ASTR 310, Sept-Dec 2011

Instructor for Sep - Dec 2011 :

Professor Brett Gladman --> My web page
Tel: (604) 822-6244 email: gladman'at'astro.ubc.ca (substitute @ for 'at')

OFFICE HOURS (Hennings 300B):

CANCELLED WEEK OF OCT 3 - 7. Contact TA Todd Mackenzie for an appointment.

THIS PAGE MAY BE OUT OF DATE. SEE EMAIL PROF SENT SEPT 28

ASTR 310, Cumulative Course Syllabus AND READINGS (Sept-Dec 2011).

#  Date    Lecture Topic                                    Pages or Chapter.Section
-- ------  -----------------------------------------     ---------------------------
1  Sep  7  Course logistics, units, the local sky        xxiv,xxv,1-15, Sect 1.4, App C.1-C.4
2  Sep  9  The celestial sphere                          27-34 (skip page 30)

3  Sep 12  The paths of stars and the Sun                96-105(skipping box on p.99)
4  Sep 14  Motion of Sun across the sky, seasons         35-39
5  Sep 16  Time-keeping and calendars                    3.1, S1.1 (skip boxes on pp 92-93 and 95)

6  Sep 19  Time zones. Scale and angular measure         Material regarding angles on pg 29-31 (including p.30), Section S1.3
7  Sep 21  Precession. Lunar phases.                     40-44 (up to but not including eclipses), box on bottom pg. 65 
8  Sep 23  More Lunar phases.                            42-44 again (up to but not including eclipses, but include box top right of p 44)

9  Sep 26  Lunar and solar eclipses                      rest of 2.3
10 Sep 28  The motion of the planets.                    2.4, 3.2
11 Sep 30  Methods of science                            3.4, 3.5

12 Oct  3  Light                                         5.1, 5.2
13 Oct  5  spectra, Doppler, and telescopes              5.4, 5.5
14 Oct  7  Telescopes                                    6.1, 6.2, 6.3

-- Oct 10  THANKSGIVING. No Class			 ---
15 Oct 12  Galileo to Newton                             3.3

                        NOTE: The format x.y means chapter X, section Y

THIS PAGE MAY BE OUT OF DATE. SEE EMAIL PROF SENT SEPT 28

The readings are to be completed BEFORE the corresponding lecture; you then must do the reading assignment posted on:
Mastering Astronomy
to answer questions related to those readings. The due date for each Mastering Astronomy assignments is 6 AM (seven hours BEFORE the lecture)! To ask about Mastering Astronomy issues, contact the TA Mike Alexandersen : mikea@phas.ubc.ca

SELECTED LECTURES for Astr 310.
Username is a310 (case sensitive). PASSWORD will be given out in class.

Homework

To clarify the Course Summary handout (available below), the "Assignments" portion of the course grade will consist of two parts:
(a) the 'reading Assignments' (decribed above), done on-line in Mastering Astronomy before each lecture, and
(b) a few 'homeworks', which will be handwritten and turned in to the ASTR 310 drop-box in the hallway outside the door to Hennings 312 (the tutorial room).

The Assignments and the Homeworks have points assigned to them; there is no difference in the 'value' of those points towards the total points for the assignment portion of the course grade. For perspective, there will be something like 400 points (+/- 50) of 'assignment component' points during the term, so any given reading assignment (worth roughly 10 points) is worth only a fraction of a percent of the course grade, but they certainly add up...

----------------------------------
If you have not yet been told that you passed HW1, you can REDO IT HERE:
Follow this link to Homework 1 (due Wednesday Oct 5, at 10:00 PM by EMAIL).

TA contact information

If you will miss your tutorial, contact your TA ahead of time. If you cannot make posted office hours, contact the lead TA for your section for an appointment.

Mike Alexandersen : mikea@phas.ubc.ca
Samantha Lawler : lawler@phas.ubc.ca
Todd Mackenzie : todd@phas.ubc.ca

Tutorial Section Listing
---------------------------------------

Day              Section   TA
---------------  -------  ------
Monday    11:00    T1A    Samantha Lawler/ Mike
Tuesday   11:00    T1D    Mike Alexandersen/ Todd
Wednesday 14:00    T1G    Todd Mackenzie/ Samantha

HANDOUTS

- Course Summary (2 pages) in PDF format (blue handout from first day of class).

- Math Review (1 page) in PDF format. Solutions at bottom of this web page. Seek help by Sept 20 if you cannot get the answers.
MATH REFRESHER help available 2:00-4:00 PM, Friday Sept 9, Henning 312

- Academic Conduct Form for ASTR 310 Will be available week two of course.

Reading Suggestions

Well-written books related to the course topics that are excellent Christmas reading (for example). These are not part of the course requirements.

The Measure of All Things, by Ken Alder. History of the determination of the meter.
Longitude, by Dava Sobel. 180 pages. Extremely well-written and engaging.
The Calendar, by David E. Duncan. 360 pages. A more technical slant, but not difficult
Why People Believe Weird Things, By M. Shermer. 350 pages. About critical thinking.

Wanna see a cool astronomy picture? Click Here (changes daily) ================================================================