Welcome to SCCC 116 Descriptive Astronomy II

Syllabus and tentative class schedule, Spring 2007

ANNOUNCEMENTS: HW 25 and Paper due on April 30, 2007. REVIEW SESSION ON MAY 1, 2007 AT 11 AM. FINAL EXAM ON MAY 3, 2007 AT 9 AM.

Prerequisites: SCCC 115 Descriptive Astronomy I

Professor: Varsha P. Kulkarni ; Office: PSC, Room 505 ; Phone : 777-6293, E-mail: kulkarni@sc.edu; URL: http://boson.physics.sc.edu/~kulkarni/

Laboratory Handbook: "Laboratory Exercises in Astronomy for SCCC 115, 116", by J. L. Safko, Kendall / Hunt Publishing Co. (Available only at the South Carolina Book Store exclusively for the SCCC 115 students. You need to present your ID to be able to purchase this handbook.)

Calculators: You will need a scientific calculator with logarithmic, exponential, and trigonometric functions,   such as a TI30X or Casio XF65.  Graphing calculators and PDAs are not allowed in class.

Lecture Hours: Tu, Th 11:00 am -12:15 pm, PSC 205.

 Observatory / Laboratory Hours: Tues., Wed. 7:00-10:00 pm

Office Hours: Tues. 2:00-4:00 pm in the Astronomy Center located in the basement of PSC (PSC 007); Thurs. 1:00-3:00 pm in my office (PSC 505). I can also be reached at most other times by appointment.

Attendance: Attendance is mandatory and active participation in class is expected. The questions on the tests will be based on material discussed in the lectures, some of which will not be in the text book. Cell phones, beepers, and laptops must be turned off before entering class. Disruption of class and cheating are not allowed.

Class Notes: Class notes will be periodically placed on http://boson.physics.sc.edu/~kulkarni/a116S07notes.html

Goals: In this course, we will continue with our journey through the Universe. In the first semester we studied some basic physical concepts of astronomy and then surveyed various components of our Planetary System. In this semester, we will visit the more distant objects in greater detail, and study their observations and interpretation in terms of known physical laws. We will start by studying the central energy source of our planetary system, the Sun. We will then study stars in general, by exploring stellar evolution--the various stages in the life of a star from birth (star formation) to death (supernovae, pulsars, black holes, etc.) . We will also study the diffuse material in between the stars, stellar companions (both binary stars and extrasolar planets), and stellar clusters. Armed with the knowledge of the two basic components of our Galaxy (stars and the interstellar matter), we will then proceed to study the structure and distribution of these components within our Galaxy. We will then go on to explore the nearby galaxies within our "local group of galaxies", and then proceed to the more distant galaxies. We will wrap up our voyage with the study of the large-scale distribution of galaxies in the Universe at large, the expansion of the Universe, and ultimately the evolution and fate of the Universe. Finally, a small part of the course will consist of student papers on particular research topics related to astronomy. The object of this is twofold. Each of you will have the opportunity to become the class expert on an astronomical topic of your interest. You will also have a taste of what a scientist has to do to prepare for original research and the problems of briefly reporting your information. My goal in the lectures will be to give you both a qualitative as well as quantitative feel for astronomy. The level of mathematics needed is fairly elementary. You will need to use only basic algebra and trigonometry; no knowledge of calculus will be required.

Laboratory: The lectures will also be accompanied by sessions at the Melton Memorial Observatory, as in the last semester. In this part of the course, you will make visual observations of the winter sky, use the Observatory's 16" and 8" optical telescopes to make observations of stars and galaxies, and learn to record them with a photographic camera or a CCD camera. On cloudy nights, you will do the laboratory experiments related to stars and galaxies from the Study Guide. Your instructor for the observatory/ laboratory part of this course will be Dr. Daniel Overcash. We will make an effort to coordinate the lectures and laboratory sessions, so that they proceed in step, helping you to understand the topics better. The laboratory will count 25% toward your grade.

