1. ISP 205: Visions of the Universe
Goal
To learn about the universe around us
Astronomy
Have fun
Method
Lectures
Collaborative learning
Hands-on activities
Assessment
Homework
Electronic postings
Quizzes and exams
Lecture 1

2. Your Professor Gary D. Westfall, Ph.D. Nuclear Physicist
Studies equation of state of nuclear matter
Experiments at MSU
Superconducting Cyclotrons
Studies the quark gluon plasma
Experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider - RHIC
Experimentalist
Teaching physics at MSU since 1987
Teaching astronomy since Spring, 2001
Lecture 1

3. Course Resources Materials Book CD Web site Personalized homework
Voyages through the Universe
Fraknoi, Morrison, Wolff CD
Redshift - College Edition
Walker
CYBER SKY (alternate, free 21 day demo)
THE SKY ($120)
Web site
Personalized homework
CAPA
Lecture 1

4. Assignments
Homework assignments are important in the final grade. Students are expected to solve problems and answer qualitative questions in a weekly, personalized assignment.
Students complete the assignments by entering answers through the campus computer network or the web.
Instructions for using the Computer Assisted Personal Assignments (CAPA) system are included in handouts.
Students are encouraged to work together on the homework, but each student’s answers will different and must be entered individually. A calculator will be necessary to answer some of the problems.
Lecture 1

5. Basis for the Grade
The final grade will be constructed from the student’s performance on homework, quizzes, and exams. There will be 3 midterm exams.
A student can be excused from an exam for medical reasons or severe personal difficulties. A signed letter will be necessary to be excused. A student cannot be excused from more than one exam.
If the student has taken all the exams and is happy with his/her grade, the student does not need to take the final exam. If the student takes the final exam and has taken all 3 midterm exams, the lowest exam score will be dropped.
There will be a graded quiz or exercise during every lecture. No makeup for in-class work will be given.
Lecture 1

6. Basis for the Grade, Cont.
During the term, extra credit work will be assigned and will be added to the homework score. Approximately the equivalent of 20 homework points will be made available.
Grade calculation:
Homework assignments 35%
Midterm exams and Final exam, 20% each (the highest 3 scores are counted)
In-class quizzes and exercises 5%. The lowest 7 quiz scores (out of 25 total) will be dropped. No quiz/exercise make-ups will be given.
Grade scale: The grade scale is guaranteed. The actual scale may be lowered from these values but will not be raised.
Lecture 1

7. Grade Scale
0.0 – 0.0 to 47.5
1.0 – 47.5 to 55.0
1.5 – 55.0 to 62.0
2.0 – 62.0 to 68.0
2.5 – 68.0 to 76.0
3.0 – 76.0 to 83.0
3.5 – 83.0 to 90.0
4.0 – above 90.0
Lecture 1

8. Exams Date, Time, and Place of Exams:
Midterm Exam #1
Monday, September 24, 7:00 pm, Room 118, Physics-Astronomy Building
Midterm Exam #2
Monday, October 29, 7:00 pm, Room 118, Physics-Astronomy Building
Midterm Exam #3
Monday, December 3, 7:00 pm, Room 118, Physics-Astronomy Building
Final Exam
Monday, December 10, 8: :00 pm, Room 118, Physics-Astronomy Building
Exams will all be multiple choice and computer-graded
Lecture 1

9. CAPA Homework Each student will have personalized homework assignments
You can access CAPA with a simple terminal emulator or through the WWW using a browser
For example, to access CAPA using a browser
Point your browser to:  
Select isp205s1 from the Class pop-up menu.
Enter your Student Number, then the CAPA ID that is printed at the top of each assignment.
Click on the appropriate button to try your set.
Lecture 1

