The unit KYA181 Astronomy is designed
for students from all backgrounds and all majors who have an interest in the
Universe beyond the Earth. It is
taught using mathematics, but in a qualitative not a quantitative way.
Pre-requisite: Proficiency in high
school maths is assumed, but there are no prerequisites. Basic physical concepts are used, but
first year physics is not required.
Teaching staff: Professor John
Dickey (2447) is in charge of the unit and will be presenting the lectures on
the Hobart campus. Dr. Martin
George will be supporting and occasionally lecturing on the Launceston campus. Any problems you may have, either with
Astronomy or more generally, can be discussed with us. If you can't find us,
please either email, or ask the Maths-Physics secretary to make an appointment.
Unit coordinator, Hobart Lab instructor, and Lecturer – Prof J M Dickey , Room 413 (Ph: 6226 2447).
Launceston Lab instructor and Lecturer - Dr. Martin George, Queen Victoria Museum (Ph: 6323-3714).
Links to: Unit objectives; outcomes; resources; assessment; class times; assignments; timetable of lectures
The objective of this course is to provide a thorough grounding in the
history of astronomy (3 lectures), the earth and other planets (6 lectures),
the history and formation of the solar system (2 lectures), the structure of
the sun and other stars (4 lectures), the life and death cycle of stars (5
lectures), the Milky Way Galaxy (4 lectures), galaxies and clusters of galaxies
(5 lectures), active galaxies and quasars (2 lectures), cosmology (5 lectures),
and life in the universe (2 lectures).
A more general but equally important objective is to appreciate the
mathematics and physics that provide a framework for understanding the
processes that determine the structure and evolution of all kinds of objects in
the Universe.
The lectures will deal with all
major concepts and with additional material and applications not covered in the
prescribed textbook. You should read the prescribed textbook generally, and you
will be explicitly referred to it for some background and for topics treated well
in it. You may be asked questions testing your knowledge of information in the
textbook that was not explicitly covered in lectures. Practicals and
Tutorials will consolidate the work, deal
with misunderstandings and give practice in problem solving, as well as giving
students a chance to work with the technology of modern astronomy, through
simulations of large telescopes on computers, and through visits to the UTas
Observatories and the QVM Planetarium.
Particular questions or difficulties that cannot be answered in the
tutorials should be taken to the lecturers.
Applications of theory and observation in daily life and technology are kept
in mind at all appropriate points in the course. Students are encouraged to
develop their conceptual thinking ability, and to practice approximating real
situations by simpler physical/mathematical models. Astronomy provides a model of how human knowledge is
structured with a paradigm as framework, with theory and observations in
support or contradiction.
As a result of this course you will be familiar with large numbers and how
to do arithmetic with them. You
will know how the sun supplies energy to the earth and other planets, and how
the atmospheres of the planets determine the conditions on their surfaces. You will know how the sun generates its
energy through nuclear fusion, and how that energy gets out of the sun to us. You will know how the sun and planets
first formed, and how they will die, and how other stars are different from the
sun. You will know the history of
the atoms in our bodies, from the time they formed at the centres of stars that
lived and died long ago. You
will know how the sun and the other stars move in the much larger system of the
Milky Way galaxy, and how our galaxy differs from the other kinds of galaxies
in the Universe. You will be familiar with modern cosmology based on the most
recent discoveries in astronomy and physics. You will have also further developed your generic
problem-solving skills, and your scientific world-view. These techniques you will then be able to take
with you when studying other more advanced material in science, or any other
subject.
Text Book: The prescribed text is 21st Century Astronomy, by Hester et al. Any edition of this book is fine. Other textbooks are available for reference in the SciTech Library. The publishers web site is http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/astronomy/astro21/
It provides many additional useful resources, and if you have purchased the
text you should make the most of it.
Duplicated Materials: Duplicated material
of various kinds will be provided during the semester and copies of recent examination papers
are available on the University of Tasmania WWW site and at the Scitech
Library.
WebCT site: Contains various resources, such as
powerpoint slides, homeworks, numerical answers to questions, assignments,
lecture audio etc.
Scientific Communication Skills resource contained within WebCT provides
information on written and verbal communication skills specifically for
students in science and engineering courses at the University of Tasmania. All students in the Faculty of Science
and Engineering have access to this unit.
On your myWebCT page, choose Scientific Communication Skills to access
the resource. If you have problems
accessing WebCT, see UTas Online Support Services (http://www.utas.edu.au/coursesonline/services/index.html)
or contact the Help Desk on x1818, HelpDesk@utas.edu.au,
or in person during office hours.
It is intended that the
assessment will be as follows, a 3 hour exam at the end of the semester, two 1
hour tests during the semester, four laboratory sessions, and weekly homework
assignments.
|
Time |
Type |
Material Covered |
Approximate Percentage of Final Mark |
|
Continuous |
Weekly Assignments |
Previous weeks lectures |
10% |
|
Continuous |
Laboratory reports |
Observations |
10% |
|
|
1hr Test |
weeks 1-4 |
20% |
|
|
1hr Test |
weeks 5-10 |
20% |
|
June exam period |
3hr Exam |
All lecture material |
40% |
We will attempt to schedule tutorials during the week that precedes the
June examination period.
Experience has shown that
you are unlikely to pass KYA181 if you obtain less than about 40% of the possible mark in the weekly
assignments. You should also be aware that inadequate performance may cause a
student to be declared Not Eligible to sit the examination in June.