Tests and Exams: There will be 3 tests and 1 final exam. Since my goal is to train you in both qualitative and quantitative aspects of astronomy, the tests and the final examination will include a combination of thought-type questions and numerical problems. The test and final exam questions will be at a level similar to the homework questions, and will be based on material discussed in the lectures, some of which may not be in the text book.

You will need to bring a scientific calculator (with log, exponential and trigonometric functions), a pencil, and a ruler for all the exams. You may bring a 5" x 3" index card for all the exams, with any formulae that you think may be important (please include only formulae on the index card).

Make-up tests will not be given except in the case of an unanticipated medical problem.

The Final Examination will be cumulative (based on the entire semester's material) and is mandatory (i.e. You must take the final exam even if you have done very well on the rest of the course.). No make-ups will be given for the final exam.

Grading Basis: Your grade in this course will be determined as follows:

3 Tests : 30% (10 % each)

1 Final Exam : 15%

Laboratory / Observatory: 25%

Homework : 20 %

Research Project (3 page paper) : 10%

Class Participation : Bonus 3%

Grading Scheme:

The following will serve as a rough guide to grade boundaries. I may adjust these in the favorable direction for border-line cases.

>= 90: A, 84-89: B+, 77-83: B, 71-76:C+, 64-70: C, 57-63: D+, 50-56: D, < 50: F

Tentative Schedule of Exams:

The course will proceed roughly in the same order as the chapters in the textbook, rather than the units in the study guide. I will aim to cover roughly one chapter per week, as outlined in the tentative schedule below.

Homework: Homework is based on problems from back of the chapters in your textbook. For your own benefit, you may also want to go through the questions from the Study Guide. The assigned homework will be due roughly one week after the respective chapter is completed in class, on the tentative dates indicated below. Homework will be graded and will count 20% toward your total grade.

Homework Questions and Tentative Due Dates will be announced in class and posted on the course web page.

 Homework: Homework is based on problems from back of the chapters in your textbook. For your own benefit, you may also want to go through the questions from the Study Guide. The assigned homework will be due roughly one week after the respective chapter is completed in class, on the tentative dates indicated below. Homework will be graded and will count 20% toward your total grade.

Homework Questions:

Research Project : "Astronomy in the News": As in SCCC 115, you will be conducting a short literature search project and writing a 3-page report about it. Please choose a topic related to stars or galaxies or cosmology that you have recently read or heard about in the news (in the newspaper, or popular science magazines, or on TV or radio)--for example, a recent important discovery by the Hubble Space Telescope or the Chandra Telescope or some other telescope. This is an opportunity for you to learn more about such a current topic in astronomy. In addition to the original news source where you first came across the topic, you are expected to collect more references, read them, and incorporate them into a coherent report. (NOTE: Such a search should not just consist of web pages.) Although you are welcome to read professional astronomy journals, often these journals will be difficult to understand. Articles from popular science magazines such as Sky and Telescope, Astronomy, Nature, Science, Science News, Mercury, etc. will be at a more appropriate level. You can find these magazines in the USC library and in the Astronomy Center. You should discuss your topic with me for possible refinements in its direction, both at the beginning of the semester, and throughout the semester. Each of you will need to choose a different topic. During the last week of classes, each of you is expected to submit a 3-page paper based on what you have learned from the literature search. Please be sure to include the list of articles you referred to, at the end of your paper.

Here are a few examples of possible topics, but there are many other interesting possibilities. Please clear your topic with me by February 6. The paper will be due on April 30.

· black hole in the center of the Milky Way

· What are gamma-ray bursts?

· Dark Matter

· Dark Energy

· Pulsars

· Supernovae

· White Dwarfs

· Structure of Galaxies

· What are the possibilities of life outside the solar system?

· What is the age of the Universe?--Various clues from different astronomical objects.

Some Tips on Literature Search:

1.Only references available at USC need be consulted. Mercury is in the Astronomy Center with back issues boxed.

2.You may confine the search of journal articles to the last 5 years (2002 onward).

3.      Some useful websites: http://spacescience.nasa.gov/ and the many links from http://astro.physics.sc.edu/