A310 COURSE INFORMATION

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A310 COURSE INFORMATION

• Web Site www.astro.ubc.ca/people/richer/A310

• This site is password protected ID a310 PW mars
  (course messages placed on site - view often)
• ALL COURSE INFO AT THAT SITE

• Required Materials

• Text Voyages to the Planets third edition by
  Fraknoi, Morrison Wolff

• Grades

• Final exam 30 (regular exam period, no early
  exams)
• Midterm 20 (date Feb 7), both multiple choice
• 4-6 unannounced class quizzes 10
• Three assignments 15 sky quiz 10 (March 2)
• Tutorials up to 15, 3 for each one

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A310 COURSE INFORMATION
TAs Kelsey Hoffman kelsey_at_phas.ubc.ca Laura
Kasian kasian_at_phas.ubc.ca Jon Benjamin
jonben_at_phas.ubc.ca Tyron Tsui ttsui_at_phas.ubc.ca

Lectures and Tutorials Lectures MWF 1200 Hebb
Theatre Tutorials as registered. Alternate weeks
beginning Jan 15 Hennings 312
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A310 COURSE INFORMATION
For Help H. Richer Henn 306 Thursday
11-12 Questions regarding overall course,
problems etc TAs Henn 312 back room at times
listed on web site Kelsey Th 10-11, F 2-3 Laura
M 10-11 Jon M 1-2, W 2-3 Tyron Tu 2-3, Th
11-12 Slides All slides posted on web site 24
hours before class

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Policy on working together, copying,
plagiarism etc Cheating This includes but is
not limited to dishonest or attempted dishonest
conduct at tests or examinations. Plagiarism
This includes but is not limited to the
presentation or submission of the work of
another person, without citation or credits, as
the student's own work. When a member of faculty
suspects that misconduct has occurred, he / she
shall investigate it immediately. If satisfied
that the misconduct did occur, he / she shall
notify the student at once that he plans to
report the incident, and he/she shall then
report it immediately to the department head, or
to the appropriate person in the faculty, who in
turn shall notify the dean of that faculty or
designate without delay. If after thorough
investigation, during which the student shall be
given an opportunity to explain the incident,
the misconduct has been established, the academic
aspects of the matter may be dealt with, and
appropriate academic action taken by the
department or faculty concerned. When the
misconduct consists of cheating as described
above, zero credit or some other mark may be
assigned by the faculty for the examination or
test in which the cheating occurred.

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Policy on working together, copying,
plagiarism etc When the misconduct consists of
plagiarism as described above, zero credit or
some other mark may be assigned by the faculty
for the plagiarized submission. The action thus
taken shall be reported immediately to the
President's Advisory Committee on Student
Discipline by the dean of the faculty in which
the misconduct occurred, together with a
complete description of the evidence upon which
the faculty action was based. To summarize, if
you submit copied work, you will get zero for
it and there will will also be an investigation
which could result in further disciplinary action
which could be as severe as forcing the student
to withdraw from the University. YOU CAN WORK
TOGETHER WITH OTHERS BUT WHEN THE TIME COMES TO
WRITE THE MATERIAL UP, DO IT ON YOUR OWN.

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FLASHCARD
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FLASHCARD
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FLASHCARD
HOW MANY STARS ARE THERE IN OUR SOLAR
SYSTEM? A) An uncounted number B) About 100
Billion C) 9 that we know of D) 1
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FLASHCARD
HOW MANY STARS ARE THERE IN OUR SOLAR
SYSTEM? A) An uncounted number B) About 100
Billion C) 9 that we know of D) 1
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Looking Down on the Solar System
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The Solar System in Perspective
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OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
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1. Introduction to Astronomy
4. What is Astronomy?

• What?

Where?
How?
Why?
When?
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What is Astronomy?
4. What ?
Cosmology, galaxies, stars, biology, geology,
radiation, electromagnetism, high-energy physics,
quantum mechanics, black holes, dead stars,
explosions, general relativity, the beginning,
the end the meaning of life.
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Spot the Difference
4. What ?
How is astronomy different from other sciences?
Mass of a 747 276,364 kg Mass of Sun
200,000,000,000,000,000,000kg Temperature in
volcanic vents 1500K Temperature in Suns core
10,000,000K
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Spot the Difference
4. What ?
How is science different from other subjects?
How is astronomy different from religion?
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Who?
4. What ?
Instrumentalist
Observer
Theorist
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4. Where ?
Where do we fit in?
Diameter of Pizza (16) 0.0004km across
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4. Where ?
x 30,000,000
Diameter of Earth 12,000km
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4. Where ?
x 125
Diameter of Sun 1,500,000km
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4. Where ?
x 5,000
Diameter of Solar System 7,500,000,000km
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4. Where ?
Diameter of Milky Way 1,000,000,000,000,000,000km
x 100,000,000
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4. Where ?
Diameter of Local Group of Galaxies 30,000,000,000
,000,000,000km
x 30
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4. Where ?
Diameter of Galaxy Supercluster 1,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000km
X 300
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Dec 19 First vertebrates
4. When?
Dec 30 Dinosaurs Extinct
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Late Dec 31 First humans
20 sec before midnight Agriculture invented 9
sec before midnight Alphabet Invented
Sep 25 Origin of Life
Sep 10 Earth planets form.
Jan 1 The Big Bang
When are we in the big picture ?
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Scale of the Universe
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4. How?
How do we do Astronomy?
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Challenges of Astronomy
4. How?
We cant control what we observe
We cant look at objects when we chose to.
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4. How?
How can scientists check whether their theories
are right?

• They cant
• By looking in a textbook
• By comparing with observations
• By making predictions

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4. How?
Andromeda Galaxy
A bus traveling at the speed of light would take
2.5 x 106 years to reach our closest galaxy!
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4. How?
In the middle of the 18th century, nobody could
say what was our Sun made of. In his "Cours de
philosophie positive", Auguste Comte said that
we would never know anything about its
composition, because it was unbelievable to
remotely determine its chemical composition.