\documentstyle[11pt]{article}
\textwidth 14.0cm
\oddsidemargin 0pt
\evensidemargin 0pt
\begin{document}
\begin{center}
{\bf Course Syllabus\\
29:50 Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe\\
Summer Semester 2004}\\
\par
Steven R. Spangler\\
705 Van Allen Hall\\
335-1948\\
steven-spangler@uiowa.edu\\
http://phobos.physics.uiowa.edu/$\sim$srs/\\
\end{center}
{\em Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe} is an introductory survey  of the science of astronomy, 
intended for students who are not majoring in the natural 
sciences.  This is an exciting time to study astronomy. Major discoveries 
have been made in recent times which affect our view of the universe. 
Many of these discoveries result from the large number of 
spacecraft which continue to return pictures and data from space. These data 
are shared with people everywhere via the Internet, and are a tremendous 
teaching resource.
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 night sky. 
\begin{center}
{\bf General Course Information}
\end{center}
\begin{enumerate}
\item Lectures are from 11:00 to 11:50 AM, in  Room 70 of Van Allen Hall.
\item 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 {\bf must} attend the laboratory section. The 
lab section meets twice a week, for two hours per session (8 - 10 PM) in room 665 of Van Allen Hall. Laboratory 
classes begin on Tuesday, June 8. 
Projects in the laboratory consist of making astronomical observations 
with the naked eye and with telescopes of the University. Students also use  the graphics 
capabilities of personal computers to carry out various exercises. 
{\bf Please Note:} Those students registered for 4 semester hours {\em 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. 
\item The required textbook for the course is {\em Astronomy Volume II: Stars and Galaxies} by John D. Fix.
 Students registered for the laboratory will also need 
the lab manual {\em Imaging the Universe} by Robert Mutel.
\item Office hours for Professor Spangler are 1:30 - 2:30, Tuesday and Thursday afternoon.
The teaching assistant for this course, Ms. Sarah Iverson, will also have tutorial hours which will be posted later.  
\item One hour exams will be held in the regular class period on 
 June 24, July 14, and July 30. 
\item The grade in the course will be determined as follows. \\
For students registered for three semester hours (without lab), each of the 
three examinations will 
count for 33.3 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. {\bf 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 a scale determined by the percentage of possible points received. The following formula will be used: {\bf A:} 85 percent or greater; 
{\bf B:} 75 percent or better; {\bf C:} 60 or better; {\bf D:} 50 percent or better; {\bf F:} less than 50 percent of possible points.  
\item 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 Tuesday and Thursday night, {\em if clear}, at 10:00 PM. 
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. In addition, I will personally lead many of the evening observing sessions and  will also organize several ``field trips''
to an observatory at a dark sky site outside of Iowa City. 
\item There is a World Wide Web homepage associated with the course,\\ 
{\bf http://phobos.physics.uiowa.edu/$\sim$srs/}. Go to the link for 29:50, Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe. 
The website contains lecture notes, homework assignments, and sample exams. It also 
serves as a gateway to other astronomical links such as the {\em Mars Exploration Rover} and Hubble Space 
Telescope homepages. 
\item 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. 
\pagebreak

\end{enumerate}
\begin{center}
{\bf Schedule of Topics}
\end{center}
\begin{tabular}{||l|l|r||} \hline
{\bf Date} & {\bf Topic} & {\bf Reading} \\
\hline 
June 8 & Initial pleasantries; what's in the night sky? & --\\
June 9 & Overview of the solar system & Chap.2\\
June 10 & Mars and Saturn I & -- \\
June 11 & Mars and Saturn II & -- \\
June 14,15 & Appearance of the night sky & 1,2 \\
June 16 & Telescopes & 6 \\
June 17  & The Sun as we see it & 17 \\
June 18 & The nearest stars and how we know their distances. & 16\\
June 21 & Bright stars and faint stars: the magnitude system & 16\\
June 22-25 & Starlight & 6\\
June 24 & {\bf First Hour Exam} & --\\
June 28 & The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram & 16\\
June 29 & What makes stars shine? Gravity \& nuclear fusion & 17\\
June 30 & Double stars and what they tell us & 21\\
July 01 & Stellar masses & 16\\
July 2-6 & Where do stars come from? & 18 \\
July 7 & Dark Clouds: chemistry sets in the sky & 18\\
July 8 & The future of the Sun & 19\\
July 9 & White dwarfs and more stellar evolution & 19\\
July 12 & neutron stars and pulsars & 20 \\
July 13 & Black Holes: what they are & 20 \\
July 14 & {\bf Second Hour Exam} & -- \\
July 15 & The structure of the Milky Way & 22 \\
July 16 & The center of the Milky Way galaxy & 22 \\
July 19 & Our galaxy and other galaxies & 23 \\
July 20 & What's the Milky Way made of?  & 23 \\
July 21 & Galaxies and the universe & 23\\
July 22 & Deep extragalactic space & 23\\
July 23 & Radio galaxies and quasars & 24 \\
July 26 & Cosmology I: expansion of the universe & 25,26 \\
July 27 & Cosmology II: the age of the universe & 25,26 \\
July 28 & Cosmology III: dark matter and dark energy & 25,26 \\
July 29 & Cosmology IV & 25,26 \\
July 30 & {\bf Third Hour Exam} & -- \\
\hline \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}