NOTE:
You will attend three
lectures and one practical/tutorial session each week throughout the semester.
Please note that you are expected to attend all lectures, and all the
tutorial sessions.
You are warned that if you fail to attend at least two-thirds of lectures and
tutorials you may be excluded from the final examination. Details of lectures
are given in the timetable. We will do our best to
notify you immediately of any changes that become necessary.
Lectures will be held :
Monday
9-9:50 AM in B102 Main Library Sandy Bay Campus
in
NHX 117 Newnam Campus
Tuesday
11-11:50 AM in Soc Sci 205, Sandy Bay Campus
in
NHL 172 Newnam Campus
Friday
9-9:50 AM in Soc Sci 205, Sandy Bay Campus
in
NHL 172 Newnam Campus
Tutorials-Practicals will be held :
Thursday
1:10-3PM in Geology 400, Sandy Bay Campus
Thursday
5:00- 8:00 PM in V196 Launceston Campus
Tutorials will commence in week 2 of the semester. Note that some weeks they will not be
held, see the timetable below. Two
of the Thursday sessions will be dedicated to observing (these will be rescheduled
for Thursday evening for students in Hobart). Four will be dedicated to practical exercises of observing
using computer based simulations of large telescopes. Four will be paper exercises with discussion for deeper
exploration of some key topics from the lectures.
An assignment will be set each week. Many of the questions will be of a
standard similar to those that will be on the examination papers. The
assignments will be handed out during the Friday lectures. Completed assignments must be handed in
by noon on Tuesdays (11 days after the assignment was
issued). Place them in the
appropriate pigeonhole for your tutorial group. Your marked assignment will be
returned to you at your next tutorial-practical class.
|
Week |
Starts |
Lecture Monday 9:00 |
Lecture
|
Lecture |
Lab/Tutorial Thursday PM |
|
1 |
Feb 26 |
Life in the Universe |
Ptolemy- Copernicus |
Kepler’s Laws |
no class |
|
2 |
Mar 5 |
Galileo - Newton |
the Earth |
the Moon and Mercury |
Skyglobe lab |
|
3 |
Mar 12 |
Venus |
Mars and the asteroids |
Jupiter and the Giant Planets |
Planetary temperatures exercise |
|
4 |
Mar 19 |
Outer Planets and Comets |
Formation of the Solar System I |
Test |
no class |
|
5 |
Mar 26 |
Formation of the Solar System II |
Solar Energy Production |
Solar Structure and Activity |
Moons of Jupiter lab |
|
6 |
Apr 2 |
Light and Spectra |
Stellar Spectral Classification |
Easter Break |
no class |
|
|
Apr 9 |
Easter Break |
Easter Break |
Star Luminosities and Sizes |
observing 1 |
|
7 |
Apr 16 |
Star Lifetimes and Masses |
Giants and Supergiants |
Collapsed Objects I |
HR diagram exercise |
|
8 |
Apr 23 |
Collapsed Objects II |
Milky Way structure I |
Milky Way structure and motions |
classification of stellar spectra lab |
|
9 |
Apr 30 |
Milky Way rotation curve |
Interstellar Clouds |
Nearby Galaxies |
observing 2 |
|
10 |
May 7 |
Galaxy morphology |
Clusters and Groups of Galaxies |
Distance Estimators |
rotation curves exercise |
|
11 |
May 14 |
Active Galaxies |
Hubble Flow |
Test |
no class |
|
12 |
May 21 |
Cosmology I the age of the Universe |
Cosmology II background radiation |
Cosmology III the big bang |
Hubble Relation lab |
|
13 |
May 28 |
Cosmology IV dark matter and dark energy |
Life in the Universe II the search |
Life in the Universe III the future |
cosmology discussion |
·
Generic Attributes Developed in this Unit
o
Knowledge :
·
Apply knowledge of mathematical and physical principles
in a broad range of contexts.
·
Ability to apply both theoretical and experimental
knowledge.
·
Understand underlying assumptions and limitations of
astronomical theories
·
Understand the linkages between science and the
humanities.
o
Communication Skills :
·
Demonstrate oral, written, numerical and graphic
communication.
o
Problem Solving Skills :
·
Develop
the ability to think critically about the evidence for and against different
physical theories.
·
Conceptualise
problems, formulate and evaluate a range of possible solutions.
o
Global
Perspective :
·
Understand
the role of physics in a broad range of astronomical contexts, disciplines and
situations.
·
Understand
our place in the Universe, in space and time, where we came from and what the
future holds.
Generic university warning on plagiarism - applicable to all courses
|
Plagiarism is a form of cheating. It is taking and using someone else's thoughts, writings or inventions and representing them as your own; for example, using an author's words without putting them in quotation marks and citing the source, using an author's ideas without proper acknowledgment and citation or copying another student’s work. In fact the intentional copying and submission of someone else's work as one's own is a serious offence tantamount to academic fraud. It is a University offence punishable by a range of penalties that may range from a fine or deduction/cancellation of marks and, in the most serious of cases, exclusion from a unit, a course, or the University. When in doubt consult your lecturer or tutor. Details of penalties that can be imposed are available in the Ordinance of Student Discipline or at www.utas.edu.au/plagiarism. |
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Latest
update 20 February 2007