Emily's Universe

Astro 11 (Spring 2006)

path → / home / teaching / astro11sp06 /

Welcome to the online syllabus for the two sections of Astro 11 that I am teaching during the Spring 2006 semester! If you are here, then it is very likely that you are one of my students. Hello! *waves hand* I've tried to make this page both informative and easy to navigate. If you have any suggestions on how to improve it, or if you'd like to see any more info in here, then let me know. And if you're not a student, then by all means, feel free to roam around the page anyway.

UPDATE (7/Feb/06) -- This online version of the syllabus (a.k.a. "The Class Website") overrides the printed version of the syllabus that was handed out at the beginning of the semester. The class website can and will have updates throughout the semester, and I will let you know when these happen and what they are about.

Astro 11 - Introductory Astronomy Lab

Section 12 -- Mondays -- 2:30-4:25pm -- 541 Davey
Section 9 -- Wednesdays -- 4:40-6:35pm -- 104 Osmond

Syllabus

[back to top]

This webpage serves as the syllabus for the class. I've also included the syllabus here in two additional formats, for your convenience:

Contact Information

[back to top]

Here's the information on how to contact me. Now you have no excuse if you say you didn't know how/where to find me :-P

Instructor: Emily Alicea-Muñoz
Email: ealicea@astro.psu.edu
Office: 532C Davey Lab
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00 - 5:30pm
All office hours are held in 445 Davey Lab
Office Phone: 814-863-7948
Emily's Class Website: http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/ealicea/teaching/
Head TA's Website http://www.astro.psu.edu/headta/

Useful Links

[back to top]

Here are some websites that can be very useful to you during the semester, in particular for the Semester Project. Remember that these are supposed to be resources, and that if you use them you are not supposed to copy from them directly. You should paraphrase and use your own words.

Semester Project and TA Choice Lab

[back to top]

The Semester Project is a very important part of the class, so it has a separate page with information about it exclusively. You MUST visit that page and read the info about the Semester Project!

The TA Choice Lab is the last lab of the semester (for the specific date of this lab, check the Lab Schedule at the bottom of this page). This is a lab where you will learn everything you ever wanted to know about Black Holes, and since I wrote it myself, it is not included in the Lab Manual. You can download the lab here in either PDF or MS Word format:

Attendance

[back to top]

Attendance to every lab session is required. The labs depend on in-class demonstrations, and sometimes you will use lab equipment, so if you don't come to class, you can't do the work. If you have a legitimate reason to be absent, then you must let me know in advance, via email, phone, in person, smoke signals, telegraph, or any other method of communication (though the first three might be the most effective, btw).

Legitimate reasons include: a serious illness (I'll probably need to see a doctor's note), Official University Business (I have to see documentation explaining that your absence is required and officially sanctioned), religious obligations, and family emergencies. Excuses not included among these will be left at my discretion to determine whether or not they are legitimate reasons for absence.

Under legitimate circumstances, you can make up a lab. Make-up labs can be done either by attending another TA's section (I would give you the information about the other sections' schedules), or at the end of the semester (see Schedule). If you were absent and you didn't have a legitimate reason, then you can't make up the lab and you get a zero for the lab that you missed. Zeros obtained because of unreasonable absences cannot be dropped at the end of the semester as a lowest grade, nor can these missed labs be made up.

UPDATE (7/Feb/06) -- Notice that there have been some additions to the previous paragraph (the one that begins with "Under these legitimate circumstances...").

Materials

[back to top]

You'll need to get the following things for the class:

  • Lab Manual -- "Astronomy 011 Laboratory Manual: Fall 2005 - Spring 2006". You can find this at the Penn State Book Store. You should also get a 3-ring binder and keep the manual in it.
  • Planisphere -- "Edmund Scientific Star & Planet Locator". This can also be found in the PSU Book Store.
  • PSU CAC Access Account -- for the computer labs and for email communication.
  • Scientific Calculator -- of the kind that can perform basic trigonometry, scientific notation and logarithms.
  • Writing stuff -- pencils/pens, erasers/white-out and blank paper.
  • Red-light Flashlight -- this one is for when we go up to the roof to do telescope observations. You need to get a flashlight, a normal, regular, cheap flashlight, and cover the end with either red nail polish or red cellophane or make it red in some other way. The red light will help you see when you write while we're up on the dark roof.
  • Warm clothes -- again, for when we go observing. Have you noticed how frickin cold it gets here in the winter? This should be an obvious one since we're starting class in January, but even as the semester progresses and Spring rolls around, it'll still be quite chilly at night, especially when the sky is clear, so bring warm clothes even if it's already April and the high was 65°F.

UPDATE (7/Feb/06) -- The telescopes in the roof of Davey Lab are open to Astro 11 students Monday through Thursday, 8:30pm - 10:00pm. There will be TAs on the roof operating the telescopes, so you can go up there any of these nights (as long as it's not cloudy/raining/snowing). I'll probably be up there sometimes too, if I have the time. Note that the rooftop TAs are there for the Astro 1 students, and Astro 11 students should know what they are going to do once they get to the roof (i.e., draw what you see through the telescope once it gets pointed at something).

Grading

[back to top]

Grades will be assigned based on the standard range:

Score Grade
93% - 100% A
90% - 92% A-
87% - 89% B+
83% - 86% B
80% - 82% B-
77% - 79% C+
70% - 76% C
60% - 69% D
< 60% F

Your grade will consist of 1500 points to be determined by the following:

  • Semester Project -- 300 points. Everyone must do the Semester Project, no exceptions.
  • Weekly Labs -- 100 points each, for a total of 1200 points. There are 13 labs in total, but I will drop the lowest grade.
  • Extra credit activities may be offered at my discretion (for example, a few random little quizes that could be worth 5 points).

