Course Syllabus
29:50 Modern Astronomy
Fall Semester 1999

Steven R. Spangler
705 Van Allen Hall
335-1948
srs@vesta.physics.uiowa.edu
http://www-astro.physics.uiowa.edu/ srs/

Modern Astronomy is an introductory survey of the science of astronomy, intended for students who are majoring in fields other than the natural sciences. This is an exciting time to be studying astronomy, with new results from many instruments coming in daily, and the availability of computer networks aiding the distribution of such information. Lectures will be regularly supplemented with these findings. I also plan to emphasize those phenomena which can be seen with the unaided eye in the evening sky.
General Course Information

1. Lectures are from 12:30 to 1:20 PM Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, in Lecture Room 1 of Van Allen Hall.
2. There is a laboratory associated with this course. Students registered for the laboratory receive 4 semester hours of credit and satisfy the General Education requirement of a natural science laboratory. Students registered for 3 semester hours do not attend the laboratory. Students registered for 4 semester hours must attend the laboratory section. The lab section meets for two hours per week in room 665 or 666 of Van Allen Hall. Laboratory classes do not meet the first week, but commence the week of August 30. Projects in the laboratory consist of taking and analysing astronomical observations with the Automated Telescope Facility of the University, and use of the graphics capabilities of personal computers to carry out various exercises. Please Note: Those students registered for 4 semester hours must receive a passing grade in the laboratory portion of the course as well as the lecture portion in order to receive a passing grade for the course.
3. The required textbook for the course is Astronomy: Journey to the Cosmic Frontier by John D. Fix. Students registered for the laboratory will need the lab manual Imaging the Universe by Robert L. Mutel and Stacy L. Palen.
4. Regular tutorial sessions are held for the benefit of students who desire clarification with the homework problems or concepts being presented in lecture. These sessions are staffed by the teaching assistants assigned to the course. Hours and locations of these tutorial sessions will be posted outside room 666 of Van Allen Hall.
5. Office hours for Professor Spangler are 2:30 - 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, or by appointment if this time is inconvenient.
6. One hour exams will be held in the regular class period on September 29, October 20, November 15, and December 10.
7. The final exam will be held on Friday, December 17 at 9:45 AM in Lecture Room 1.
8. The examinations on September 29 and November 15 will cover material in the first and second third of the semester, respectively. The first hour of the final exam period on December 17 will similarly treat material from the last third of the semester. The second hour of the exam period will be comprehensive. These four exams will deal primarily or exclusively with the non-mathematical aspects of astronomy. One additional exam will deal exclusively with the mathematical and quantitative aspects of astronomy. This exam will feature problems similar to those which will be assigned as homework. This exam will be given in two parts. The first will be during the regular class period on October 20, and the second on December 10. The lowest of the five examination scores will be dropped when the grade for the lecture portion is computed. In view of this policy, make-up exams will be permitted only for the most compelling circumstances, such as incapacitating illness.
9. The grade in the course will be determined as follows.
   For students registered for three semester hours (without lab), each of the four examinations will count for 25 percent of the course grade. For students registered for four semester hours (with lab), the sum total of the exam scores will count for 75 percent of the course grade, and the laboratory grade will count for the remaining 25 percent. It is to be emphasized that a student registered for 4 semester hours will not receive a passing grade for the course as a whole unless he or she receives a passing grade for the laboratory portion. Final letter grades will be assigned on the basis of a student's standing relative to his or her peers. The following formula will be used: A: 85th percentile or greater; B: 60th percentile or better; C: 20th percentile or better. To receive a passing grade, a student must earn 50 percent of the possible points on exams and lab reports.
10. Students are encouraged to visit the observatory on the roof of Van Allen Hall to see the objects discussed in this class. A laboratory instructor will be on duty on clear nights, Monday through Thursday, at 9:00 PM. This Fall will be particularly good for observing, as the planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are visible in the early evening. The roof of Van Allen Hall may be reached from a stairway at the east end of the 7th floor. The roof is kept dark during observing sessions, so be careful where you step and be alert for changes in elevation.
11. There is a World Wide Web homepage associated with the course, http://www-astro.physics.uiowa.edu/ srs/. Go to the link to 29:50, Modern Astronomy. The website contains lecture notes and homework assignments. It also serves as a gateway to other astronomical links such as the Mars Pathfinder and Hubble Space Telescope homepages.
12. I would like to hear from anyone who has a disability which may require some modification of seating, testing, or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made. Please see me after class or during office hours.
13. As a physical science, astronomy has progressed through the application of mathematics to natural phenomena. Arguably the greatest discovery ever made about nature was that the universe obeys relatively simple mathematical laws. This discovery permitted the development of science and its attendant technologies. Use of mathematics is necessary, even in an introductory course, to convey a sense of how the physical sciences proceed to describe the universe. Mathematical arguments will be used freely in the lectures, and problems will be worked out in the lectures, posed as homework assignments, and featured on the examinations. The level of mathematics will be restricted to algebra and geometry, subjects which should have been studied by any graduate of an Iowa High School.

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