Astronomy 1040 Assignments and Reading
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Date |
Assignment |
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Mon, Aug 28 |
Read §1-1 "The Scale of the Universe", §1-2 "The History of the Universe" (lecture notes) |
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Wed, Aug 30 |
Read §1-3 "Spaceship Earth", §2-1 "Patterns in the Night Sky" (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Sep 1 |
Read §2-2 "The Reason for Seasons", §2-3 "The Moon, Our Constant Companion", §2-4 "The Ancient Mystery of the Planets" (lecture notes) Online HW: “Introduction to MasteringAstronomy” due. This would be due earlier, but later gives people time to get the tech sorted out. Likewise, normally reading questions are due at the start of the class where that reading was assigned (so you can answer them as you read): last week's has been pushed back to today: Online HW: “Ch.1 RQ”, Online HW: “Ch.2 RQ” Yes, that's a lot: so, if you get the tech figured out sooner, do things sooner, so it'll be more like a normal week's work and not everything due all at once! |
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Mon, Sep 4 |
Labor Day, no class |
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Wed, Sep 6 |
The first week's homework is due: Online HW: “Ch.1 HW”. Might have been due last Friday, but so much going on, pushed back to here. (lecture notes) Read §3-1 "The Ancient Roots of Science", §3-2 "Ancient Greek Science" |
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Fri, Sep 8 |
Read §3-3 "The Copernican Revolution", §3-4 "The Nature of Science" (lecture notes) Online HW: “Ch.2 HW” (pushed back from Wednesday, as we hadn't covered it all yet in class) |
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Mon, Sep 11 |
Read §4-1 "Describing Motion" (lecture notes) |
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Wed, Sep 13 |
Online HW: “Ch.3 HW” (pushed back from Monday, as we hadn't covered it all yet in class) Read §4-2 "Newton's Laws of Motion" (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Sep 15 |
Read §4-3 "Conservation Laws in Astronomy", §4-4 "The Force of Gravity" (lecture notes) |
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Mon, Sep 18 |
Read §5-1 "Basic Properties of Light and Matter", §5-2 "Learning from Light" (lecture notes) |
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Wed, Sep 20 |
Read §5-3 "Collecting Light with Telescopes" |
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Fri, Sep 22 |
Online HW: “Ch.5 HW” (what? Homework due on a test day? Sure: doing the homework well is the best way to study for a test anyway) Midterm Test #1 (Ch.1-5). An example test I once gave long long ago an a galaxy far far away. white test solutions, yellow test solutions The scores on this test (out of 60!) and a snapshot of everyone's total grades at this point. |
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Mon, Sep 25 |
Read §6-1 "A Brief Tour of the Solar System", §6-2 "The Nebular Theory of Solar System Formation” |
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Wed, Sep 27 |
Read §6-3 "Explaining the Major Features of the Solar System”, §6-4 "The Age of the Solar System”, §7-1 "Earth as a Planet”, §7-2 "The Moon and Mercury: Geologically Dead” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Sep 29 |
Read §7-3 "Mars: A Victim of Planetary Freeze-Drying”, §7-4 "Venus: a Hothouse World”, §7-5 "Earth as a Living Planet” (lecture notes) |
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Mon, Oct 2 |
Read §8-1 "A Different Kind of Planet” (lecture notes) |
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Wed, Oct 4 |
Read §8-3 "A Wealth of Worlds: Satellites of Ice and Rock”, §8-2 "Jovian Planet Rings” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Oct 6 |
Read §9-1 "Classifying Small Bodies”, §9-2 "Asteroids”, §9-3 "Comets” (lecture notes) |
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Mon, Oct 9 |
Read §9-4 "Pluto and the Kuiper Belt”, §9-5 "Cosmic Collisions: Small Bodies vs. the Planets” (lecture notes) |
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Wed, Oct 11 |
Read §10-1 "Detecting Planets Around Other Stars”, §10-2 "The Nature of Planets Around Other Stars” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Oct 13 |
Read §10-3 "The Formation of Other Planetary Systems” (lecture notes) |
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Mon, Oct 16 |
Midterm Test #2 (Ch.6-10). An example test I once gave, there's a fair (if not exact) overlap in content with your test, so it could be useful for you to study with. white test solutions, yellow test solutions The scores on this test (out of 60!) and a snapshot of everyone's total grades at this point. |
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Wed, Oct 18 |
Read §11-1 "A Closer Look at the Sun” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Oct 20 |
Read §11-2 "Nuclear Fusion in the Sun”, §11-3 "The Sun-Earth Connection” (lecture notes) |
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Mon, Oct 23 |
Read §12-1 "Properties of Stars”, §12-2 "Patterns Among Stars” (lecture notes) |
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Wed, Oct 25 |
Read §12-3 "Star Clusters” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Oct 27 |
“Fall Break”, no class |
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Mon, Oct 30 |
Read §13-1 "Star Birth” (lecture notes) |
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Wed, Nov 1 |
Read §13-2 "Life as a Low-Mass Star” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Nov 3 |
Read §13-3 "Life as a High-Mass Star”, §13-4 “Stars in Close Binaries” (lecture notes) |
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Mon, Nov 6 |
Read §14-1 "White Dwarfs”, §14-2 "Neutron Stars” |
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Wed, Nov 8 |
Read §14-3 "Black Holes: Gravity's Ultimate Victory”, §14-4 "Extreme Events” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Nov 10 |
Midterm Test #3 (Ch.11-14). An example test I once gave, there's a fair (if not exact) overlap in content with your test, so it could be useful for you to study with. white test solutions, yellow test solutions The scores on this test (out of 60!) and a snapshot of everyone's total grades at this point. |
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Mon, Nov 13 |
Read §15-1 "The Milky Way Revealed” (lecture notes) |
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Wed, Nov 15 |
Read §15-2 "Galactic Recycling” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Nov 17 |
Read §15-3 "The History of the Milky Way”, §15-4 "The Galactic Center” (lecture notes) |
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Mon, Nov 20 |
Read §16-1 "Islands of Stars”, §16-2 "Distances of Galaxies” (lecture notes) |
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Wed, Nov 22 |
Read §16-3 "Galaxy Evolution”, §16-4 "The Role of Supermassive Black Holes” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Nov 24 |
Thanksgiving Break, no class |
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Mon, Nov 27 |
Read §17-1 "The Big Bang Theory” (lecture notes) |
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Wed, Nov 29 |
Read §17-2 "Evidence for the Big Bang” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Dec 1 |
Read §17-3 "The Big Bang and Inflation”, §17-4 "Observing the Big Bang for Yourself” (lecture notes) |
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Mon, Dec 4 |
Read §18-1 "Unseen Influences in the Cosmos”, §18-2 "Evidence for Dark Matter” (lecture notes) |
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Wed, Dec 6 |
Read §18-3 "Structure Formation” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Dec 8 |
Read §18-4 "Dark Energy and the Fate of the Universe” (lecture notes) |
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Fri, Dec 15 |
Final Exam, 12:00-13:55. The scores on the final (out of 120!) and a snapshot of everyone's total grades overall. An example final I once gave, there's a fair (if not exact) overlap in content with your test, so it could be useful for you to study with. |
