Astronomy 110 (Section 4,
11:30 MWF)
Course Information and Policies
Paul H.I. Coleman
Autumn term 2008
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/users/gruff/default/Coleman.html
Teaching
Staff
This section of the Astronomy 110 course will be given by Paul H.I.
Coleman. Prof. Coleman received his Ph.D. in physics from the
Prof.
Coleman's research interests are primarily in studying the large scale
structure of the universe. He is an advocate for fractal mathematical methods
in the analysis of astronomical objects.
He is also very interested in Hawaiian astronomy.
Prof.
Coleman's office is in Room C-106 of the Institute for Astronomy (which is a
five-minute ride on the Rainbow Shuttle from the main MŠnoa campus) at
Office
Hours
Prof.
Coleman:
Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays 10:00 a.m. until class starts at Watanabe
403. No appointment is required. You are encouraged to come at
these times to ask questions about the course, discuss larger intellectual,
University, or personal issues, or just to have a general conversation and get
to know each other. Prof. Coleman will also be happy to see students at his
Institute for Astronomy office, but it is probably a good idea to make an
appointment by phone or e-mail first.
Textbook
In an effort to keep the costs for the text down, Prof.
Coleman will be using the electronic edition of The Essential Cosmic Perspective
by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, and Voit.
This should be considerably cheaper than the paper version. Copies of the CD and workbook are
available in the UH Bookstore. Any
edition of the written version of the text is acceptable, but the most recent
media enhanced version has the most extra material. Unfortunately, it also the most
expensive!
Relation
of Text to Lectures
Examination topics for this course will be taken
from the lectures, reading assignments, and homework questions. There is more material in the
textbook than will be covered in the lectures, and some of the material
presented in the lectures will not be found in the textbook. At the end of each chapter the authors
give ample summary question material such as ÒThe Big PictureÓ, ÒSummary of Key
ConceptsÓ, ÒReview QuestionsÓ etc.
These are good summaries and tests of what you should know. (In fact some of the quiz questions may
be taken directly from those sections.)
Mathematics
Professors
in introductory science courses appreciate that students are concerned about
the mathematics required to understand the course. Astronomy 110 is essentially
a non-mathematical introduction to astronomy. However, astronomy is both a
descriptive and a quantitative science. If we say only that some
astronomical object is "big" or "far away," we will not
have got much beyond astronomy in the pre-Christian era. Simple arithmetic and ability to insert
numbers into formulae are required. For instance, in the formula
distance traveled = (speed) x
(time traveled),
or in
algebraic symbols
d = st,
if speed
= 30 miles per hour, and time traveled = 2 hours, you should be able to
calculate that the distance traveled = 60 miles. Or, if given that s = 30 mph and
d = 60 miles, that t = 2 hours.
You will
need to be able to understand, and multiply and divide, numbers in powers of
ten notation, e.g. 3,000 = 3 x 103. This is necessary in astronomy
to avoid spending all one's time writing and counting zeros. Numerical
values will be given in terms of metric units, which are used in science and in
everyday life throughout the civilized world Ð except for the
Quizzes
You will
be graded (primarily) on weekly in-class quizzes which will contain 10 multiple
choice questions. Please come promptly to friday's class since no one will be
allowed to start a quiz late. The quizzes will be discussed immediately after
they are collected and then graded and returned the next class period.
Make-up
quizzes will be offered only for serious emergencies. If this happens to you,
you must speak with Professor Coleman as soon as you are able. Make-up quizzes,
if permitted, may consist of essay-type questions. Permission to take make-up
quizzes for athletics-related absences must be obtained in advance of the
missed quiz; otherwise no make-up quiz will be offered. The lowest quiz score
will be dropped from the final grade calculation.
Homework
Homework
assignments will be set approximately once a week, normally on a Friday. The
content of the homeworks is part of the examinable material of the course.
The homework may require answers of a few sentences, simple calculations, or
perhaps a drawing a graph. They are designed to help you to work with the
ideas and concepts presented in the course. The homework will normally be due
the next wednesday. Homework papers will be collected at the beginning
of the lecture on the day they are due. Late homework papers will not be
accepted since the solutions will be discussed and published on the due date. The average of the homework marks will
count for some small but important percentage of the final grade - perhaps
equal in importance to 2 or three quizzes.
Possible
Grading Scheme:
Weekly
quizzes 80%
Homework
10%
Special
events 10%
Objectives
of the Course
There
are two major themes to this course. The first is to develop a basic knowledge of
the variety of objects and events in the large-scale universe. The night sky is
awesome. Astronomy is one of the scientific subjects which is in the newspaper
almost daily - especially here in
Secondly,
we live in a technological age in which science provides the paradigm for
arriving at knowledge. An educated person in the modern world must understand
what constitutes scientific knowledge, how scientific knowledge is gained, and
what the strengths and limitations of this approach to knowledge are. Astronomy
provides an excellent vehicle for illustrating these ideas and explaining the
"magic" in the world around us. We will take astronomy as an example
of how science works, how knowledge and understanding are developed, and we
will also examine the limitations of the scientific method.
A lot of
material falls under the heading "what every educated person should
know" about the Universe. I will essentially follow the text, spending
about one lecture per half chapter. This means that the weekly quizzes will
cover about one and one half chapters each. Some of the topics will be studied
in more or less depth. For example, the study of planets will be quickly done
while the study of the large scale structure of the Universe will be done in
more depth.
Class
lectures in powerpoint and converted html will appear after the Wednesday
lecture each week: