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Home page for Fall 2009
AST 2002 Section 0004
(MWF 1:30-2:20) |
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News (Oct 26)
- For Friday -- read section 3 of Chapter 9.
- Homework #11 on Chapter 7 is due on Friday.
- There is a bunch of
supplemental info listed at the bottom of the page. More info
for chapters 6 and 7 will appear soon.
- Test #2 is on Monday November 2, which
is only about 2 weeks away. It will be on Chapters 3, 4, 6, and 7.
- Rough schedule for remainder of
this week: chapter 7 and start chapter 9.
week of November 2: test then finish chapter 9.
week of November 9: chapter 13.
week of November 16: chapter 16.
week of November 23: chapter 17.
week of November 30: chapter 18, test, continue chapter 18.
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Today's
Astronomy Picture Of The Day
(click the image for higher res and more info)
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Basic stuff:
- syllabus
- form for doing observatory extra credit
- FAQ
- Stuff you need:
- Get an
iclicker.
- Get a subscription to
MasteringAstronomy.
- Get a workbook.
- Get a textbook.
But note that a cheap and easy option is
to get items 2, 3, and 4
together in a bundle at the bookstore. Item 1
is at the bookstore too but comes separately; I
can give you a rebate coupon for $10 to offset
some of the cost.
- Having trouble with the material? There are a lot of options:
- See me during my office hours in MAP 305D either
on W 6-7:15pm or on R 5-6:15pm. Or you can email me to make an
appointment.
- Visit one of our TAs. Zoe is available online on
M 3-5pm, W 12-1pm, and F 7-9pm. Pejman is available in MAP 307
on R 9-11 am. Their g mail addresses are ast2002.help and pejofpower,
respectively.
- Visit
SARC, where there are 3 people
who are paid to help with this course. Their schedule is
M 9:30-12, M 4:30-7, T 4:30-6:30, W 11-7, R 4:30-6:30, F 9:30-12.
Also, one of the tutors is running a facebook
page called "Manny's Astronomy."
Lectures: Uploaded as needed.
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Week |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
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Dates |
8/24,26,28 |
8/31,9/2,4 |
9/9,11 |
9/14,16,18 |
9/21,23,25 |
9/28,30,10/2 |
10/5,7,9 |
10/12,14,16 |
10/19,21,23 |
10/26,28,30 |
11/2,4,6 |
11/9,13 |
11/16,18,20 |
11/23,25 |
11/30,12/2,4 |
12/7 |
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Mon. |
color |
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no class |
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test |
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Wed. |
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Fri. |
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no class |
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In-Class Assignments:
Columns: "#" is number of the assignment.
"Date" is the date. "CQ?" is + if we did clicker
questions, blank if not. "LT?" is + if we
did a lecture-tutorial, blank if not.
"#CQ" indicates how many clicker questions
there were. "#M" indicates how many marks
there were from those clicker questions.
"Pts." says how many total points toward
your course grade come from the assignment.
"Sol." links to the solutions for that days work.
"How graded" encodes how the marks for that
day were allocated among the clicker questions,
with "0" meaning that question didn't count,
"P1" meaning you got 1 mark for just clicking
in any answer, and "PC2" meaning that you got
1 mark for answering and 1 more mark for getting
it right.
Here's an example: #CQ = 4, #M = 4, Pts. = 3,
and "How graded" is "1-P1, 2-0, 3-PC2, 4-P1."
This means there were 4 clicker questions that day
and you could earn up to 4 marks with those
questions. You could earn 1 mark for question 1,
2 for question 3, and 1 for question 4. Question
2 was completely ungraded. You could earn
up to 3 points toward your course grade and the
conversion is: points you earned = (marks you earned/#M)*Pts.
