ANNOUNCEMENTS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

AST 3043

Summer A 2008

5/12/08: Read Preface to Hoskin. Also, start reading the material at the Web Links page about star trails and the daily motion (item 1) and the celestial sphere (items 2 and 3).

5/13/08: Read about the Sun's apparent motions, the ecliptic, and equatorial coordinates at the Web Links page.

5/14/08: Read about the Moon's apparent motions and its phases. You needn't bother with the part about eclipses -- we'll get to those later.

5/15/08: Read Hoskin Ch. 1 pp. 1-10.

5/16/08: Read Hoskin Ch. 1 pp. 10-17 and Ch. 2 pp. 22-24 (Egypt) and pp. 48-49 (China). Public Night at the Teaching Observatory is tonight, but the weather may not cooperate.

5/19/08: Read Hoskin Ch. 2 pp. 18-22 and 24-47.

5/20/08: Same assignment as last time.

5/21/08: Read Hoskin Ch. 3 pp. 63-67, then read pp. 50-62.

5/22/08: Same reading assignment as last time. I have a faculty meeting tomorrow (5/23) at 10 am, so I won't be in my office for most of the period. (Yes, I know, it's almost unheard of to have faculty meetings in the summer, but we're trying to sort some things out that won't wait until fall.)

5/23/08: Remember, the midterm is coming up one week from today. I'll try to post a study guide sometime late today. Read Hoskin Ch. 4 pp. 68-84.

Yesterday someone asked about the "blue moon." Of course there's a Wikipedia article about it. Basically, it's the extra full Moon in a year. A year generally has twelve full Moons, but from time to time there are thirteen. The extra one has been designated to be the third one in a season which has four full moons. (A season would be 1/4 of a year, or three months, with three full Moons.) Notice the connection with the intercalation that we've been talking about. In fact, if you read down toward the bottom of the Wikipedia article you'll find a list of blue moon dates. We just had one, on the 19th! From 2005 (not included) to 2013 there are three, and the date of the 2013 one is only two days off the one from 2005. Recall that I told you about an 8-year intercalation cycle with three intercalated (extra) months. This was a predecessor of the 19-year Metonic cycle.

Public Night at the Teaching Observatory has been cancelled for tonight. I presume it's because of the weather.

Lastly, I have a reading assignment in the Old Farmer's Almanac for you. (It's almost time to start the project, since we're about to finish up eclipses, but that's not it.) In the calendar pages for May the right-hand column has some thoughts about Aristotle. I suggest you read that -- it's fairly short -- because we'll be considering Aristotle before too long and it gives a glimpse of what he did.

5/23/08, 5:14 pm: I've now posted the study guide for the midterm. The link is on the Test and Grading page, but I'm also putting it here.

5/27/08: Same reading assignment as 5/23.

5/27/08, 12:30 pm: National Geographic Channel has a program on Stonehenge airing on Sunday, June 1, at 9 pm. I don't get that channel, so I'll have to rely on you to fill me in. Fortunately it's right after the test, so even if they tell you that everything we knew previously was wrong it shouldn't matter.

5/28/08: Same reading assignment as last time. I've been told that the Discovery Channel will be starting a series of programs on Sunday, June 8 at 9 pm called "When We Left Earth" about the NASA space missions. According to their Website each Sunday night there will be back-to-back one hour programs over three weeks.

5/29/08: Remember that the homework project is due on Wednesday of next week. If you have any questions about it please let me know. It shouldn't take too long to complete -- students have told me about two hours -- but you shouldn't wait until Tuesday night to start on it. I've finished mine now, BTW.

5/29/08, 8:20 pm: I've been advised that there are some incorrect answers on the Spring 2001 Hour Test 1. I've now fixed those (I hope). Again, if you come across any more of those please don't hesitate to let me know. I do appreciate being made aware of them.

5/30/08: TEST TODAY! Don't be late!

6/2/08: Read Hoskin pp. 84-103. I'm working on the grades from the test and expect to have them posted by late today. The project is due this coming Wednesday. If you'd like to have me look over it you should do so before Wednesday; I won't have time after class on Wednesday to do that.

6/2/08, 6:38 pm: The grades from the midterm are now posted. You can access them using the link at the Tests and Grading Web page (it works now), but for convenience I'm including a link here. If you have any questions you can email me or see me at my office.

6/3/08: Read Hoskin pp. 103-111.

If you turn in the project after the deadline, you should either hand it to me in person (if you can find me) or, failing that, turn it in at the department office. Don't slide it under my door -- I have no way of knowing when it got there, so I'll mark it "received" whenever I come upon it.

On a related subject, my office hours are about to become somewhat irregular. I have various other commitments on the following mornings: 6/6, 6/10-13, 6/16, and 6/18-20. I plan on being in my office on the mornings of 6/5, 6/9, and 6/17. In addition, I'll try to be in from 12:30 to 1:30pm on 6/10, 6/12, and 6/19. Feel free to contact me about a different time if necessary. I apologize for any inconvenience this might cause.

6/4/08: Same reading assignment as last time. I've now fixed the sample pages for the project, so if you're still working on it you should refresh the instructions page and go to the examples.

6/5/08: Read Hoskin pp. 111-119. The grades on the project won't be posted until sometime next week. For those of you who were seriously disappointed with your grade on the midterm, I am aware of the fact that the deadline for dropping the course is Friday of next week (6/13). You should have the project grade by then, but it's only 10% of the course grade anyway. If you're considering dropping you should at the least discuss it with an academic advisor in your college and really ought to run it by me too.

6/6/08: Read Hoskin pp. 119-129. Public Night at the Teaching Observatory has been cancelled for tonight.

6/9/08: Start reading the material on Newton in Hoskin, pp. 130-139.

6/10/08: Same reading assignment as last time.

6/11/08: Read Hoskin pp. 139-144. I hope to have the project grades posted online sometime later today.

6/11/08, 4:25 pm: I've now posted the grades for the homework project. If you have any questions please get in touch with me.

6/12/08: Same reading assignment as last time.

6/13/08: Read Hoskin pp. 144-148. Public Night is planned for this evening; however, the weather doesn't look very promising.

6/13/08, 3:45 pm: The study guide for the second (last) hour test is now posted. The test is one week from today.

6/16/08: Same reading assignment as before. I plan to have you take the student evaluation on Wednesday, so plan accordingly!

6/17/08: If you like read Hoskin pp. 148-165; it won't be covered on the test. I noticed just this morning that there's an item missing from the study guide, about Taqi al-Din and the Istanbul Observatory, which as I said in class was founded at the end of what we've referred to as the Islamic period. You can refresh the page to get it.

6/18/08: Review for the second test is tomorrow (Thursday).

6/19/08: No new assignment. Test tomorrow at regular class time and place.

6/20/08, 10:00 pm: Grades from the second test and for the course are now posted (with a few exceptions). Grades haven't been entered into ISIS yet and won't be until a couple of papers are graded.