AST 201H5S STARS AND GALAXIES

University of Toronto Mississauga Course Syllabus Winter Term 2011-2012

This is special time for astronomy. We have gigantic telescopes and use sensitive digital cameras and powerful computers to learn more and faster than ever before. Thanks to the space program , we have telescopes orbiting Earth observing every form of radiation emitted in the Universe. For all of these reasons, this is astronomy's Golden Age. What use is astronomy? Even though astronomy is bubbling with discoveries, most people wonder what its value is. Astronomy does not have as many practical applications like geology or chemistry. However, astronomy is useful and important in the same way as philosophy by providing a perspective for our lives and our place in the Universe. Astronomy is satisfying and enjoyable in non-material ways similar to art or music. Astronomy enriches us by teaching us about the wonders of nature beyond Earth. In this course we attempt to answer some of the most profound questions, such as how the Universe began. What is this course about? This course surveys the astronomical objects starting from the Sun and continuing out to include the entire Universe. We ask and attempt to answer questions such as: What is our Sun like? How did it form? How will it change? How do we know these things? Are the stars like our Sun? How do we know? What is the Milky Way? How did it form? How do we know? Are there other Milky Ways? Are they like our Milky Way? How do we know? Has the Universe existed forever? What is the future of the Universe? How do we know? To answer questions such as these we develop general methods that connect the distant objects that we can only observe with our direct experience on Earth. Who is this course for? Stars and Galaxies is about science, but it is NOT for science students. This course is designed for students studying commerce, the humanities or the social sciences who are required to complete UTM's science distribution requirement for graduation. UTM implemented this requirement because society is facing enormously important issues, such as global warming and the exhaustion of Earth's resources. The methods of science, the major theme of these course, enable you to understand these issues and to be informed citizens and voters. Exclusions: Science students who are enrolled in or have completed a university course in chemistry or physics (except PHY205 or PHY206) cannot take this course because they would have unfair advantage over the non-science students.

Prerequisites: NO prior knowledge of astronomy is required for this course. In fact if you have learned some astronomy incorrectly, that can be an obstacle because you will need to unlearn those ideas before learning them correctly. In particular, AST 101 is not required before taking this course. Any material that was covered in AST101 that is needed here will be presented here. We do need to use the experience we have gained on Earth (that is, results from physics and chemistry) to understand astronomical observations. Most of these science results were covered in basic high school classes, but everything needed for this course is covered in the textbook and will be presented in the lectures at the level needed to understand the astronomical material. Approach: Stars and Galaxies concentrates on the general method used in all sciences, and applies these methods to astronomy. We will cover many facts, such as the direct answers to the questions raised above, but they are not the goal of this course. Instead, the goal is to understand how we have learned the answers about objects that we can never examine directly. We concentrate on the logical connection between the physical processes, learned from our experience on Earth, and the astronomical observations. Numbers: Astronomy, like all sciences, uses numbers because words, such as big or hot, do not have enough information. We need to specify sizes in kilometers and temperature in degrees to reach firm conclusions about distant objects that we cannot visit. Thinking with numbers in this way may be unfamiliar, but the actual math used in this course with these numbers is only adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. Using these directly, and in a few basic equations such as y = bx, we can learn the methods that enable us to understand the Universe. Textbook: The Essential Cosmic Perspective, 6th edition, by Bennet, Donahue, Schneider and Voit. This textbook, which contains all the material for this course, is available in the bookstore. The same text was used for AST101 in the fall term, and used copies are probably available. There are several alternatives to buying the textbook from the bookstore. The electronic version of the textbook can be purchased for a lower price directly from the publisher. Choosing this option depends on whether your find reading from a screen as comfortable as reading a printed book. You can also use an earlier editions of the textbook, but you should compare them with the latest edition. NOTE: It is often useful to consult textbooks written by other authors for alternative explanations of the same material. The UTM library has a large collection of similar textbooks that can be used for this purpose. Mastering Astronomy: Mastering Astronomy is a resource that is available to you with the purchase of a new textbook or e-book. This provides an on-line tutorial experience with animations and questions that can help you understand the material better. More importantly, we will use Mastering Astronomy for our weekly assignments. If you have a used copy of the textbook, you might still be able to use its access to Mastering Astronomy if the previous user of the textbook did not redeem the ACCESS CODE. If the textbook does not have an ACCESS CODE, or the previous owner used the ACCESS CODE to activate Mastering Astronomy, you can purchase it at the bookstore or from the publisher just

