Course Syllabus
29:52 Exploration of the Solar System
Fall Semester 2004
Distance Education Section

Steven R. Spangler
705 Van Allen Hall
319-335-1948
steven-spangler@uiowa.edu
http://phobos.physics.uiowa.edu/$\sim$srs/

Exploration of the Solar System is an introductory course in the astronomy of the solar system, intended for students who are majoring in fields other than the natural sciences. The astronomy of the solar system is one of the most exciting fields in all science nowadays, ranking with molecular biology and genetics. New results from spacecraft are coming in daily, and may be seen on the front page of the New York Times. This is an especially timely semester to take a solar system astronomy class. For the past several months, the Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft have been roaming the surface of Mars, returning information that will rewrite textbooks. The Cassini spacecraft arrived at Saturn this summer after a seven year voyage, and is returning images of unprecedented detail. In January it will send a probe to parachute to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan, which may be the only solar system body other than the Earth to possess liquid lakes and oceans. During the Fall semester, other spacecraft missions will be launched, progress in their planning, or come to completion. As we discuss solar system objects and the latest findings about them, we will also be locating them in the night sky. Looking to the future, it is highly likely that major discoveries in solar system astronomy will be made during our lifetimes, discoveries which may profoundly change our view of ourselves as human beings. This course will prepare students to better comprehend the nature and significance of those discoveries.

General Course Information

1. The required textbook for the course is Astronomy Volume I Solar System by John D. Fix. It may be purchased from Iowa Book and Supply in Iowa City.
2. Professor Spangler may be contacted via the mail facility in the WebCT site, via regular email, or by telephone (the last two addresses given above).
3. One hour exams will be held on September 22 and October 27. Students must arrange to take the exams in a supervised setting near their homes. The Center for Credit Programs (CCP) has contacts throughout the state of Iowa who provide this service, and CCP will help you identify a convenient monitor. Students who live near Iowa City should take the exams at the CCP center in the International Center building on campus.
4. The final exam will be held on Friday, December 10. This also must be taken in a supervised setting.
5. Homework will be assigned, collected and graded. Completed assignments may be emailed or Faxed to the Center for Credit Programs. Homework exercises will consist of computational exercises and thought problems. The purpose of these exercises is to get you to actively think about what is presented in the lecture notes and textbook readings. I plan to assign a homework assignment about every other week. The total score of all homework assignments will count the same as one exam. I expect and want students to discuss these problems with me.
6. There is a World Wide Web homepage associated with the course, (URL given above). Go to the link for 29:52 for this semester. The website contains lecture notes and homework assignments. It also serves as a gateway to other astronomical links such as the homepages for spacecraft that provide data we will discuss this semester.
7. Another link for communication and grade reporting is the WebCT site associated with the course. On the internet, go to "http://courses.uiowa.edu", log in, and select this course.
8. The grading policy for this course will be as follows. The grade will be based on the percentage of the maximum number of points. The three exams and the homework will each contribute 25 % of the total number of points. The grading scale will be as follows: $>$ 85 % = A; $>$ 75 % = B; $>$ 60 % = C; and $>$ 50 % = D. To pass the course, a student must obtain 50 % or more of the maximum number of points. I employ + and - grades for students near the boundaries between grades.

Schedule of Topics

Topic and Week	Subject	Textbook Reference
Topic 1, Week 1	Initial pleasantries, Overview of Solar System	--
Topic 2, Week 2	The solar system in the night sky	Chapter 2 & 4
Topic 3, Week 3	Orbit of the Moon and Kepler's Laws	Chapter 4 & 5
Topic 4, Week 4	The Earth as a planet	Chapter 8
Topic 5, Week 4	The Earth's atmosphere	Chapter 8
Topic 6, Week 5	The Moon and its Geology	Chapter 9
Topic 7, Week 5	The Age of Impacts	Chapter 9
September 22	First Hour Exam	arranged location
Topic 8, Week 6	Mars, water, and ancient life	Chapter 11
Topic 9, Week 7	Mars, 4 billion years ago	Chapter 11
Topic 10, Week 7	Venus	Chapter 10
Topic 11, Week 8	the Jovian planets: big balls of liquid hydrogen	Chapter 12
Topic 12, Week 8	The Galilean satellites: water on Europa	Chapter 14
Topic 13, Week 9	Saturn: its ring and moons	Chapters 12 & 14
Topic 14, Week 9	Way out: Uranus etc.	Chapter 13
Topic 15, Week 10	Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors	Chapter 15
Topic 16, Week 10	Comets and cometary material	Chapter 15
October 27	Second Hour Exam	arranged location
Topic 17, Week 11	Asteroids: tiny worlds	Chapter 15
Topic 18, Week 11	Meteors, Meteorites, and Asteroids	Chapter 15
Topic 19, Week 12	The Sun: story of a G2V star	Chapter 17
Topic 20, Week 13	The origin of the solar system	Chapter 18
Topic 21, Week 14	Stars like the Sun and other solar systems	Chapter 17
Topic 22, Week 15	Where are they? Life in the universe	--
December 10	Final Exam	arranged location