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# |
Date |
CQ? |
LT? |
#CQ |
#M |
Pts. |
Sol. |
How graded |
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1 |
Aug 26 |
+ |
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|
|
0 |
x |
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2 |
Aug 28 |
+ |
+ |
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|
0 |
x |
|
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3 |
Aug 31 |
+ |
|
|
|
0 |
x |
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4 |
Sep 2 |
+ |
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3 |
3 |
1 |
x |
1-0, 2-P1, 3-PC2 |
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5 |
Sep 4 |
+ |
+ |
4 |
6 |
1 |
x |
1-PC2, 2-PC2, 3-P1, 4-P1 |
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6 |
Sep 9 |
+ |
|
2 |
4 |
2 |
x |
1-PC2, 2-PC2 |
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7 |
Sep 11 |
+ |
+ |
6 |
9 |
2 |
x |
1-P1, 2-P1, 3-PC2, 4-PC2, 5-PC2, 6-P1 |
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8 |
Sep 14 |
+ |
+ |
6 |
9 |
3 |
x |
1-PC2, 2-PC2, 3-P1, 4-PC2, 5-PC2, 6-0 |
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9 |
Sep 16 |
+ |
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2 |
4 |
3 |
x |
1-PC2, 2-PC2 |
|
10 |
Sep 18 |
+ |
|
6 |
6 |
3 |
x |
1-0, 2-P1, 3-PC2, 4-0, 5-P1, 6-PC2 |
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11 |
Sep 21 |
+ |
+ |
5 |
7 |
3 |
x |
1-P1, 2-P1, 3-P1, 4-PC2, 5-PC2 |
|
12 |
Sep 23 |
+ |
|
6 |
6 |
3 |
x |
1-PC2, 2-0, 3-P1, 4-PC2, 5-0, 6-P1 |
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13 |
Sep 25 |
+ |
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2 |
2 |
3 |
x |
1-P1, 2-P1 |
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14 |
Sep 28 |
+ |
|
4 |
4 |
3 |
x |
1-P1, 2-P1, 3-P1, 4-P1 |
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15 |
Sep 30 |
+ |
+ |
2 |
2 |
3 |
x |
1-P1, 2-P1 |
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16 |
Oct 2 |
+ |
+ |
6 |
9 |
3 |
x |
1-PC2, 2-PC2, 3-PC2, 4-P1, 5-P1, 6-P1 |
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17 |
Oct 12 |
+ |
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1 |
1 |
3 |
x |
1-P1 |
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18 |
Oct 14 |
+ |
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9 |
9 |
3 |
x |
1-P1 2-P1 3-0 4-P1 5-PC2 6-P1 7-P1 8-P1 9-P1 |
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19 |
Oct 16 |
+ |
|
2 |
2 |
3 |
x |
1-P1 2-P1
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|
20 |
Oct 19 |
+ |
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3 |
3 |
3 |
x |
1-P1 2-P1 3-P1
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|
21 |
Oct 21 |
+ |
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5 |
6 |
3 |
x |
1-P1 2-P1 3-PC2 4-P1 5-P1
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|
22 |
Oct 23 |
+ |
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2 |
2 |
3 |
x |
1-P1 2-P1
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|
23 |
Oct 26 |
+ |
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3 |
3 |
3 |
x |
1-P1 2-P1 3-P1
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|
24 |
Oct 28 |
+ |
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4 |
6 |
3 |
x |
1-PC2 2-P1 3-PC2 4-P1
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Homework:
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# |
Date Due |
What |
Graded? |
Points |
Notes |
Some Solutions |
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0 |
Aug 28 |
WebCourses pre-test |
N |
1 |
-- |
NA |
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1 |
Sep 7, 1:30pm |
Homework #1
on MasteringAstronomy |
Y |
6 |
x |
on MA |
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2 |
Sep 9, 1:30pm |
Homework #2
on MasteringAstronomy |
Y |
6 |
x |
on MA |
|
3 |
Sep 18, 1:30pm |
Homework #3,
download
here |
Y |
6 |
x |
x |
|
4 |
Sep 18, 1:30pm |
Homework #4,
on MasteringAstronomy |
Y |
6 |
-- |
on MA |
|
5 |
Sep 25, 1:30pm |
Homework #5,
on MasteringAstronomy |
Y |
6 |
-- |
on MA |
|
6 |
Oct 2, 1:30pm |
Homework #6,
on MasteringAstronomy
but
do
these worksheets first |
Y |
6 |
-- |
x |
|
7 |
Oct 9, 1:30pm
(though see News above) |
Homework #7,
on
Surveymonkey.com |
Y |
6 |
x |
NA |
|
8 |
Oct 9, 1:30pm |
Homework #8,
on MasteringAstronomy |
Y |
6 |
-- |
on MA |
|
9 |
Oct 19, 1:30pm |
Homework #9,
on MasteringAstronomy |
Y |
6 |
-- |
on MA |
|
10 |
Oct 26, 1:30pm |
Homework #10,
on MasteringAstronomy |
Y |
6 |
-- |
-- |
|
11 |
Oct 30, 1:30pm |
Homework #11,
on MasteringAstronomy |
Y |
6 |
x |
-- |
Supplemental info:
- Chapter 1
- Solutions to Prather et al. workbook pages
relevant to Chapter 1 are
here.
- There is a tutorial on MasteringAstronomy on the
scale of the Universe. Don't worry too much about
the details of the math, but do try to understand the
differences in scales.
- Do you want to see the "Powers of Ten" video that
was shown in class on Aug 31? A version of it is on
YouTube.
- There are 3 self-test "quizzes" on MasteringAstronomy. Questions
that are relevant for what we've covered are listed as follows. Basic
Reading Quiz: 1-4, 7-13, 15.
Conceptual Quiz: 1-2, 4-6, 9-11, 13.
Visual Quiz: Parts 1-3, 5.
Click on "Study Area" and then the quizzes are on the left side
navigation bar.
- Chapter 2
- MOST IMPORTANT STUFF:
- Solutions to Prather et al. workbook pages
relevant to Chapter 2 are
here.
- Applets:
1 (from class Sept 9),
2,
3 (from class Sept 14),
4.
Instructions.
- There is a movie, "The Celestial Sphere," on MasteringAstronomy
that gives an explanation of this construct. Ignore the talk in
part 2 about "declination" and "right ascension". (Go to "Study Area"
and then click on "Movies.")
- There is an interactive figure on MA about the celestial
sphere -- figure 2.10.