10. Homework Notes
If you lose your HW paper you can work the assignment on the www. To get your PIN for the week you will need your student number and a PIN from a previous week’s assignment. Go to   to get your new PIN.
You may repeat the problems you missed 30 times and still get full credit. After an ‘incorrect’ response, a hint may be available. It is viewed by selecting :H in telnet, and appears automatically on the www. You may login/logout as many times as you wish. Once a problem is correct, credit cannot be lost.
Do not open multiple sessions or browsers.
Clicking the browser’s "Reload/Refresh" button right after submitting an incorrect answer re-submits that incorrect answer and uses up a Try.
Selecting the Discuss button allows you to post questions and help on the homework. If you are having trouble with a problem this is a good way to get help.
Lecture 1

11. Assessment
We will give a quiz and the beginning of class (today) and give the same quiz at the end of the semester
The quiz is a sample of the material covered in the course
The first step is a quiz in class today
This quiz will be graded and will count only as extra credit
This quiz will be given again later to assess our teaching techniques
Lecture 1

12. Contact Information
Professor Gary D. Westfall
208 Cyclotron
Office phone
off campus
, extension 324 on campus
Fax:
Home (emergencies)
Phone:
Fax:
Lecture 1

13. The Nature of Astronomy
The study of objects outside the Earth’s atmosphere and processes by which these objects interact with each other
Humanity’s efforts to organize a clear history of the universe
When we look up, we see a universe that is evolving
Lecture 1

14. The Nature of Science Science accepts nothing on faith
Science is a method as well as a body of knowledge
New ideas are proposed and tested
Hypotheses
Science is the continuous process of proposing and testing hypotheses
Lecture 1

15. The Laws of Nature
Fundamental principles extracted from many observations are called “laws”
The same “laws” apply everywhere in the universe
These laws cannot be suspended or ignored
Laws can be modified and changed as new observations are made and hypotheses are tested
Most laws are expressed with mathematical equations
In this course we will use very few equations
Lecture 1

16. Numbers in Astronomy
In studying astronomy we often deal with large numbers
Suppose we want to write the distance from the Earth to the Sun
93,000,000 miles
93 million miles
93 x 106 miles
9.3 x 107 miles or 9.3E7 miles
Small numbers use negative exponents
4.5 x 10-4
Lecture 1

17. Light Years A light year is a unit of distance
A light year is the distance light travels in a year
Light travels 3 x 108 meter/second (186,000 miles per second)
A year has 365 days x 24 hours/day x 60 minutes/hour x 60 seconds/minute = seconds
A light year is then s times 3 x 108 meters/second = 9.46 x 1015 meters = 9.46 x 1012 kilometers = 5.88 x 1012 miles
That’s 6 trillion miles
A long way
Lecture 1

18. The Speed of Light/Travel Time
The finite (but fast) speed of light means that travel to distant objects will take a long time
Any information we receive from distant objects can only get to us at the speed of light
We will see a distant object as it existed when the light began its journey to us
When an object travels near the speed of light time “slows down” compared with the background universe - Einstein’s special relativity
If we can travel close to the speed of light, we can “go forward” in time
We can’t go back in time
Lecture 1

19. A Tour of the Universe Earth Moon Planet 13,000 km in diameter
Our nearest astronomical neighbor
384,000 km away
The diameter of the moon is 3476 km, 1/4 of the Earth
Light takes 2.6 seconds to travel from the Earth to the Moon and back
Lecture 1

20. Earth in Orbit The Earth orbits the Sun, 93 million miles away
150 million kilometers
It takes 8 minutes for light to get from the Sun to the Earth
The distance from the Earth to the Sun is called an astronomical unit (AU)
The Earth takes 1 year or 3 x 107 seconds to go around the sun
The Earth is traveling 110,000 km/hour or 66,000 miles per hour around the sun
Lecture 1

21. The Solar System
There are nine planets orbiting the Sun along with their associated moons
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Lecture 1

22. Milky Way
Our sun is 1 of 200 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way
The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy 100,000 light years in diameter
The Sun is 30,000 light years from the center of the Galaxy
Lecture 1