Course Syllabus

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Course Description:

This course is a general introduction and overview of Astronomy and covers many topics including constellations, seasons, history of Astronomy, the electromagnetic spectrum, telescopes, the Earth and other planets of our solar system, the Sun, binary stars, the Milky Way Galaxy, properties of galaxies and the Big Bang Theory. Students are kept abreast of current developments in the field

Scope: This is an introductory lecture course on the Overview of Elementary Astronomy. It meets the General Education Science Requirement. It is transferable to USC, UC and the Cal State System.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)

  1. To describe the origins of the Universe, the Big Bang Theory, and the present general structure of the Universe.
  2. To recognize components and facts of the solar system, including planets, satellites, asteroids, comets, and theories of the origin of the solar system.
  3. To examine the methods astronomers use to explore the natural phenomena of the universe, including the scientific method, the nature of Matter, Energy, Radiation and the historical development of astronomical ideas.
  4. To describe the nature of stars, including star formation and evolution, stellar energy sources and how this is related to our sun.
  5. To describe the nature of the Milky Way and other galaxies and their distribution in the universe and currently accepted theories of Cosmology.
  6. To describe the current theory of the origin of life on Earth.

Objectives:

To acquire an understanding of the solar system. To learn about the formation of the solar system, the planets with the use of spacecraft exploration. Understand the Earth Moon system. To present an overview of the universe and the physical laws that control it. To learn about the methods of science and critical thinking skills. To learn about the use of computers as a learning tool in science and more specifically astronomy. To use computer visualization as a learning tool. To present an overview of comparative planetology and the evolution of the Earth’s environment. To study the origin of life on Earth, the search for life in the universe and the Drake equation and the technologies used to search for life in the Universe. 

Course Contents:

The Scale of the Universe:
-Scientific Notation and its use in Astronomy.
-The Astronomical Unit, Light Year, and the Parsec as units of distance.
-The size scale of objects in the Universe.
-The structure of the Universe.

The Celestial Sphere and constellations:
-Different markings on the Celestial Sphere.
-Positions of stars on the Celestial Sphere.
-Paths of stars and planets.
-Precession of Earth's axis.
-Constellations and asterisms.
-Constellations of the Zodiac and Ecliptic.
-Names of stars.

The History of Astronomy:
-Archaeastronomy.
-Greek astronomers.
-Ptolemy and the Geocentric Model of the Universe.
-Renaissance astronomers.

Seasons, Phases of the Moon, Eclipses, and Tides:
-Seasons and their causes.
-Phases of the moon.
-Solar and Lunar Eclipses.
-Tides and their causes and effects.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum:
-The different EM waves and their absorption by our atmosphere.
-The SETI Project and the Water Hole.
-Wien's Law.
-Spectroscopy and the Balmer Lines.
-Kirchoff's 3 Laws.
-The Doppler Effect and its uses in Astronomy.

Telescopes:
-Power of telescopes.
-Techniques of improving telescopic image brightness and clarity.  
-Different kinds of telescopes such as optical, radio, infrared, UV, X-ray, and gamma ray. 
-Famous telescopes around the world and in outer space.  

The Earth:
-General data such as mass, size, etc.
-Interior features and characteristics.
-Surface features such as plate tectonics.
-Atmospheric makeup and layers. 
-Magnetosphere and auroras.  

The Moon:
-General data such as mass, size, etc.
-Interior features and characteristics.
-Surface features such as maria and highlands
-History of lunar landings. 
-Theories of the formation of the moon.

Solar System and Beyond:
-Interior features of the planets.
-Surface features.
-Atmospheric makeup and layers.
-Magnetic field.
-Moons and rings of the planets.
-History of the missions to the planets.
-Background of the names of the planets.
-Features of the comets, meteors, asteroids, Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud.
-Characteristic of extrasolar planets and methods of discovering them.

The Sun:
-General data and chemical makeup.
-Interior features and energy creation in the core.
-Atmospheric features and layers.
-Surface features such as sunspots, prominences, granules, etc. 
-Sunspot cycle, pole reversal, the Maunder minimum, and Maunder Butterfly Effect.

Star Characteristics:
-Mass, temperature, and size of stars.
-Absolute and apparent luminosity.
-The Stefan Boltzmann Law and the Mass-Luminosity Relation.
-The Hipparchus Scale for absolute and apparent luminosity.
-Stellar spectra and absorption lines.
-The B-V color index of stars.
-The H-R Diagram and its properties.

Stellar formation, evolution, and death:
-The interstellar medium, birth line, T Tauri stars, bipolar flows, and Herbig Haro objects.
-Main sequence stars and their lifespan.
-Death of low/medium mass stars, helium flash, planetary nebulae, white dwarfs.
-Death of high mass stars, formation of heavy elements, Type 2 Supernovas.
-Type 1 Supernovas and Novas.
-Variable stars and the Instability Strip.
-Stellar remnants including white dwarfs, neutron stars, pulsars, and black holes.  

Binary Stars, Star Clusters, Galaxies:
-Mass transfer in binary stars.
-Visual, Spectroscopic, and Eclipsing binaries.
-Open and Globular star clusters and the Turnoff Point.
-Properties of the Milky Way Galaxy, Population 1 and 2 stars, and the supermassive black hole at it center.
-The tuning fork diagram for general galaxies, properties of elliptical, spiral and irregular galaxies.
-The outcome of galaxy collisions and mergers. 

Cosmology:
-The Hubble Law and the Big Bang Theory.
-Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking at the beginning of the Big Bang.
-The Inflationary versus the Standard Model of the Big Bang.
-The history of key events after the Big Bang such as Recombination. 
-Proofs of the Big Bang.
-Different possible geometries of the universe and their properties.
-The makeup of the universe such as ordinary matter, dark matter, and dark energy.  
-The age and fate of the universe in the bounded, marginally bounded, open and accelerating models and the use of the deceleration parameter.

Assessment:

1.  In an objective test, students should be able to select the correct answer at least 70% of the time for each one of these student learning outcomes.

2.  In a subjective test, a rubric will be developed to assign points.  For example, a question regarding the solar system:  Three points are given if students could describe planets revolve around the Sun in the same direction, in nearly the same plane, or in elliptical orbits.  Two points are given if students describe only two of the three characteristics.  One point is given if students describe only one of the three characteristic.  Zero point is given if none of the characteristics is described. 

Textbook:

Great news: your textbook for this class is available for free online!
Astronomy from OpenStax, ISBN 1-947172-01-8

You have several options to obtain this book:

    You can use whichever formats you want. Web view is recommended -- the responsive design works seamlessly on any device.

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    Academic Integrity."Violations of academic integrity of any type by a student provide grounds for disciplinary action by the instructor or college.  Violations of academic integrity include, but are not limited to, the following actions:  cheating on an exam, plagiarism, working together on an assignment, paper or project when the instructor has specifically stated students should not do so, submitting the same term paper to more than one instructor, or allowing another individual to assume one’s identity for the purpose of enhancing one’s grade.  For more information on the Standards of Student Conduct refer to the college catalog available in hardcopy and online at www.lattc.edu.”

    All first week assignments need to be completed and submitted by the due date to avoid possibly being dropped from the class.

    Course Summary:

    Date Details Due