Attention: On Test #2, if you wrote Isaac Newton lived in the 18th Century and I marked off for that, bring it to class or to my office hours and I will return your 1/4 of a point. If you wrote 16th Century and I gave you points for it, enjoy your 1/4 point. *(Note: he actually did most of his work in physics in the 17th Century)

Hi, I'm Malynda Chizek, your ASTR 301 T.A. I will be grading the work you do in this class, and teaching on occasions when Professor Walterbos is unavailable. I encourage you to come talk to me in my office hours if you have any questions about the topics covered in class, or send me an email.
About me:
I am a first year graduate student in Astronomy. My current research involves working with a model of Mars' atmosphere and comparing it to data from the TES instrument on Mars Global Surveyor. If you would like to know more about the research I have done/ am doing: click here

Class policies:
Plagiarism is bad. So, don't do it. Since you are all upperclassmen, I expect you have been taught how to cite your resources properly. Thus, I will probably not be very lenient if I notice that you aren't making the necessary citations. See the link to the Library's Plagiarism website if you have any questions as to what is considered plagiarism and how to cite properly.

Approximate Schedule of Topics (Remember, the schedule can be changed depending on students' interests.)
Aug 24 The process of Science
Aug 26 - Sept 14 Copernican Revolution & Newtonian Physics
Sept 17 - Sept 28 Earth's geology and age, Plate Tectonics
Sept 17 &19
Oct 1 - Oct 24 Biological evolution & origin of mass extinctions
Oct 26 - Nov 5 Relativity
Nov 7 - Dec 3 The Expanding Universe

Homework will be assigned on a biweekly schedule, and the solutions will be posted here.
I plan on giving 5 points for each of the questions on the homework, and if there are bonus questions, I will make them equal to ~10% of the homework points.


Homework 1 solutions

Homework 2 Solutions

Term Paper Suggestions

Homework 4 Solutions

Homework 5 Solutions

Astronomy Picture of the Day (aka APOD) has a different image or photograph each day of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Space.com is a great resource for easy-to-read articles.

Universe Today is in the same vein as Space.com: a great site to trawl through.

HubbleSite has those fantastic images you've all seen as well as great articles.