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1 A4 Intro

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This document provides an overview of an astrophysics course titled "Astro 4: Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe" taught by Rick Nolthenius. It outlines the textbook, grading structure based on quizzes and exams, and course content which will cover the nature of science, the solar system, stellar evolution, galaxies, the Big Bang, and theories of the universe. Students are expected to develop clear thinking skills and the document emphasizes observational facts and scientific inference.

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Astro 4: Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe *Rick Nolthenius Call me “Rick”. (“Mr. Nolthenius” sounds uncool) *Office: 706a 479-6506 *email: [email_address] *visit my extremely excellent website!
Textbook – “The Cosmic Perspective – Stars, Galaxies, Cosmology” – Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, and Voit; 5 th Edition ~$70 new in the bookstore. No used ones around yet. I will try to get one copy on reserve in the library
Grading 6 mult. choice quizzes based on text. - ~10 questions each - closed notes 3 video quizzes, after seeing ~45 min video program. Take notes and use them for your mult. choice quiz, about 20 questions each Final Exam: 50 mult. choice questions. You may have a single 8x10 sheet of paper crammed with all the notes you can muster! Your two lowest scores will be dropped. That includes no-shows Because…No make-ups Extra Credit possibilities Buy 10 green narrow scantron sheets from the book store. $3. Cheap! Keep them in your notebook along with a pencil.
What will We Do in Astro 4? We start with the nature of Science, reason, and the principles of clear thinking. My own “Chapter 0” on the principles of clear thinking and scientific method Some basic ideas: Forces, Gravity, the nature of light and matter The sun, our up-close look at a typical star Then to boldly go , on to the stars! How they’re born, their lives, their deaths, and how death gives rise to new life Violence in Space! Supernovae, black holes, gamma ray bursts Then galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their heart The Big Bang origin of the Universe. Inflation, Dark Matter, Dark Energy Parallel universes, the anthropic principle and the intimate connection between alternate universes and the nature of life I’ll stress the observational facts and how we use scientific inference to arrive at ideas, and to test them to home in on our current theories of the Universe. Exams will stress getting a picture of processes and the ‘why’ behind what we see, not so much on memorized factoids.
We’ll learn clear thinking
galileo
Sun in h-alpha
Star birth bubble
Stars, clusters
pn
We’re doomed
crab
Star infall to bh
andromeda
Antenna galaxies
Quasar gallery
dm
historyOfUniverse
I want to believe

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1 A4 Intro

  • 1. Astro 4: Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe *Rick Nolthenius Call me “Rick”. (“Mr. Nolthenius” sounds uncool) *Office: 706a 479-6506 *email: [email_address] *visit my extremely excellent website!
  • 2. Textbook – “The Cosmic Perspective – Stars, Galaxies, Cosmology” – Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, and Voit; 5 th Edition ~$70 new in the bookstore. No used ones around yet. I will try to get one copy on reserve in the library
  • 3. Grading 6 mult. choice quizzes based on text. - ~10 questions each - closed notes 3 video quizzes, after seeing ~45 min video program. Take notes and use them for your mult. choice quiz, about 20 questions each Final Exam: 50 mult. choice questions. You may have a single 8x10 sheet of paper crammed with all the notes you can muster! Your two lowest scores will be dropped. That includes no-shows Because…No make-ups Extra Credit possibilities Buy 10 green narrow scantron sheets from the book store. $3. Cheap! Keep them in your notebook along with a pencil.
  • 4. What will We Do in Astro 4? We start with the nature of Science, reason, and the principles of clear thinking. My own “Chapter 0” on the principles of clear thinking and scientific method Some basic ideas: Forces, Gravity, the nature of light and matter The sun, our up-close look at a typical star Then to boldly go , on to the stars! How they’re born, their lives, their deaths, and how death gives rise to new life Violence in Space! Supernovae, black holes, gamma ray bursts Then galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their heart The Big Bang origin of the Universe. Inflation, Dark Matter, Dark Energy Parallel universes, the anthropic principle and the intimate connection between alternate universes and the nature of life I’ll stress the observational facts and how we use scientific inference to arrive at ideas, and to test them to home in on our current theories of the Universe. Exams will stress getting a picture of processes and the ‘why’ behind what we see, not so much on memorized factoids.
  • 10. pn
  • 12. crab
  • 17. dm
  • 19. I want to believe