ASTRONOMY 5 – SPRING 2020

GENERAL SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

Week #	Week Beginning	Lecture Topics and Activities	Textbook Reading*	Homework**	3rd Hr Exercise	CPS Quiz
1	1/27	Enrollment Check, Introduction and Objectives Overview of Astronomy and the Universe Distance and Time Scales, Our Place in the Cosmos	Chapter 1	Assignment 0 Due 02/06	Intro-go to 3^rd hour!	––
2	2/3	Planetarium Sky Demonstrations – Terminology and Motions Seasons, Precession, Moon Phases, Eclipses Ancient Mysteries – Retrograde Motion and Stellar Parallax	Chapter 2	Assignment 1 Due 02/06	A	––
3	2/10 Friday Holiday	Early History and the Geocentric Models, Ptolemy Origins of Modern Astronomy – Copernicus, Brahe, and Kepler Galileo – Nature of Science, Observations, and Inertia and Motion	Chapter 3	Assignment 2 Due 02/13	B	AA
4	2/17 Monday Holiday	Newton’s Three Laws of Motion, Force and Acceleration Conservation Laws, Momentum and Energy Law of Universal Gravitation, Orbits and Tides	Chapter 4	Assignment 3 Due 02/20	C***	BB
5	2/24	Properties of Light, Waves & Photons, Electromagnetic Spectrum Properties of Matter, Atomic Structure, Phase Changes Atoms and Spectra, The Stefan-Boltzmann and Wien Laws Doppler Shift, Radial Velocity and Rotation	Chapter 5	Assignment 4 Due 02/27	D	CC
6	3/2	Telescopes – Refractors & Reflectors, Interferometers Light Gathering, Angular Resolution, Magnification Observations at Nonvisible Wavelengths, Instrumentation Atmospheric Effects – Light Pollution, Twinkling, Windows	Chapter 6	Assignment 5 Due 03/05	E	DD
7	3/9	Physical Characteristics and Processes of the Sun Sunspots, Solar Activity Cycle, and the Sun-Earth Connection	Chapter 14	Assignment 6 Due 03/12	F	EE
8	3/16	Properties of Stars – Luminosity, Temperature, Mass, Radius Magnitude System, Parallax, and Binary Star Systems Stellar Classifications and the HR Diagram Globular and Open Star Clusters, Stellar Birth and Aging Take-Home Midterm Available (Part 1)	Chapter 15	Assignment 7 Due 03/19	G	FF

ASTRONOMY 5 – SPRING 2020

GENERAL SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

(continued)

Week #	Week Beginning	Lecture Topics and Activities	Textbook Reading^†	Homework^††	3rd Hr Exercise	CPS Quiz
9	3/23	The Interstellar Medium and Star-Forming Clouds Stellar Formation Processes, Protostars, Disks, Jets and Winds Life Tracks and the Masses of Newborn Stars Evolution and Death of Low-Mass Stars In-Class Midterm (Part 3) in Third Hour (Bring Scantron 882) Extra Credit (first 10 pts) – Due 03/27 by 12:00 Noon	Chapter 16 Chapter 17	Take-Home Midterm (Part 1 - 40 pts Part 2 - 10 pts) Due 03/26	In-Class Midterm (Part 3 – 50 pts)	GG
10	3/30	Evolution and Death of High-Mass Stars White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars, and Black Holes Accretion Disks, Novae, Supernovae, Creation of the Elements Pulsars, X-Ray Binaries and Bursters, Gamma-Ray Bursts	Chapter 17 Chapter 18	Assignment 8 Due 04/02	H	HH
	4/06	SPRING BREAK
11	4/13	The Milky Way Galaxy – Characteristics, Dynamics, Populations Galactic Recycling, Star-Forming Regions, The Spiral Arms History of the Milky Way, The Galactic Center	Chapter 19	Assignment 9 Due 04/09	I	II
12	4/20	Galaxy Types – Spirals, Ellipticals, and Irregulars Galaxy Distances and Standard Candles, Cepheid Variables Hubble Law, Universal Expansion, and the Lookback Time	Chapter 20	Assignment 10 Due 04/23	J	JJ
13	4/27	Galactic Evolution, Collisions, and Starbursts Quasars and Other Active Galaxies, Supermassive Black Holes Quasars as Probes of the Intergalactic Medium	Chapter 21	Assignment 11 Due 04/30	K	KK
14	5/4	The Big Bang and the Universe’s Early Evolution Observational Evidence & the Need for Inflation, Olbers’ Paradox	Chapter 22	Assignment 12 Due 05/07	L	LL
15	5/11	Dark Matter and Dark Energy – Evidence and “Composition” The Large Scale Structure of the Universe Fate of the Universe – Expand Forever or Big Crunch? Balance of Extra Credit Due 05/15 by 12:00 Noon	Chapter 23	Assignment 13 Due 05/14	M	MM
16	5/18	Final Exam (110 pts, 3 parts – see Final Exam Outline) and Sky Quiz (30 pts)	––	––	Final	––