ASTR 1120 Section 1 (3 credit hours): Spring 2006GENERAL ASTRONOMY: STARS & GALAXIESWELCOME! to General Astronomy: Stars and Galaxies for Spring 2006. This class willintroduce you to some of the wonders of the Universe, mostly those beyond our own SolarSystem. We will discuss the Sun and the stars (what makes them shine?), black holes (how theyform and the evidence that they really exist), and the early history and future fate of theUniverse as a whole (the topic of cosmology, which includes the evidence that the Universebegan with a `Big Bang’).This syllabus answers some of the most common questions you may have about the course.Please read it through, and make an immediate note of the dates of exams and observingsessions. You may also want to bookmark the class website:http://jilawww.colorado.edu/~pja/astr1120/index.htmlLECTURER: Prof Phil Armitage. Office JILA 909 (on the 9th floor of the JILA tower, south-eastcorner), phone 303-492-7836, email [email protected] (this is the most direct address). Inormally answer email queries promptly. Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:15 – 4:30pm.Please feel free to stop by my office at other times as well – if I’m in I’ll be happy to discussproblems.TA: Bruce Ferguson, email [email protected], office hours and location TBD (willbe announced in class, and on website).REQUIREMENTS AND PRE-REQUISITES: ASTR 1120 satisfies Part B (nonsequence course)of the Natural Science requirement of the Arts and Sciences core curriculum. It does not satisfyPart A (two-semester sequence of courses) – if you’ve already taken ASTR 1010 or ASTR 1110then you need to take ASTR 1020 to satisfy the sequence requirement. There are no pre-requisites.EXPECTATIONS: This course will involve thinking about situations that are far outsideeveryday experience (`what was the Universe like when it was only the size of a grapefruit?’).Common sense is utterly unable to help us grasp such conditions, and as a consequence youmay find parts of this class counter intuitive and pretty hard. To succeed, you will need to putin significant time outside lectures reading the textbook, doing homework, and reviewing notes– the textbook suggests 6 to 9 hours per week.This course is not intended as a test of your mathematical skills. However, we will makeextensive use of scientific notation in order to express the enormous range of sizes and massesfound in the Universe, and you will need to be completely familiar with this. You will also needto understand and make use of simple algebraic formulae (example E = mc2), and questions topractice these skills will be part of the homeworks.LECTURES: we will meet 2:00 – 3:15pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Duane G1B30. Please sitdownstairs to facilitate in-class discussions. If reading from the textbook has been assigned, theclass will commence with brief clicker questions on that. During the lecture proper, we will stopfor occasional `discussion clicker questions’ that will normally be more challenging. Questionsare welcome at any time. I strongly recommend that you take your own notes, which I willsupplement by posting online a very brief weekly summary of what I consider the mostimportant points. Please ensure your cell phones are switched off, and do not disrupt the classfor your fellow students by leaving early – I will always finish on time.SCHEDULE: The course is divided into three sections, with an exam after each:1) The Sun and the stars: how we can use the light emitted by a star (its spectrum) to deduceproperties such as the star’s temperature. Observational properties of the Sun, such as thesunspot cycle, and their influence on the Earth. Einstein’s relation between mass and energy (E= mc2) and the distinction between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. The energy source of theSun and how that can be tested by observing particles called solar neutrinos.2) Stellar death and black holes: what happens at the end of a star’s life? Properties ofsupernovae and gamma-ray bursts. Discussion of different stellar remnants, white dwarfs,neutron stars and black holes. What is a black hole? What is the evidence that black holes reallyexist? Distinction between stellar mass and supermassive black holes.3) Cosmology: Basic properties of the Universe on the largest scales – galaxies and clusters ofgalaxies. What is meant by redshift? The evidence that the Universe is expanding and Hubble’sLaw for the expansion. The concept of the Big Bang and the observational evidence for a BigBang. Recent discoveries and unsolved questions…TEXTBOOK: The required textbook is The Cosmic Perspective by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider& Voit. Regular readings will be assigned from the text. If you buy a new textbook, you shouldget the latest (4th) edition, which is significantly updated and includes recent discoveries that arepart of the class. However, the 3rd edition would also be OK. If you buy a new book, you willgain free access to web resources (interactive tutorials, quizzes etc) – these are not required butyou may well find these useful as a complement to lectures or when preparing for exams.I will not be covering the material in the same order as the textbook.CLICKERS: You will need a personal IR clicker to register answers to in-class quizzes on thereading and discussion questions. You will need to register your clicker online at:http://capa.colorado.edu/cgi-bin/RegisterAFSYou can start using your clicker prior to registering – your scores will be saved and show up forcredit once you have registered. Clicker questions will be scored 2 for a correct answer, 1 for anyanswer, 0 for no answer. The goal of using clickers is to allow quick checks that you’veunderstood the readings from the textbook, and to facilitate discussion questions on the lecturematerial. The goal is not to have tests every lecture, and accordingly the grading scheme for theclickers is generous – if you do the reading and show up for class regularly your clicker scorewill probably be the best part of your grade.HOMEWORK: There will be 6 homeworks, normally with a one week turnaround time. Thebest 5 will count toward your final grade (i.e. your lowest score will be dropped). Thehomeworks are intended, in part, as practice for the exams, so it is to your advantage to plan tocomplete all 6 homeworks.EXAMS: There will be 2 midterms plus the final:• Midterm #1: Thursday February 16th in class time. Covers lectures 1 – 9• Midterm #2: