15-PHYS-127 ASTRONOMY LAB - Spring 2008

Prof. Michael L. Sitko - Lab Supervisor

sitkoml at ucmail.uc.edu

Purpose

The purpose of this course is to provide the students with hands-on activities related to astronomy. This quarter, the material centers on life in the universe. Thus, most of the exercises will be concentrated on venues for life in the universe: Mars, extrasolar planets, and how we might detect life elsewhere. Students will be required to complete 8 lab sessions during the quarter. Labs begin the week of April 7^th.

Class Supplies

The lab manual can be obtained (only!) at the University of Cincinnati Bookstore on West campus (costs about $15). The student will be required to bring a small number of supplies to class: a clipboard (for writing reports while observing outdoors), a metric ruler, and a scientific calculator. The calculator should be capable of working with exponents, have trig functions, etc. A simple 4-function calculator (add, subtract, multiply, and divide) will be insufficient for many of the lab exercises. It is also the responsibility of the student, not the class instructor, to know how their calculator works.

Note: because some exercises will require observing outside at night, be careful to be dressed appropriately for outdoor weather conditions!

Grading

Each day’s lab activities will be graded on a scale of 0-10. In addition, a quiz will be given at the start of each lab period, and will be graded on a scale of 0-2. MISSED LABS AND QUIZZES CANNOT BE MADE UP. However, the lab assistant will drop the lowest quiz grade and the lowest lab grade. Grading will be approximately as follows: 90+% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, 60-69% = D. These grade cutoffs are subject to revision, as the instructor sees fit.