Observational Astronomy

NYU Observational Astronomy (V85.0013) has the objective of training students in the basic skills of naked-eye and small-telescope astronomy.

This page is for the Spring 2007 semester.

Staff

		email	office	office hours
lecture	Prof. David W. Hogg		Meyer 501	M 16:45–17:45
lab	Adi Zolotov		Meyer 518	W 17:45–18:45

Rules

This class may not be used to satisfy a science requirement.
You must attend the lab for which you are registered; no swaps are allowed.
You must arrive for labs on-time, because students are not permitted to travel to the observatory unaccompanied.
If you miss a lab without a doctor's note, you will get no credit for that lab; if you miss more than three without notes, you will be given a grade of F. There are no make-up labs.

Evaluation

Grades will be assigned to students based on a numerical score calculated according to the percentages in this table:

labs	20
lab quizzes	15
lab participation	5
mid-term exam	20
final exam	40

Notes: The total lab score and total lab quiz score will be based on all but your worst lab. The exams will be challenging. Students will be excused from labs only for legitimate medical reasons (with the evidence of a doctor's note). You cannot pass the class if you miss more than three labs without legitimate medical reasons.

Schedule

Note: The lab times change at the daylight savings time switch. This means that the labs are later (by civil time) after the Spring Recess.

		in EST	in EDT
lecture	Meyer 121	M 15:30–16:45	same
Monday lab	Meyer 224	M 18:20–20:20	M 19:20–21:20
Wednesday lab	Meyer 224	W 18:20–20:20	W 19:20–21:20

Texts

Kaler, The Ever-Changing Sky (Cambridge)
Pasachoff, A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets 4 ed (Houghton Mifflin)
Edmund Mag 5 Star Atlas (Edmund Scientific)

Reading

Students are expected to do the reading in advance of the lecture. In the table (below) the Kaler column gives readings from Kaler (by section number), the Pasachoff column gives readings from Pasachoff (by page number), and the Atlas column gives readings from the Star Atlas.

date	topic	Kaler	Pasachoff	Atlas
2007-01-22	view from a moving planet
2007-01-29	constellations and angles	4.1–4.8	1–26, 32–38, 46–50
2007-02-05	celestial coordinates	1.6–1.10, 2.1–2.4	495–498	1–7
2007-02-12	the changing sky	3.1–3.13	499
2007-02-19	President's Day holiday — no lecture or labs this week
2007-02-26	Moon	9.1–9.5	348–359	34–35
2007-03-05	planetary motions	11.1–11.7	385–395, 402–403
2007-03-12	spring recess — no lecture or labs this week
2007-03-19	planets	11.17, 12.1	418–454
	mid-term exam in lab on March 19 and March 21
2007-03-26	stars 1	4.10	144–149
2007-04-02	stars 2	4.11–4.15	194–204
2007-04-09	nebulae and galaxies	4.16–4.17	149–185
2007-04-16	Sun and eclipses	10.6–10.12	359–363, 474–487
2007-04-23	optics and telescopes	13.8–13.16, 13.21–13.23	503–508
2007-04-30	comets and meteors	12.1–12.5	455–473
2007-05-07	final exam Monday at 4pm in Meyer 121

This page is maintained by David W. Hogg.