North Seattle Community College Spring 2005

Astronomy 101: The Solar System

Course meeting times: TTh, 6:00 — 9:30 p.m.

Lectures, labs and discussions will be held in Room AS 1623

Text: An Introduction to the Solar System, edited by McBride and Gilmour

Other equipment: • E-mail account that you check twice a week

• Scientific calculator (one that does scientific notation)

Course purpose and goals: This course will acquaint you with the methods and observations of planetary scientists, past and present, by performing some of our own with our Meade telescopes. We will discuss astronomical ideas, with special attention to the solar system, the forces that hold it in place and human exploration of it, such as the current Mars Exploration Rovers and the Cassini/Huygens mission. I hope you take away from the class an understanding of why humans study such distant places and how this informs us of our place in the universe. I also hope you will have an appreciation for some of the methods that are used to gain this knowledge, and of the night sky.

Instructor: Tracy Furutani Office: IB 2328B

Phone: 528-4509 Office hours: TTh, 5 – 6 p.m.

e-mail: tfurutani@sccd.ctc.edu

website: http://northonline.sccd.ctc.edu/tfurutani/

Grading: Group projects, 2 at 50 pts. each 100

Planetary exploration poster abstract 10

Planetary exploration poster project 50

Telescope project 90

Labs, 20 pts. each, best 10 of 11 200

Exams, 2 at 50 pts. each, best 1 of 2 50

Final 100

Total 600

Grades will be assigned as follows:

Your total points: 570 - 600 4.0

540 - 569 3.7

510 - 539 3.3

480 - 509 3.0

450 - 479 2.7

420 - 449 2.3

390 - 419 2.0

360 - 389 1.7

330 - 359 1.3

300 - 329 1.0

< 300 0.0

This schedule is subject to a minimal amount of change.

Group projects: There will be two of these projects, one at the beginning of the quarter and one at the end of the quarter. You will work, for the duration of the projects, in groups of three or four (to be assigned by me or to be self-chosen) and, a week later, each group will make a short oral presentation. All members of the group will receive the same grade; some points will be earned during the project and some will be earned at the presentation. For obvious reasons, these projects cannot be made up.

Planetary exploration poster and abstract project: One of the topics we will not cover in any great detail during the course are the actual probes and technology used to gather information about the planets and solar system. You (and perhaps a partner) will pick a spacecraft or techology and develop a visually-based presentation on posterboard that describes the topic in detail. The presentation will be done at a poster session (see calendar) where you will be evaluated by your peers as well as me. Because there are some popular spacecraft, your poster may cover the same topic as another person’s poster; you will need to negotiate with them so that you cover different aspects of the same body. There will also be a short (one-paragraph) summary of the major findings of your poster (this is called the abstract) to be turned in by e-mail prior to the presentation. There will further handouts on this topic.

Labs: There will be eleven labs, designed to help you perform astronomical calculations, visualize spatial relationships, etc. We will go over the lab answers during class, and the labs are due in class at the next meeting. I encourage you to work with others on these labs, though you should turn in your own paper.

Telescope project: We have a fully-automated telescope, CCD camera and dome. It would be a shame not to use them! You (and perhaps a partner) will come up with an astronomical object you’d like to study (from a list of potential objects, and here we are not limited to just the solar system). You’ll observe its behavior over four weeks and take digital images of it, then analyze its behavior and write a short (2-3 page) report on it. A handout on this will follow.

Homework: I draw inspiration for the exam questions partly from the questions and problems throughout each chapter in the text, as well as on the exercises, so consider all of them to be your assignment. These questions and problems will not be graded or collected (though some of them will be used as part of an exercise), but you are free to ask questions about how to do these problems in preparation for exams. The answers to all of the questions are found in the back of the textbook.

Exams: There will be two fifty-minute long, short answer plus essay question exams during the term. They are based on the questions found in the covered chapters, as well as the lab questions. The exams will all be open-book, notes and labs, but please refrain from collaborating with others. The exam is a diagnostic tool; a good score means that you have kept up with the reading and exercises. The final exam is similar in structure, longer and comprehensive. In order to reduce test anxiety, only the higher of the two scores will count toward the final grade. This means that there will be no make-up quizzes, since the “0” on a missed exam can be replaced by half of the final score. Since exams are open-note and open-lab, keeping your papers in order is a good idea.

Cheating: Don't. I will use the policy outlined in the Student Conduct section of the Student Handbook. Remember, a group project is the result of a roughly equal sharing of ideas from each member of the group. Collaboration is absolutely essential. Collaboration is also important during the exercises. An individual project or quiz or exam, however, is an evaluation of what each individual understands. Please do not collaborate on these endeavors. Plagiarism (the unattributed use or copying of other people’s ideas, words or pictures) is considered cheating; I will be monitoring this carefully on your poster project.

Chemical sensitivities: Due to the increasing numbers of individuals developing chemical sensitivities and the increasing awareness of such conditions, everyone who attends this class is asked to refrain from wearing any fragrance or perfume. The greatest feasible efforts will also be taken to ensure a fresh air environment free of not only the above-mentioned fragrances but also potentially harmful substances such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, carpet odor, organic solvents, etc. Individuals who are unsure of the importance of this policy should see the Associate Dean for additional information.

Attendance: I will not take attendance during the quarter, but it is imperative that you attend every meeting; we will be covering a textbook chapter’s worth of material every two meetings. You may have personal reasons for missing class and to accommodate this, most of the components of the final grade (see above) drop the lowest score. For this reason, I will not offer makeup lab periods or exams. Labs that require no special equipment can be made up. Please call me (528-4509) if you know you are going to miss class, so that we can discuss what you have missed. More importantly, you should notify your teammates in any group project of pending absences!

Cell phones: The use of pagers and cell phones is a symptom of our ever-increasingly wired society. For people such as myself with extremely short attention spans, these devices can easily destroy concentration. Please switch your devices to a “silent” setting during class.

Dates to remember:

Last day to drop course May 27

Last day of class June 14