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Astronomy 1304
Introduction to Astronomy
Northwest College
Instructor:
Telephone:
Email
Professor Barry
713-974-5749 Home
john.barry@hccs.edu
Course : Introductory course for non-science students emphasizing broad themes
and minimal use of mathematics; Conceptual – general understanding of the
fundamental laws of astronomy, the methods and value of science, abstract
reasoning; the historical development of modern astronomical ideas; the night
sky, the solar system, including the laws of motion and surface properties of the
planets. Significant emphasis on geological aspects of astronomy, attention to
current NASA projects. This is a lecture course, not involved with measurement,
lab equipment or observation of the sky; however, opportunities may arise for
students to attend out-of-the-classroom activities such as night time observations,
as scheduled, museums, field trips, astronomy societies/club meetings, and other
pertinent activities.
Core curriculum course. The prerequisite for this course is the successful
completion of pre-algebra; MATH 0312. Contact the instructor should you have
any questions. The astronomy courses are not requisites of one another and may
be taken in any order.
Course Text: Required ; Students will need a small calculator.
The Solar System. 6th or 7th Edition; Michael A.Seeds
Thomson/Brookscole Publishers. The text will be used extensively. Students will
need access to webassign. Webassign can be split with another student.
Note: There is a two-semester version of the text – Foundations of Astronomy
10th or 11th Edition; Michael A.Seeds – Not recommended.
Academic Responsibility
Please refer to the Student Handbook concerning grievances, complaints,
discipline (including student conduct), scholastic dishonesty and student rights.
Cheating incidents will be handled severely. Please contact me if you require
any reasonable accommodation to achieve your academic responsibilities.
Attendance – Students are expected to attend all classes. Texas state
guidelines and HCCS policies require that student with more than FOUR
absences be withdrawn from the class. Arriving late or leaving early will be
recorded. Three late arrivals or leaving early equals one absence. Attending
class and paying attention is the key to a good grade. Stay current in your
studies – be prepared for lectures. Class participation will be monitored and
often adds to the course. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are
struggling with the class. The college has instituted an automated class
attendance record system. Students will be automatically dropped from the
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course upon missing the 4th class. Thus, students can only miss 3 classes.
Class is dismissed at 12:25pm. Arriving late or leaving early 3 times will be
counted as a missed class. Students should not schedule a class that has a time
conflict.
Withdrawal policy – The Texas administration now requires that students who
do not withdraw from a course before November 18, at 4:30pm must be
assigned a grade from A through F and cannot be “withdrawn”.
Exams will be based on lectures, reading assignments, in-class activities and
films. All exams will be closed book and open-notes. Students may use handwritten notes from class or hand-written summaries of relevant material. Student
must take all exams; there are no “dropped exams”. Make-up exams are an
unpleasant experience. They require a valid excuse (Doctor’s note, accident
report etc.) and are generally more difficult than the missed exam. The college
mandates that students attend the final exam on the published date. The final
exam is not comprehensive.
Exam Schedule and content – Grade calculation
Exam One
4 Chapters
Wed. Sept 22, 2010
Exam Two
4 Chapters
Wed. Oct 20, 2010
Exam Three
4 Chapters
Wed. Nov 24, 2010
Final Exam
4 Chapters
Mon. Dec 13, 2010
Grading:
Exams
Notebook
Video Reviews,In-class response &
Quizzes/Homework
TOTAL
No make-up exam
No late assignments
18.75%
18.75%
18.75%
18.75%
75%
10%
15%
100%
Syllabus subject to change.
Grading Scale – 100-90 =A, 89-80 = B, 79-70 = C, 69-60 = D, <60 = F
Grades may be “curved” to reflect the spread of the test scores.
Notebooks:
Students must purchase a bound notebook to be used
exclusively for Astronomy 1304. A notebook “combined” with other courses
will not be accepted. The notebook should be submitted to the professor for
grading at the end of each exam. The note will be divided into 2 parts – notes
taken in class and notes on the textbook.
Video Reviews: Students will submit notes on videos shown in class. Videos
will cover historical scientists, planets, the sun, scientific topics. The notes will
not be included in the notebook; but submitted on separate sheets. Video
reviews will be graded.
Quizzes/Homework: Quizzes will be administered as homework on Webassign.
In addition, students will be required to attend and listen to the lectures during the
class periods and to answer the accompanying quizzes. These quizzes will be
administered during the lectures. The Lecture Quizzes are due immediately following the
completion of the corresponding lecture.
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Texting, laptops, computers and cellphones – Students may not use
electronic devices of any type in the classroom during class time. These devices
are a detriment to learning in that they break the concentration of students during
lecture and lab. In particular, texting is not allowed during class time.
Students needing to respond to a text or cell phone call must leave the
classroom. Students who text in the classroom will be asked to leave for the
day.
