syllabus

• Instructor
• P. Kenneth Seidelmann
• Office: 215 Astronomy
  Phone: 243 5567
  Email: pks6n
• Website

• The class schedule is posted below. PDF versions of the lectures and the assignments/labs will be loaded into the Resources section and then a link will be created below by each lecturer.

• Description
• This weekly seminar is designed to introduce entering majors and potential majors to the breadth of research being conducted in the Astronomy department. Each week a different faculty member will speak/entertain. A field trip to McCormick Observatory may be arranged,  A tentative schedule appears below. The course nominally meets 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Tuesdays in Astronomy 265.  Given the free-form, ideally interactive nature of this seminar, be prepared for some fraction of the sessions to run over the official 8:00 p.m. quitting time.
• Assignments
• Each speaker will prepare a fairly straightforward problem that reinforces the subject matter. Your best attempt at solving this problem will be due at the following lecture. The assignments will be reviewed, commented upon, and returned to you, but they will not be graded. You will be given credit for making the attempt. You are welcome to seek help on the problems from other students in the class (or, ideally, from the faculty member who assigned the problem), but make an honest attempt to solve the problem on your own.
• Grading
• Students will receive a letter grade for the course based on attendance and
  acceptable assignments turned in during the semester. Everybody starts with
  an A and is allowed one unexcused absence and two missed assignments without
  penalty. Thereafter, the grade will be adjusted with each subsequent
  unexcused absence or missed assignment to  B, C, D, F. Students
  wishing to have an absence excused should submit a written note or email by the
  following lecture.
• Office Hours  Monday -Thursday, 10:00 -12:00, 1:00 - 2:30
• Textbook
• None
• Course schedule

• Week Lecturer PDF PPT Likely Topic Assignment Solutions Jan 13 Craig Sarazin https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/content/group/3b8bbc2e-7611-4f8d-98ad-6a16e267d499/Sarazin.pdf https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/content/group/3b8bbc2e-7611-4f8d-98ad-6a16e267d499/Sarazin.ppt The Violent Universe https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/content/group/3b8bbc2e-7611-4f8d-98ad-6a16e267d499/Sarazin_hw.pdf   Jan 20 Ed Murphy Murphy Lecture Notes   2014: The Year in Review Murphy Assignment     Jan 27 Aaron Evans       Evans Assignment   Feb 3 Trinh Thuan       Feb 10 Bob O'Connell         Feb 17 Kelsey Johnson         Feb 24 Shane Davis         Mar 3 Phil Arras         Mar 17 Duncan Christie         Mar 24 Roger Chevalier         Mar 31 Nitya Kallivayalil         Apr 7 Kim Sokal     What it is like to be an astrophysicist   Apr 14 Eric Herbst         Apr 21 John Wilson         Apr 28 Zhi-Yun Li