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 201.  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 24 Craig Sarazin https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/content/group/f9669674-8465-4666-8328-8c8403d63ff7/Sarazin_presentation.pdf   The Violent Universe https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/content/group/f9669674-8465-4666-8328-8c8403d63ff7/Sarazin_assignment.pdf https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/content/group/f9669674-8465-4666-8328-8c8403d63ff7/Sarazin_solutions.pdf Jan 31 Rukmani Vijayaraghavan https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/content/group/f9669674-8465-4666-8328-8c8403d63ff7/Vijayaraghavan_Clusters.pdf   The Most Massive Objects in the Universe on Supercomputers https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/content/group/f9669674-8465-4666-8328-8c8403d63ff7/Vijayaraghavan_Clusters_Problemset.pdf     Feb 7 Shane Davis           Feb 14 Phil Arras       Feb 21 Mark Whittle PDF of Lecture   Cosmic Inflation: Making Universe(s) from Nothing Assignment Feb 28 Ed Murphy         Mar 14 Sandy Liss     What it's like to be an astronomer (and how to get there)   Mar 21 Trinh Thuan         Mar 28 John Wilson         Apr 4 Nitya Kallivayalil     Dark Matter Crisis?   Apr11 Aaron Evansl         Apr 18 Anne Verbiscer         Apr 25 Eric Herbst         May 2 Zhi-Yn Li