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Name and title: Students should clearly indicate their name and the title of any
item submitted for grading. Students failing to do so will be penalized 2%.
Notice: If you feel you are going to be unable to continue with the course or you
must stop attending class periods and you wish to drop the course you must do
so by the posted drop date. Detailed Descriptions of Required
Course Activities:
(70%) In class Exams: All students will prepare by studying the chapters in the
text, by doing the homework assignments and by researching in the library, on the
Internet, or any other credible source of information. There will be four in class exams
and one final exam. All exams will be closed book. Make up exams are not
administered. If you do not appear for one exam, for any reason, your grade for that
exam will be a zero and that is the exam grade that will be dropped. The final Exam is
mandatory and not optional. Exams are due immediately following the examination
period.
(10) Lecture Quizzes: All students will be required to attend and listen to the
lectures during the class periods and to answer the accompanying quizzes. These
quizzes will be administered during the lectures. The Lecture Quizzes are due
immediately following the completion of the corresponding lecture. With a credit deadline
at the beginning of the next lecture.
(10%) Video Reviews: The student will be expected to watch the videos
shown during the semester and take notes on the video. Students should
compose 6 questions on the video from their notes and submit the next class.
(10%) Explorations: The students will learn to navigatae the night sky by
doing exercises with the help of selected computer software and a desktop
planetarium program. The Internet will also be used to retrieve related
astronomical news and information. Assignments that accompany the
explorations are to be submitted by the end of the class period or by the date
specified by the instructor.
Field Trips: Only if instructed by your instructor
Star parties at Southwest college scheduled for the following dates.
Oct 8
Oct 22
Nov 5
Nov19
Dec 3
The George Observatory: At Brazos Bend State Park
The observatory is open to the public every Saturday night. You can go
out there on any Saturday night. Turn in your park pass receipt taped to a
sheet of paper and a one-page summary of what you did and learned to
your instructor for credit.
1. This observatory has magnitude 5 skies except to the north and northwest
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due to light pollution from Houston and other cities.
2. The Trip is about an hour from downtown to the park.
3. From Downtown head south on US 59. Drive south through Houston. After
passing
Sugarland you will drive over the Brazos River. The first exit past the river is
The Grand Parkway exit (your exit). You will also see a brown sign
announcing the same exit for Brazos Bend State Park. Take the exit and turn
left crossing over the freeway and head south on 2759. There's a Burger
King/convenience store at this location. About a mile down the road you will
intersect with 762. Continue through the intersection, still heading south, do
not turn. The road name changes to 762. Follow this road for about 15 miles
through
many ninety degree turns (take a left turn at the light) until you get to the gate
of the park which will be on your left.
4. An alternative route is to take US 288 south of Houston and follow the brown
signs to the state park (use a map).
5. The charge to get inside the park is $4 per person or you can use a season
pass if you have one. Ask the park ranger how to get to the observatory.
6. There will be many amateur telescopes on the deck of the observatory. The
main 36-
inch telescope costs $3 per person - buy your ticket early, they
usually sell out. 8. There is an astronomy gift shop and there are soda
vending machines.
7. Bring: insect repellant
8. What to do?
There will be astronomy presentations, big scopes and little scopes, and many
experienced amateur astronomers with their sophisticated equipment to talk
to.
9. The George Observatory is operated by the Fort Bend Astronomy Club &
The Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Burke Baker Planetarium & Imax Theater
Houston Museum of Natural Science, Herman Park
713-639-4629
Space Center Houston, Clearlake, TX
281-244-2100
Club Meetings
Meetings of the North Houston Astronomy Club:
Meetings are held on the 4th Friday of every month. They are held in the
Teaching Theatre located in the Science Building of Kingwood College @ 7:30
p.m. (Novice session @ 6:45 is a 3rd point): http://www.astronomyclub.org/
Meetings of the Houston Astronomical Society:
Meetings are held on the 1st Friday of every month. They are held in room
#117 of the Science and Research Building I of the University of Houston, central
campus @ 8:00 p.m. (Novice sessions across the hall @ 7:00 p.m. and is a 3 rd
point); http://spacibm.rice.edu/~has/
Meetings of the Fort Bend Astronomy Club:
The Fort Bend Astronomy Club meetings are held at the HCC southwest
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campus in Stafford, TX. Meetings begin at 7:00 p.m. in the #7 lecture hall and in
rooms 102/104 and usually feature both novice and advanced programs.
http://www.fbac.org/
Johnson Space Center Astronomical Society:
JSCAS meets on the second Friday of every month at 7:30 PM.
the meetings are held in the auditorium at the Center for Advanced Space
Studies (formerly LPI) located at 3600 Bay Area Blvd. (at Middlebrook Drive).
http://www.ghg.net/cbr/jscas/
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