Introduction to the Sun and its Planets
ASTR 101 - Spring 2025
Prof. Stacy McGaugh
stacy.mcgaugh [at] case.edu
Sears 558
Office Hours: W 1 - 3 PM
TA Tiffany Visgaitis
tiffany.visgaitis [at] case.edu
Sears 545
Office Hours: T 12 - 2 PM
|
Time: Tu Th 10:00 - 11:15 AM
Room: Sears 548
Textbook
The Cosmic Perspective
The Solar System
Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, & Voit
Pearson
|
Pluto, as seen by
New Horizons
|
Syllabus
Course Overview
This course introduces students to astronomy and the study of our solar
system. Course modules include:
- Cosmic Basics: the Night Sky and a Sense of Scale
- The Scientific Revolution: Geocentric and Heliocentric Cosmologies
- Essential Physics: Gravity, Light, and Matter
- Contents and Formation of the Solar System
- Terrestrial Planets: Geology and Atmospheres
- Outer Planets Giant and Dwarf, Moons, Comets, and Asteroids
- The Sun and beyond to Exoplanets
Course Work & Grades
Grades will be based on in-class quizzes and the final. There will be
seven
quizzes, one every second Thursday:
Jan. 23, Feb. 6 & 20, Mar. 6 & 27,
Apr. 10 & 24. The
final is on May 8 and will count as two quizzes. There
will be no make-ups, but we will drop your two lowest quiz scores to allow
for absences. If you complete all seven in-class quizzes and are satisfied with
your performance, you may skip the final.
Grading Scale
A. 90 - 100%
B. 80-89%
C. 70-79%
D. 55 - 69%
F. 0 - 54%
There will be no homework nor will there be extra credit on request, so do
not ask. On rare occasions, there may be in-class extra credit assignements.
Additional Resources
Slides will be posted after the corresponding lecture. These are meant as an
aid and not a replacement for attending class: the slides by themselves are
not helpful without the context of the lecture. Experience shows that final
grades correlate strongly with attendance.
Links to ancillary resources will also be provided as appropriate, e.g., the
planetarium freeware at stellarium.org.
Lectures will follow the same general flow as the book, but may differ in detail.
Some of the quiz questions may be adopted from the text's practice quizzes.
Technical help with Canvas and computer issues in general is provided
by the CWRU help desk:
help@case.edu and 368-4357.
Students with documented disabilities should contact
Disability Resources (368-5230)
for appropriate accommodations.
Academic Integrity
Integrity
is simple: don't cheat. Penalties for violations of academic integrity
will be severe and capricious, and decided arbitrarily. The only tool you will
need for the quizzes is a pen or pencil. Questions on the quizzes will mostly
be multiple choice, but there will also be short answer questions that require
at most a few sentences, a simple sketch, or a bit of basic arithmetic. The
use of outside resources is forbidden. No notes, no books, no calculators, no
internet-connected devices, no copying from others, no Chegg, no AI, etc.
The use of AI in any capacity is discouraged as using it impairs the devel-
opment of your ability to reason and think critically. In general, the current
generation of AI tools cannot be trusted to give correct responses.
Learning Outcomes
- Describe Earth's motion in space and how it affects the sky we see
- Explain the reasons for seasons, lunar phases, and eclipses
- Outline the Ptolemaic and Copernican cosmologies
- Explain the basic physical laws that govern the motion of the planets
- Describe the interaction of light and matter
- Describe the general properties of the solar system and its formation
- Describe the interiors, atmospheres, and surfaces of terrestrial planets
- Describe the structure of the outer planets and their rings and moons
- Explain the difference between comets and asteroids
- Discuss techniques to detect exoplanets
Syllabus in black & white |
Syllabus in PDF format