Instructor: Prof. Cisneros |
Teaching Assistants & Graders
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Course Introduction
Welcome to Astronomy 150: The Planets!
Where did our Solar System come from? What is it made of? Are we alone? What else is 'out there'? These are some of the natural and fundamental questions that humans have been asking since the dawn of time. Given the complexity and breadth of such questions, it is not at all surprising that astronomy itself is a diverse and interesting field of study. Over the next ten weeks we will explore the planets of the Solar System in the hopes of bringing you closer to answering these and, undoubtedly, numerous other questions you may already have or will have as we move along in this course.
Course Objectives
After completing this course, students will be able to:
- Recognize and describe the basic characteristics of terrestrial and Jovian planets.
- Outline and describe the physical mechanisms that give rise to the great diversity of worlds in our solar system. Predict how these mechanisms have influenced the formation and evolution of our own Solar System?
- Discuss how the Solar System arrived at or evolved to its current state. Determine where the Solar System is headed in the near and distant future.
- Summarize what we currently understand about life in our own Solar System and apply this understanding to other stellar systems. Discuss the implications of this knowledge with respect to life and its distribution throughout the galaxy and the Universe.
Expectations
Each week you will have a demoquiz/lab, 2 or 3 quizzes, an online homework and a discussion due. Each of these groups is weighted equally and there are no high-stakes exams (no final, no midterm). The reason for this is that test-anxiety is real and impacts students differently. Since this is a non-majors class, I'd like to set your grades based on work that is done with low-stress and low-stakes.
The key feature of this class which may differ from other classes you have taken at the university, is that instead of exams, you will be graded based on getting your work submitted on time. This means - late work will not be accepted and there is no make-up work. There are any number of issues which arise in the course of normal quarters (tragedy, accidents, illness, mental health crisis, submitting a corrupted or otherwise unreadable file, or you just forget). Since there is no way for me to gauge/judge who's crisis is worth what amount of exceptions, I will drop one week of work for everyone in week 10. There will be no exceptions to this rule.
That said, we do want to get to know and support your learning, so please take a look at office hours and make it a weekly part of your schedule to visit with your teaching team.
More details can be found on this visual syllabus SYLLABUS_150E_Spring2023-1.pdf
Required Materials
Understanding our Universe - see course link to purchase Textbook and Course Materials.
Technology Requirements
You will need a reliable and reasonably high-speed connection to the Internet and the ability to connect remotely to the Canvas course. You may want to meet with a member of your Astro 150 Team for office hours or help in live Zoom meetings. If so, you'll need reliable high-speed internet connection. Please see
https://itconnect.uw.edu/connect/phones/conferencing/zoom-video-conferencing/
for more information on connecting to Zoom and also the Important Canvas Settings , Accessibility, & Technology Support page for additional information.
Canvas works best with the Google Chrome or Firefox. Firefox is the recommended browser but I've never had an issue using Chrome. I'm told the Microsoft Edge browser also works well. Safari is also good but please note that the images in the Canvas pages may not display properly (or at all) in Safari. If images are not displaying for you, you please try a different browser before contacting your Astro 150 Team or contacting UW IT.
Occasionally it may be useful to compose or edit assignments outside of the Canvas framework. You also have the option to hand in some assignments in different formats. As UW students you have access to both Microsoft Office 365 and the Google G-Suite of applications. Please refer to
https://itconnect.uw.edu/connect/productivity-platforms/uw-office-365/
https://itconnect.uw.edu/connect/email/google-apps/
for more information about the suite of applications available to you for your studies.
There are no official or required in-person meeting times nor are there required Zoom sessions to attend.
Communicating with Your Instructors, TAs and Peers
Message us through the canvas Inbox please, thank you!