Textbook: "Astronomy Today" (Sixth Edition) by Eric Chaisson and Steve McMillan

Student Companion Workbooks:
     "Online Journey Through Astronomy: The Solar System"
        by Michael Guidry, Margaret Riedinger and Frank Edward Barnes (Student Companion) [Click ELECRONIC COURSE RESERVES button via UTK Library and then type astronomy in box that shows up]. 

     "Online Journey Through Astronomy: Stars and Galaxies"
         by Michael Guidry, Margaret Riedinger and Ted Barnes. Workbook written by Kevin Lee [Also on ELECTRONIC COURSE RESERVES via UTK Library]

Material to be covered:

Chapter 1 Charting the Heavens The Foundations of Astronomy: orders of magnitudes; powers of ten, exponential and scientific notation; scientific units, fundamental constants, speed of light, distance units, smallest and largest components of universe, periodic table of the elements; angular measure; parallax; triangulation;

Chapter 3 Radiation - Information from the Cosmos: wave motions; EM radiation and spectrum; Blackbody radiation; radiation laws; temperature scales; the Doppler effect;

Chapter 4 Spectroscopy - The Inner Workings of Atoms: Spectral lines; modern physics, interaction of radiation & matter; Kirchoff's laws; emission, absorption and continuous spectra; atomic structure; Hydrogen spectra; Balmer series, Bohr model of H-atom; molecules; analysis of spectra to derive information;

Chapter 5 Telescopes - The Tools of Astronomy: , Optical observatories, relecting and refracting telescopes; types of telescope designs; types of light detectors (film, photoelectric, CCD's); light-gathering power; resolving power; light pollution; "seeing";  image processing; adaptive optics; New Technology telescopes, Radio astronomy; interferometry; spaceborne observatories (Hubble, NGST),  long and short wavelength space observatories (SIRTF, Chandra, Compton, ROSAT); long wavlength astronomy (IR, MW, radio), sky surveys (Palomar, Sloan DSS, 2dF, 2MASS);

Chapter 16 The Sun - Our Parent Star: physical properties; solar structure; energy transport mechanisms; solar atmosphere (photosphere, chromosphere & corona) and solar interior (core, radiative zone, convection zone); solar eclipses, ground based solar observatories & space missions (SOHO, Yohkoh, TRACE ); sunspots, sunspot cycles, prominences, plages, solar flares, the solar wind, solar-terrestrial interactions (aurorae, the "Little Ice Age"), the solar constant; soalr energy production; nuclear fusion; proton - proton process; solar neutrinos; neutrino observatories;

Chapter 17 Measuring the stars - Giants, Dwarfs and the Main Sequence:  stellar parallax and distances; nearest stars; brighest stars; trigonometric & spectroscopic parallax; stellar motions; luminosity; stellar magnitudes: apparent & absolute; stellar temperatures; UBV photometry, color indices; the distance formula; the stellar Spectral Classes (O, B, A, F, G, K, M, L); stellar radii; the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram; the Morgan-Keenan Luminosity Classes; Binary star types-visual, astrometric, spectroscopic, eclipsing; light curves; determination of  stellar masses; the mass-luminosity relationship; stellar lifetimes;

Chapter 18  The Interstellar Medium - Gas and Dust Among the Stars: Interstellar gas and dust; extinction and reddening; Nebulae types-emission, absorption, reflection; interstellar molecular clouds; HI and HII regions; the  21 cm line of HI; interstellar molecules;

Chapter 19 Star Formation - A Traumatic Birth: pre-MS evolution and evolutionary tracks; Kelvin-Helmholtz contraction; fragmentation; stellar nurseries; giant molecular clouds; protostars; Bok globules; HH objects; T-Tauri stars; ZAMS; OB associations, EGG's, the Orion Nebula as an example; H-R diagrams for clusters and the ages of stars; brown dwarfs;

Chapter 15 The Formation of Planetary Systems: nebula hypothesis for solar system formation; observations of proto-planetary disks; discovery of extra- solar planets;

Chapter 20 Stellar Evolution - The Life of a Star: Red Giants, post-MS evolution, planetary nebulae, white dwarfs, degenerate matter, electron degeneracy pressure, Chandrasekhar limit, black dwarf, novae;

Chapter 21 Stellar Explosions - Novae, Supernovae and the Formation of the Heavy Elements: Red supergiants, mass loss processes; type I and II supernovae, supernovae remnants, observations of supernovae, SN1987A, synchrotron radiation, neutrinos, BBHF model, stellar nucleosynthesis processes;

Chapter 22 Neutron Stars and Black Holes - Strange States of Matter: neutron stars-theory & discovery, pulsars, lighthouse model, Crab Nebula, glitches, millisecond pulsars, binary pulsars, magnetars, gravitational waves, LIGO, X-ray binaries; SS 433; gamma ray bursts; Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, spacetime, stellar black holes, singularities, event horizons, Schwarzschild radius, ergosphere, candidates for black holes, x-ray astronomy, Cygnus X-1, wormholes, mini-black holes, supermassive black holes;

