--- --- University of Minnesota Astronomy --- ---
Ast 2001, Introduction to Astrophysics -- Spring 2008
Prof. Davidson -- 9:05--11:00 TTh, room 170 Physics
Current information (course news, announcements)
May 6 ...... Homework set 9, see download lists below.
May 1 ...... FINAL EXAM: Saturday May 17, 1:30 p.m., in our normal
............... classroom (170 Physics).
............... This exam will be structured like the earlier ones --
............... open book, open notes, calculators allowed, most
............... questions will be short problems but some may be
............... multiple-choice. Content will be "cumulative," but
............... there'll be more emphasis on the last few weeks of
............... the course.
............... Time limit will be 105 minutes, which is twice as
............... long as for each mid-semester exam; but this exam
............... will not be twice as long as they were. Therefore
............... you'll have relatively more time to do each question.
April 29 ... Important: MAKEUP EXAMS for this course will be given
............... on Saturday, May 10, at 10 a.m., in Room B49
(lab classroom
............... in the physics building basement).
............... If you need to take a makeup, please sign up in
class
............... or otherwise contact Prof. Davidson. It's OK to try
e-mail,
............... but don't trust it until you get an acknowledgement
............... reply to your message.)
Files that you can download (notes, homework etc)
1. Course information
... Jan 20: .. Syllabus or course outline
... *.pdf file
... *.doc file
................. calendar.txt
for this semester
2. Notes about some topics
...Jan 23: .. List of antique technical words, some of them
still in use:
.................. jargon01.txt
...Jan 23--28: .. Three sets of notes about orbits:
......... orbits1.pdf
... orbits1.doc
......... orbits2.pdf
... orbits2.doc
......... orbits3.pdf
... orbits3.doc
...Feb 6: .. Two sets of notes related to many problems in astrophysics.
......... These are wordy but fundamental; and the facts are interesting
......... if you like either math or physics. Since we didn't make
pictures
......... or figures for these notes, you should sketch a few
illustrations
......... yourself.
......... Dnotes.pdf
... Dnotes.doc
......... Enotes.pdf
... Enotes.doc
... Feb 18: .. Angular size vs. linear size in astronomy. Our advice:
......... Resist the temptation to use a certain exact formula from
......... high school trig or geometry. These notes explain why.
......... angularsize.pdf
... angularsize.doc
3. Homework -- Those marked *** include problems for credit
in the course.
.......... Jan 20: ... hwk01.pdf
... hwk01.doc
... hwk01b.pdf
... hwk01b.doc
..***.... Jan 23: ... hwk02.pdf
... hwk02.doc
... due Jan 31.
.........................
ans02.pdf
... ans02.doc
.... answer notes
..***.... Jan 30: ... hwk03.pdf
... hwk03.doc
... due Feb 7.
.........................
ans03.pdf
... ans03.doc
.... answer notes
..***.... Feb 7: .... hwk04.pdf
... hwk04.doc
... due Feb 19.
.........................
ans04.pdf
... ans04.doc
.... answer notes
..***... Feb 14: ... hwk05.pdf
... hwk05.doc
... due Feb 21.
.........................
ans05.pdf
... ans05.doc
.... answer notes
......... Mar 6: .... hwk06.pdf
... hwk06.doc
.... practice problems
..***... Mar 13: .. hwk07.pdf
... hwk07.doc
... due Mar 27.
.........................
ans07.pdf
... ans07.doc
.... answer notes
..***... Apr 17: .. hwk08.pdf
... hwk08.doc
... problems 5 and 6 are due April 29.
..***... May 6: ... hwk09.pdf
... hwk09.doc
... problems 2, 4, and 6 are due May 17.
University of Minnesota -- Ast 2001, Spring 2008 -- K. Davidson