the STAND-ALONE access to Mastering Astronomy. The Mastering Astronomy website is http://www.masteringastronomy.com. The ID number for this course is MASTANKOVIC42664, and the course title is AST201H5 UTM2012 Lectures: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:10 to 10:00 am in room 120 of the New Instructional Center (IB). Because the text contains more material than we have time to cover, the lectures concentrate on the most important topics, and ONLY those topics covered in lecture will be included on the midterm tests and final examination. Course Web Page: Stars and Galaxies has a web page on the University of Toronto Portal where all information related to this course is posted, including this course description. How to Succeed in this Course: Some key points are (see pages xxii - xxiii) in the text book for advice about doing well in this course): Attend lectures to hear my explanation and key ideas. WARNING! Because the textbook contains all the material for this course, some students conclude that it is not necessary to attend lectures. While it is possible to pass this course without attending most of the lectures, in previous years the students who chose not to attend lectures generally did much less well than the majority of students who did attend lectures regularly. The lectures are my presentation of the methods and ideas you need to understand. Study the textbook each week. The rule of thumb is to study 1 or 2 hours for each hour of lecture. WARNING! For some reason many students believe that astronomy is a very easy subject, requiring almost no study. This is not true. The course evaluations done at the end of every term show that students in previous classes found this course about the same difficulty as their other courses, but that it was harder than they expected. To do well, it is important to study as much for this course as for your other courses. Remember, astronomy is unfamiliar because it is beyond your experience. It takes effort to learn such a far out subject. Studying the text goes beyond reading the text. It is very helpful to take notes about each chapter (not just highlight or underline the text). You should explain to yourself in you own words how an astronomical observation leads to a conclusion about an object. This prepares you to answer similar questions on the tests and final examination. Pay particular attention to the figures in the text because they show the key ideas in a concise way. Ask me if you need more explanation. Post questions and participate on the Discussion Board. Make use of teaching assistant's online office hours and feel free to ask questions. Course evaluation: The course mark will be based on four components: 1. Class participation. Each week, on a random day, I will give a short quiz on the material presented that day to assess your understanding. You will not get participation mark based on your answer, hence even if you gave a wrong answer you will get the participation mark. Each of these quizzes is worth 1% of your mark for a total of 10%. Note that there are twelve weeks of lectures, meaning that you will not lose any marks

if you miss two of these in-class quizzes. 2. Homework assignments. There will be ten weekly homework assignments, each worth 2% of the course mark for a total of 20%. We will be using Mastering Astronomy, so please obtain the ACCESS CODE as described above. Each assignment is going to be posted on Friday night and it will be due the following Friday at 5pm (check the course calendar for all deadlines). Late Penalty Homework assignments submitted after the due date will be penalized 5% off the assignment's mark for each day late until the assignment is submitted, after which there is no credit. 3. Midterm tests. There will be two midterm tests, each worth 15% for a total of 30%. The tests will cover the chapters indicated on the course calendar. 4. Final examination. This makes up the remaining 40%. The final exam will cover all the course material, but there will be more emphasis on the material from the chapters after the second midterm test. Academic Offences: Just to be clear, there is an official University of Toronto Code of Behaviour on Academic Matter that defines a number of things that are academic offences. These include: forge, alter or falsify any document or evidence, in print or electronic form, require by the University use or possess unauthorized aids during a test or examination personate another person at any test or examination represent the work of another person as your own submit academic work that has been previously submitted for credit submit academic work from a false source The penalty for academic offences is set by the University. UofT Grading Guidelines: The marking scheme above provides the evidence (see below) to assign a final grade according to the University of Toronto guidelines. Note: these guidelines set absolute standards, such as capacity to analyze and synthesize. These absolute standards eliminate adjustments, such as bell curving, of final marks to achieve a particular average. A+ Outstanding performance, exceeding even the A described below. Note that although the A+ no longer carries an additional GPA value, the + will be indicated on the transcript. A Exceptional performance: strong evidence of original thinking; good organization, capacity to analyze and synthesize; superior grasp of the subject matter with sound critical evaluations; evidence of an extensive knowledge base. B Good performance; evidence of grasp of the subject matter; some evidence of critical capacity and analytic ability; reasonable understanding of relevant issues; evidence of familiarity with the literature. C Intellectually adequate performance; student is profiting from the university experience; understanding of the subject matter and an ability to develop solutions to simple problems in the material. D Minimally acceptable performance; some evidence of familiarity with the subject matter and some evidence that critical and analytical skills have been developed.

F Inadequate performance: little evidence of even superficial understanding of the subject matter; weakness of critical and analytical skills; limited or irrelevant use of literature. The tests and final examination are used to assess what level of understanding you have achieved. For example, memorizing all the facts in the textbook about the Universe would not show that you are thinking originally about the material or that you have achieved the ability to analyze and synthesize the material. The most important skill to apply in this course is logical and critical thinking. If you understand that observing A leads to conclusion B, and that this can be used on Earth, on the nearest star, or on the nearest galaxy, etc., you have thoroughly synthesized the subject matter. Instructor: M. Stankovic Office: Room 3003, Davis Building Email: stankovic@astro.utoronto.ca Office hours: Due to my duties at the St. George Campus I will be in my UTM office for few hours after the lectures: Monday until 12:30pm, Wednesday until 1:30pm and Friday until 12:30pm. However, if you want to talk to me outside of these hours, feel free to email me and I will arrange a meeting. Meeting you and helping you overcome academic obstacles is a very rewarding experience for me. You are free to email me at any time and I will try to reply within a day. We will also have online office hours twice a week and the Discussion Board is set up on the Portal. Anyone can post threads on the Board, but TAs and I will monitor the content and we will answer your question. I strongly advise you to take advantage of all these communication tools.