Chapter 23 The Milky Way Galaxy - A Grand Design:  structure of the Milky Way-arms, disk, nucleus, etc.; stellar populations (I and II); Variable stars-Cepheids, RR-Lyrae, Mira types, period-luminosity relationship;
galactic models, ages, origins; density wave theories, star formation; galactic center, supermassive black holes); mass of the galaxy, rotation curves, dark matter;

Chapter 24 Normal Galaxies - The Large Scale Structure of the Universe: spiral nebulae, discovery of galaxies, Slipher, Hale & Hubble; types of galaxies-normal & barred spirals, ellipticals, spherical, irregular, peculiar; properties of galaxies; rotation curves, dark matter;  colliding/interacting galaxies; galactic clusters;  Hubble's Law & constant; the expanding universe; the distance scale, standard candles, the accelerating universe, structure of the universe, models for galaxy formation, dark matter;

Chapter 25 Active Galaxies and Quasars - Limits of the Observable Universe: Active galaxies (AGN's); discovery of quasars, redshifts of quasars, importance of quasars; blazars, Seyfert galaxies, BL Lac objects; N-types, cosmic jets & superluminal velocities; gravitational lensing and multiple quasar images; radio galaxies, double lobe structures; supermassive black holes;

Chapter 26 Cosmology - The Big Bang and the Fate of the Universe: Olber's paradox, the cosmological principle; geometry of spacetime; Friedmann diagrams; the steady-state theory; the Big Bang, evidence for it-galactic redshifts & cosmic background radiation, COBE; dark matter, normal and exotic matter; multiverses;

Chapter 27 The Early Universe - Toward the Beginning of Time: Creation of the first elements, (Big Bang nucleosynthesis), H/D ratios; missing mass problem, neutrinos-theory and observation, dark matter & dark energy; the forces of nature, families of matter, GUT's & TOE's, string theory; models for the universe-standard & inflationary; cosmic strings; Hubble Deep Field studies, new observations;

Chapter 28 Life in the Universe - Are We Alone?: models for origin of life on Earth and other planets; organic chemistry, amino acids, DNA & RNA; Urey-Miller experiments; life in extreme environments; life on Mars, Europa, etc.? ; the discovery of other planets and solar systems; radio astronomy, SETI, the Drake equation;

Tests:   The four exams will be mostly objective questions (T-F, multiple choice, matching, fill-ins) with some essay questions for extra credit. The lowest of the four grades will be dropped. THERE ARE NO MAKEUPS.

Grading: The breakdown will go like this:

                                                       Daily Quizzes                 15%
                                                       Participation                   10%      
                                                       Quizzes (drop lowest)
                                                         @ 25%                         75%

Extra Credit: Day and evening telescope observation sessions are available from the roof of the Physics building (conducted by Mr. Paul Lewis).  Mr. Lewis's office is now located on the first floor next to the elevator. His phone number/answering machine is at 974-9601. If it is raining and you have scheduled an observation or if you cannot see the sky clearly then you still need to show up. At weather affected sessions where sky conditions preclude any observations Mr. Lewis will talk to you and show you a videotape in our Astronomy Reading Room located on the mezzanine floor of the Physics building. It is also very important that you try to do your observing as early as possible since bad weather usually causes many cancellations of extra credit sessions. This causes many students to miss their chance at extra credit. Don't let it be you! One solar and one evening session will be considered for extra credit. A stamped form from Mr. Lewis PLUS a one page typed essay description of your observing trip should be handed in to me for you to get full credit ( 5 pts. added to your base grade calculated in section above). The stamped form should be STAPLED to the top sheet (not folded over, taped or paper clipped!! These seperate and get lost).

We also arrange special trips to the Heritage Planetarium in Maryville for shows relevant to our course material.
These will be announced in class and on the newsgroup. A two page written report on the show content and how it relates to the course material is required. These count as trip type extra credit (2.5 pts) if you can't do the two UT roof trips. If you do the two UT trips then these count as 1.5 pts on final grade.

You can also watch astronomy videotapes in the Astronomy Reading Room on the Mezzanine floor (take elevator-press M) at any time that you have available and the room is open (usually 8 a. m. - 10 p. m.). You will need to see me before or after class in my office to obtain course relevant video tapes to watch.

A two page typed and stapled together report on what you have watched should be submitted to me for grading (1 pt. addded to final grade). The subject of a video should relate to material covered during this semester, i.e., stars, observatories, spectroscopy, galaxies, neutron stars, white dwarfs, etc. (Not planets, moons, comets, asteroids -- that is for Astronomy 151!)

Also two page article reports on news items I bring into class and discuss can be written up and submitted for extra credit (1 pt. each).  See me for the  references after class or during office visits. You can get these articles in the UTK library or at news stands around Knoxville.

You may also (with advance permission from me) do a research paper relating to material covered this term
but in much greater depth. You will be expected to meet with me about twice a week to discuss references, outlines and drafts as you pursue your topic. A minimum of 10 outside references (articles in journals and books) are required and the paper must be 15 typed pages of text. This is a lot of work but an excellent paper will add a full letter grade to your final evaluation.

FOR MORE DETAILS USE EXTRA CREDIT BUTTON ON PREVIOUS WEBPAGE