ASTRONOMY 2 --- WINTER 2007
OVERVIEW OF THE UNIVERSE

(Course ID ASTR-2-02)

Instructor: Raja (Puragra) Guha Thakurta

Interdisciplinary Sciences Building (ISB) 271; (831)459-5169; raja@ucolick.org
Office hours: Wed 12:30 - 1:30 PM in ISB 271
Teaching Assistants:

Neil Miller

ISB 355; (831)459-5722; neil@astro.ucsc.edu
Office hours: Mon 3:30 - 5:30 pm in ISB 355
George Ricco

E&MS 160; (831)459-2830; gricco@pmc.ucsc.edu
Office hours: Fri 12:00 noon - 2:00 pm in E&MS 160

UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Please watch this space especially closely throughout the quarter. All important new announcements will appear here.

A new practice problem set is posted here.

The MIDTERM SCORES are posted here.

The in-class class quizzes are now posted on the web - see the Lecture Notes / Quizzes section below.

If you qualify for classroom accommodations because of a disability, please submit your Accommodation Authorization from the Disability Resource Center (DRC) to me during my office hours in a timely manner, preferably within the first two weeks of the quarter. Contact DRC at 459-2089 (voice), 459-4806 (TTY).

In-class Pop-Quizzes / Response Pads (CPS RF clickers):

This course will use the Classroom Performance System (CPS) and Generation 2 radio frequency (RF) response pads or clickers to conduct in-class pop-quizzes. There will typically be a few such quizzes during each lecture starting in Week 2. The sum total of all the in-class quizzes will constitute 20% of the overall grade.

You will need your response pad to participate in these quizzes. Therefore, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you:
* BUY and REGISTER your response pad right away
* BRING your response pad to class for each lecture

The instructions for registering your response pad can be found here (MS Word document) along with an illustrated description of the step-by-step procedure (PowerPoint format). The CLASS KEY is: J25677D424 - you will need this key to register your response pad.

Introductory Handout:

acrobat (PDF) format

This contains general information about the course, and includes details about the overall format of this course, exams, in-class quizzes, practice problem sets, evaluation scheme, textbooks, reading, etc etc. PLEASE READ IT VERY CAREFULLY as it is full of useful information for this course.

Course Calendar:

acrobat (PDF) format

This contains a week-by-week summary of topics to be covered in the course and the schedule of exams.

Discussion Sections

Neil and George will run a total of four (4) discussion sections each week starting the week of 01/08 (second week of classes) through the day of the final exam (03/20).

Mon 12:30 - 1:30 PM (Neil, ISB 165)
Tue 9:00 - 10:00 AM (George, ISB 165)
Tue 6:00 - 7:00 PM (Neil, ISB 165)
Fri 9:00 - 10:00 AM (George, ISB 165)

Attendance in these discussion sections is OPTIONAL. We strongly recommend that you attend if you need clarification/assistance on any of the concepts or math exercises covered in class.

Office Hours/Appointments

Please let Raja know beforehand (say in class the previous week or by e-mail) if you plan to attend his office hours. If the above fixed office hours don't work for you, please arrange to meet us at other times.

Lecture Notes / Quizzes

The PowerPoint lecture notes that will be used in class during a given week will generally be available the previous week at this location. The in-class quizzes will be posted after they have been used in class.
Week 1 notes
Week 2 notes
Week 3 notes (Part A)
Week 3 quizzes
Week 3 notes (Part B)
Week 4 notes
Week 4 quizzes
Week 5 notes
Week 5 quizzes
Week 6 notes
Week 7 notes
Week 8 notes
Week 9 notes (Part A)
Week 9 notes (Part B)
Week 10 notes
Week 11 notes

A plain text version of the class notes for weeks 2 through 11 are posted here

These notes (especially the plain text version) only list the basic topics covered in class and the important equations, but do NOT contain any descriptive detail. YOU WILL FIND IT DIFFICULT, IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE, TO FOLLOW THE LECTURE NOTES IF YOU DO NOT COME TO CLASS!!!!

If you are unable to read notes in PowerPoint format from your computer, please let us know so we can arrange to get you paper copies. The color illustrations shown in class will however be greatly degraded in the black-and-white paper copies.

Reading

A week-by-week listing of the reading from the course textbook (Pathways to Astronomy, by Schneider & Arny) is provided here. While the reading assignment is optional, we highly recommend that you read the assigned chapter(s) in the textbook to better follow the material covered in class.

Practice Problem Sets

A few sample math and descriptive problems are provided here:
Practice math problem set 1
Solutions to problem set 1
Practice math problem set 2
Solutions to problem set 2
Practice descriptive problem set 3
Solutions to problem set 3
Practice descriptive problem set 4
Solutions to problem set 4
Practice math problem set 5
Solutions to problem set 5
These sample problems are an excellent way to prepare for the midterm and final exams, which will be the main basis for your evaluation in this course. Please use these practice problem sets to brush up on math exercises and concepts covered in class. Neil/George can arrange to go over solutions to these practice problem sets during discussion sections, if there is enough interest.

Exam Scores and Grades

Exam scores and corresponding grade levels will appear here. The final exam will constitute 45% of the overall score/grade and the midterm exam will constitute 35% of the overall grade; the remaining 20% of the grade will be based on in-class pop-quizzes. Please pay particular attention to the passing score for the exams. In addition to your total score (TTL), the split scores on the descriptive/non-quantitative (DE) and math/quantitative (MA) portions of the exams are also listed.

ASTRONOMY 2 --- WINTER 2007
OVERVIEW OF THE UNIVERSE

(Course ID ASTR-2-02)

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS:

In-class Pop-Quizzes / Response Pads (CPS RF clickers):

Introductory Handout:

Course Calendar:

Discussion Sections

Office Hours/Appointments

Lecture Notes / Quizzes

Reading

Practice Problem Sets

Exam Scores and Grades

Math Help

Other Astronomy Links of Interest

ASTRONOMY 2 --- WINTER 2007 OVERVIEW OF THE UNIVERSE

(Course ID ASTR-2-02)

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS:

In-class Pop-Quizzes / Response Pads (CPS RF clickers):

Introductory Handout:

Course Calendar:

Discussion Sections

Office Hours/Appointments

Lecture Notes / Quizzes

Reading

Practice Problem Sets

Exam Scores and Grades

Math Help

Other Astronomy Links of Interest

ASTRONOMY 2 --- WINTER 2007
OVERVIEW OF THE UNIVERSE