Steinn Sigurðsson: Astro 20 - Final Assignment

The final paper will be due on tuesday december 9th, in class.
The paper should be written in your own words.
The paper should be at least six pages, single sided, double spaced, 11pt font.
The paper may include a small number of relevant figures, whose origin is cited appropriately if they are copied from other sources.
The paper should include full and appropriate bibliography, including a listing (not just a cut'n'pasted URL at the end of the paper or in footnotes) and a citation in text. Any blockquoting of text must be quoted ("...") or otherwise offset from your own words. Extensive and exclusive quoting from wikipedia or other low level single sources is not appropriate, you should seek primary sources for material to the extent possible.
You may discuss the paper with other students and share sources, but the actual writing must be your own, and not copied. You should do as much of your own research on the topic as you can.

The paper may be on one of the following topics:

• Water on Mars?
  Discuss the evidence for current and past water on Mars.
  Discuss the possibility for past and current life on Mars, the evidence to data and plans for the future.
  Is there life on Mars?
• Habitability of extra-solar planets.
  Discuss what is currently known about extra-solar planets.
  Discuss the concept of the habitable zone and how it affects planetary habitability.
  What is the prospect for life on other planets outside the solar system?
• Concordance Cosmology: the Dark Universe.
  What is the best estimate of the composition and history of the universe?
  Briefly discuss the conjectured nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
  What are the prospects for future determination of the nature of the universe?

You may choose another topic, in consultation with me (Steinn) only.
You may consult me on source for the paper or any aspect of the paper writing at any time.

Last updated 11/08

Back to the top of my home page.