on blind roads before hitting
on one that seems to be going in the right direction – that is science in
the making.”
This
course will involve both of the approaches described by Hildebrand:
Reading
and lectures will address what Hildebrand called “content” – what
we know about our Solar System and others, and the scientific tools used to
discover this knowledge. Homework assignments and Lab Exercises
will help build proficiency in using the tools of discovery and
understanding.
Class
Projects will address what Hildebrand called “enterprise” -- the way
scientific discovery really
works, including deciding what questions to ask, developing hunches and
guesses, gathering data, and the process of making sense of what seems at first
like a confusing mass of data and facts. Projects will be collaborative,
involving groups of students, and will last for the entire quarter. Near
the end of the quarter, each group of students will present their Project to
the class.
Homeworks: Homework assignments (problem sets) will
be given every week, and will be due at the start of class on Thursdays.
Because you will also be doing class projects (see below), problem sets will be
shorter than the norm in most introductory physics and astronomy courses.
Homeworks will constitute 30% of the final grade.
Projects: Projects will be an important part of the
course (30% of the final grade), and will give crucial experience in the process of scientific inquiry. They will
be collaborative, involving groups of 2 (or more) students each. Each
group will work on one project topic for the entire quarter. You should
choose the topic for your project because you are interested in it. Topics for projects can be
chosen from a list of potential projects prepared by the professor, or from
ideas proposed by the students yourselves (with approval from the professor).
Projects will be structured so that there are clear weekly milestones, in order
to avoid getting “lost” in a topic. Project teams will meet with the
professor and TA several times during the quarter. Instead of a second
mid-term exam, each group of students will present their Project to the class
and will hand in a short paper describing their work.
Exams: There will be one mid-term exam
and one final exam. Exams will not be graded on a curve: if everyone does
well, everyone will get high grades. No student’s grade will go down
because others have done better. Exams will consist of both conceptual
essay questions and conventional problems. About half the questions will
be conceptual, and half computational problems. Exams will constitute 30%
of the final grade.
Lab Exercises: One of the sections each week will be
devoted to a “lab exercise” of some sort.
These will range from practice in quantitative reasoning all the way to
stargazing and observing the planets with a telescope. (The second section will be devoted to
reviewing homeworks and exams.)
Lab exercises will constitute 10% of the final grade.
Work Load: In addition to attending class sessions,
you should count on at least six to eight hours of study out of class each
week, including reading, projects, and homeworks. If you have difficulty
with a problem or a concept, see the professor or the Teaching Assistant.
We’re here to help you learn, but you must invest the time to study and
complete your assignments. If you do these things, this will be a
rewarding and mind-broadening course and will give you a new appreciation for
the world we live in.
Class Participation and Questions: Due to the size of the class, it is
especially important that you feel free to speak out if you have a
question. If you do not understand material in the book or in class, it
is up to you to ask questions in class, in sections, or in office hours.
If you don’t let us know that you are having a problem, we won’t find out until
the exam, and that may be too late. Class participation will constitute
10% of the final grade.
Feedback: I strongly welcome feedback on the
class. If you wish, you can send comments or suggestions to me via
e-mail. Please put "Astro 18" in the subject line of any e-mail
related to the course.
Grading and Exams: Your final grade will be
based on the following:
Projects:
30%
Homework:
30%
Exams:
30%
Lab exercises: 10%
Extra credit: Up to 10 percentage
points of extra credit can be earned through the Reading Quizzes given at the
start of each lecture.
Homework
turned in one class period late will be graded with a grade reduction of
1/2. Homework more than one class period late will not be accepted.
Your one lowest-graded homework assignment will not count toward
your grade.
Topics
Covered in Astro 18: (not
necessarily in order of the lectures)
1) Overview of the course: mechanics of how the course will work;
overview of the Solar System, its scale, its place within the Milky Way Galaxy
and its place in the Universe at large.
2) Projects: groups of 2 or more students per topic.
3) Discovering the sky for yourself: how to distinguish planets from
stars; how to find the planets; the constellations; the Zodiac; the seasons.
4) Gravity: mass and weight; Kepler's laws and Newton's laws; planetary
orbits; Lagrangian points; tides and tidal heating; planetary rings.
5) Energy and matter: concepts of temperature and pressure; potential
and kinetic energy; conservation of energy; equation of state; phase
transitions.
6) Light: wavelength, frequency, and energy; emission and absorption of
radiation; spectra; black body radiation; Doppler shift; infrared and radio
waves; x-rays and gamma-rays.
7) Telescopes and spacecraft -- how we learn about the Universe by
observing light: eyes, cameras, film, CCD's, telescopes, blurring of images by
the Earth's atmosphere; spacecraft types and trajectories; advantages of
observing from space or from the ground.