This is an easy class. I expect that everybody will get a good grade :-)

UPDATE (7/Feb/06) -- Notice the small addition to the "extra credit activities" item in the list above.

UPDATE (13/Feb/06) -- I've added a page with information about how is it possible to get a zero in a lab and what happens after you get a zero:

When I created the grading scheme for this class, I thought it was simple and easy, but then I realized that there can be many little situations that can arise that I hadn't thought about before. Hopefully this flowchart deals with every possible situation, and that way you all know what can happen to make you get a zero in a lab report and what are the consequences of that. It's a long page, and the flowchart can seem a bit complicated, but it's necessary to have it.

Lab Reports

[back to top]

Lab reports are due one week after we do the lab in class, at the beginning of the lab session. If you finish the report during the class period, then you can hand it in then.

UPDATE (8/Feb/06) -- There is one lab report that is due on the same day that the lab is done in class: the TA Choice Lab, because it is the last lab of the semester.

A late report will lose 20 points immediately for being turned in late. Late reports will only be accepted until 6pm on the following day from the due date. This means that Section 12 has until Tuesday at 6pm and Section 9 until Thursday at 6pm to turn in a late report. You may turn in a late report to my office, 532C Davey, or to me in person if you see me around or during office hours. If you leave the lab in my office without giving it to me personally, email me to make sure I got your report. Do not turn in a lab to the Astronomy main office.

UPDATE (8/Feb/06) -- There is no late penalty for any of the Semester Project assignments because no parts of the Semester Project will be accepted late. This means that if you didn't turn in an assignment on time, don't bother turning it in, because you already got a zero automatically in that assignment.

You should write clearly in your lab report. If I can't understand what you wrote, I can't grade it.

Sometimes you'll have to solve equations and do some math work as part of the lab report. You should show all your work, because this way I can give you partial credit in case you make an error along the way and get the final answer wrong. I know how annoying it is to get a whole problem marked wrong because of a missed minus sign, so if you show me all your work and I can track down that missed sign, you'll get credit for what you did. Don't just spit out a number and mark it as the final answer without going through the procedure. Also, final answers should have the correct units. If you show your work and your final answer is the correct numerical value but you have no units, I will take points away. An answer of "42" really has no meaning unless you tell me if it's 42 grams, 42 parsecs, 42 Kelvin, 42 centimeters per second, etc. See what I mean? And also, you should put a box around the final answer, and label all equations, diagrams and plots (including a title and axes labels).

You are encouraged to discuss the labs with your classmates, but you should do your own work. The report you turn in must be individual work, not collaborative. Do not let others copy your work and DO NOT CHEAT! (more details about the no-cheating policy below) If you don't understand something, you can ask me during the lab session or during my office hours.

Policy

[back to top]

This course follows the Eberly College of Science and Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Academic Integrity Policies. See http://www.science.psu.edu/academic/Integrity/Policy.htm and http://www.astro.psu.edu/deptinfo/integrity.html for more details. What does this mean? DO NOT CHEAT! Don't copy answers, don't plagiarize lab summaries, don't fake observations, etc. Just don't cheat.

UPDATE (6/Feb/06) -- If I notice cheating of any kind in a lab report, the cheater(s) will obtain a grade of zero in the lab report, and this grade cannot be eliminated at the end of the semester as the lowest grade in the labs, nor can the lab be made up at the end of the semester. If you cheat twice, then you get an XF in the class, so just don't do it (not even once).

Lab Schedule

[back to top]

Section 12
Mondays 2:30-4:25pm

Regular Meetings: 541 Davey
Computer Lab: 69 Willard

Date Lab Number
9 January 1
16 January MLK Day
23 January 4
30 January 2 *
6 February 3
13 February 5 *
20 February 7
27 February 6
6 March ---
13 March 8
20 March 9
27 March 10
3 April 11
10 April 13 *
17 April 14 *
24 April TA Choice

Section 9
Wednesdays 4:40-6:35pm

Regular Meetings: 104 Osmond
Computer Lab: 71 Willard

Date Lab Number
11 January 1
18 January 4
25 January 2 *
1 February 3
8 February 5 *
15 February 7
22 February 6
1 March 8
8 March ---
15 March 9
22 March 10
29 March 11
5 April 13 *
12 April 14 *
19 April TA Choice
26 April Make-up

Labs labeled with a little star (*) will meet in the computer lab. These are Labs 2, 5, 13 and 14. Notice that the computer lab is in a different place for each section. I'll remind you the week before that we'll be meeting in the computer lab, but please try to be alert and show up in the right place.

On March 6 and 8 there are no labs because it's Spring Break. Go have fun somewhere. I know I will :-)

You may have also noticed that the labs will not be done in the order they are in the manual. This is because all the sections have to work around the schedule of the compuer lab. Please make sure to check the schedule ahead of time, so that you know where we'll be meeting and what lab we'll be doing.

UPDATE (16/Jan/06) -- I didn't know there were no classes on MLK Day (16/January/2006), so I didn't account for that on the Schedule. Therefore, all the Monday labs (Section 12) now have to be moved down one week. For this reason, at the end of the semester there will be no Make-up labs on Mondays. If you are on Section 12 and need to make up a lab, you'll have to come to my Wednesday section or to another TA's make-up section. I'll give more details about this later in the semester.

Last Updated: 9 February 2008