Instructions are here.
- I've made a document containing some sample questions
from sections 1 and 2 of this chapter.
Section 1:
here are the questions, and
here are the answers.
Section 2:
here are the questions, and
here are the answers.
Section 3:
here are the questions, and
here are the answers. (The question files are big, sorry.)
- There are 3 self-test "quizzes" on MasteringAstronomy. Questions
that are relevant for what we've covered are listed as follows.
Reading Quiz: 1-5, 7-12, 14-16, 18.
Conceptual Quiz: 1, 4-9, 11-15, 18-19.
Visual Quiz: 1, 2, 4-10.
Click on "Study Area" and then the quizzes are on the left side
navigation bar.
- There are three tutorials on MasteringAstronomy
that will help you: "Seasons", "Eclipses", and "Phases of the Moon".
Click on "Study Area" and then "Self-Guided Tutorials".
- EXTRA STUFF:
- Here is the short clip
showing the phases of the Moon using a lamp and a ball.
- If you want to make a star chart customized for your
location and date, try this
site: Heavens Above.
Instructions.
- If you bought the textbook, it came with a CD of software
called "Voyager SkyGazer". It's kind of a planetarium software that
you can use this to visualize what's going
on in the night sky. Some instructions are
here.
Note that you
can also download free planetarium software from various places that's
just as good. You can try them out to see which you like best:
Stellarium,
Skychart,
Carinasoft.
You may have also heard of Google Sky -- here's an
instructional
video -- which is
cute to play with but not quite what we need.
- Chapter 3
- The applet on
Kepler's laws is available. Here are
instructions.
- If you want to get a better understanding of why
retrograde motion -- the phenomenon -- happens and why it doesn't really
mean that planets have to physically go backwards in the orbit, check
out
this
animation. (It is also possible to show retrograde motion
using Stellarium or Voyager SkyGazer.)
Mars and Earth go around their orbits, but watch what happens when Earth
starts to lap Mars. We catch up and speed by it. While this happens
Mars is still moving forward along its orbit but to us it seems to be
going backwards. This is similar to you driving on the road and passing
another car. You know the other car is moving forward too, but to you
it looks like its going backwards.
- Here is a set of
extra
worksheets on Kepler's laws. Note that while Exercise #4 might
require a tiny bit of math, I won't ask you such math as
intensive as this on an exam. Here are the solutions.
- You can use this
concept
map to learn some of the connections between the historical
concepts in Chapter 3. (Ignore the fact that it says AST 2002H for
Spring 2009 -- it's an old assignment.)
Some solutions (thought of course there are
several possible solutions for each sentence) are
here.
- There is a tutorial on MasteringAstronomy --
"Orbits and Kepler's Laws" -- that might be helpful for you.
- There are 3 self-test "quizzes" on MasteringAstronomy. Questions
that are relevant for what we've covered are listed as follows.
Reading Quiz: 1-2, 5-15.
Conceptual Quiz: 4-14.
Visual Quiz: 3-6, 8-10.
- Chapter 4
- Here is a
worksheet
about gravity on the various planets of the Solar System.
- There is a tutorial on MasteringAstronomy called "Motion and
Gravity" that you may find useful. Not all of it is relevant to
what we covered in class though; focus on the Introduction, Lesson 2,
Exercises 1 through 7, and the Summary.
- Here
are a couple extra worksheets about gravity. And here are the
solutions.
- There are 3 self-test "quizzes" on MasteringAstronomy. Questions
that are relevant for what we've covered are listed as follows.
Reading Quiz: 4-5, 15-16, 19-20.
Conceptual Quiz: 1-5, 12-14, 19-20.
Visual Quiz: 1, 7, 8-10.
- Chapter 6
- MA has some tutorials for this chapter.
Lessions 1 and 3 in "Formation of the Solar System" are useful;
you can skip Lesson 2.
All of "Detecting Extrasolar Planets" is useful, though
don't worry if you don't understand what an
absorption line in a spectrum is (that's chapter 5).
Test info:
- Test #1.
- I have posted the scores
for test #1 on myUCF Grades. I didn't change them
from the preliminary numbers from before. There are 2 numbers,
one for the number of questions you got right out of 35,
and another for how many points you get toward your course grade.
The conversion from # right to points is: points = 39.7516 +
1.82571 * (# right). I know the numbers sound odd, but they're based
on the statistical distribution of scores. This makes the average
across the class an 80 (i.e., the B-/B border). Also, effectively it means
that if you got 27 or more right, you got an A- or A;
if you got 21-26 right, you got a B-/B/B+;
if you got 16-20 right, you got a C-/C/C+;
if you got 12-15 right, you got a D/D+;
and if you got 11 or fewer right, you got an F.
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If you took the test and your score doesn't appear, DON'T PANIC.
It's probably because I haven't seen your test yet or because there
was an error on your scantron.
- If you didn't get the grade
you would have liked -- you shouldn't panic. Remember that
in this course we drop your lowest test grade out of the 4
you take. Just make sure to come to the remaining 3 tests.
The first test of the semester is usually the hardest,
for many people.
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