8) Origins -- Formation of the Sun and the Solar System: the early solar
nebula; gravitational collapse; condensation and accretion; protoplanetary
disks; formation of terrestrial and giant planets; formation of asteroids,
comets, planetary moons; evidence that stars and planets are forming today
elsewhere in our Galaxy.
9) Comparative geology of the terrestrial planets; planetary interiors;
shaping planetary surfaces (cratering, volcanism, tectonics, and erosion);
comparison of the terrestrial planets.
10) Atmospheres of the terrestrial planets: atmospheric structure,
planetary magnetospheres; weather; climate; atmospheric origins and evolution;
history of atmospheres on the terrestrial planets.
11) The Giant Planets -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune:
the Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini space missions; giant planet interiors;
giant planet atmospheres.
12) Moons and Rings of the Giant Planets: three categories of
moons; the four largest moons of Jupiter; Titan; medium-sized and small moons;
Triton, Neptune's backward moon; rings of the giant planets.
13) Asteroids, Comets, and Pluto-Charon: the difference between
comets and asteroids; origin and evolution of the asteroid belt; how we learn
about asteroid characteristics; what can we learn from asteroids about the
origin of the Solar System; comets; Pluto and its moon Charon; newly discovered
dwarf planets in our Solar System.
14) Meteorites, and the age of the Solar System: where do
meteorites come from? what do they look like? what can they tell us
about early Solar System evolution? what can they tell us about the age
of the Solar System? You will be
able to hold (small bits of) meteorites in your own hands.
15) Cosmic Collisions: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9; impacts and mass
extinctions on Earth; frequent impact events in the early Solar System; what
does cratering tell us about the histories of the terrestrial planets and
moons? are asteroids a threat to Earth?
16) Planet Earth: unique geological processes; our unique
atmosphere; water and oxygen; the early history of the Earth; greenhouse gases
and global climate change; life on Earth; life elsewhere?
17) Extrasolar Planets: how are they being discovered? why do other
solar systems seem so different from our own? implications for theories
of solar system formation.
18) Is there life beyond Earth? the new science of astrobiology.
Academic
Honesty
Academic dishonesty undermines the
efforts of honest students, the value of a UC Santa Cruz degree, and the
integrity of the university as an institution. If cheating occurs,
there will be consequences within the context of this course. In addition, every case of
academic dishonesty is referred to the student’s college Provost, who then sets
the disciplinary process in motion.
Cheating in any part of the course may lead to failing the course and
suspension or dismissal from the university.
What is cheating? Distinctions are
not always easy to make. In short,
cheating is presenting someone else’s work as your own. Examples would
include copying another student's written homework assignment, or allowing your
own work to be copied. Although you are encouraged to discuss the course
with fellow students, your collaboration must be at the level of ideas and
concepts only. Your homework, project reports, etc. must be written in
your own words. Legitimate collaboration ends when you
"lend", "borrow", or "trade" written solutions to
problems, or in any way share in the act of writing your answers. If you
collaborate (legitimately) or if you receive substantial help (legitimately)
from anyone, you must credit them by placing their name(s) at the top of your
paper.
Academic Integrity
All members of the UCSC academic
community have an explicit responsibility to present as their original work
only that which is truly their own. Cheating, plagiarism, and other forms
of academic dishonesty are contrary to the ideals and purposes of a university
and will not be tolerated. Note that plagiarism includes the deliberate
misrepresentation of someone else's words and ideas as your own, as well as
paraphrasing without footnoting the source. Students and faculty are
jointly responsible for assuring that the integrity of scholarship is valued
and preserved.
Due Process
Students charged with academic dishonesty
have the right to due process through established policies and regulations
concerning student conduct and discipline. Copies of these policies and
regulations can be found in the Student Policies and Regulations Handbook (http://www2.ucsc.edu/judicial/handbook.shtml
) which is available at the offices of each college provost, the dean of
graduate studies, and the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs.
The official UCSC policy concerning academic integrity, including disciplinary procedures and student rights and responsibilities, can be found at
http://www.ucsc.edu/academics/academic_integrity
Classroom Etiquette: Conversation, reading
newspapers, talking on cell phones, sending or reading email or text messages,
eating snacks, and other disturbances will not be tolerated. If you must leave class early, you
should clear it with the Professor prior to class and find a seat near an
exit. We have a lot to learn, so each class meeting is important. A
1 hour and 45 minute class may be difficult at first. I will do my best
to break up every class into discrete parts and keep the presentation and
discussion lively and interesting. In return, I expect your attention
and, when called for, participation. This will make your learning
experience (not to mention your grade) a better one!