Templates define presentation consistency, not the intellectual path. This schedule defines the course trajectory for ASTR 101 and may be revised only by routing corrections back to the syllabus/schedule stage.
Weekly Schedule
| Week | Lecture Focus | Lab or Observing Activity | Assessments and Milestones |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The night sky: angular measure, constellations, diurnal motion, and scientific observing habits. | Lab 01: observing notebook, sky safety, angular measurement with hands and simple tools. | Diagnostic reflection; observing log starts. |
| 2 | Celestial coordinates, seasons, Moon phases, eclipses, and timekeeping. | Lab 02: star charts and planetarium software; plan a naked-eye observing session. | Problem Set 01 assigned. |
| 3 | Astronomical scale: AU, light-year, parsec, parallax, powers of ten, and uncertainty. | Lab 03: scale models and parallax measurement activity. | Problem Set 01 due; Lab Report 01 due. |
| 4 | Gravity and orbits: Kepler's laws, Newtonian gravity, tides, and escape speed. | Computing/analysis lab: orbital periods, semi-major axes, and simple plots. | Problem Set 02 assigned. |
| 5 | Light, spectra, temperature, Doppler shift, and information carried by photons. | Lab 04: emission and absorption spectra; infer composition and motion from spectra. | Problem Set 02 due. |
| 6 | Telescopes, detectors, resolution, collecting area, image scale, and observing limits. | Lab 05: telescope setup or virtual telescope planning; image scale and field of view. | Problem Set 03 assigned. |
| 7 | Solar system formation, terrestrial planets, atmospheres, surfaces, and comparative planetology. | Image interpretation lab with planetary surfaces and cratering evidence. | Midterm review; Problem Set 03 due. |
| 8 | Giant planets, small bodies, impacts, rings, moons, and habitability. | Lab 06: small-body or moon data interpretation; uncertainty in classification. | Midterm examination; Problem Set 04 assigned. |
| 9 | Stars I: luminosity, temperature, spectra, H-R diagram, and stellar classification. | H-R diagram lab using curated stellar data. | Problem Set 04 due. |
| 10 | Stars II: stellar evolution, clusters, supernovae, white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. | Lab 07: cluster color-magnitude diagram and age inference. | Problem Set 05 assigned. |
| 11 | Galaxies I: Milky Way structure, star-gas-dust components, and galactic rotation. | Data lab: Milky Way maps or rotation-curve interpretation. | Problem Set 05 due. |
| 12 | Galaxies II: galaxy types, interactions, dark matter evidence, and galaxy evolution. | Lab 08: galaxy morphology and image classification with documented criteria. | Problem Set 06 assigned. |
| 13 | Cosmology: expansion, redshift, Hubble-Lemaitre law, cosmic microwave background, and large-scale structure. | Analysis activity: redshift-distance relation and limitations of simple models. | Problem Set 06 due; final observing synthesis assigned. |
| 14 | Frontiers and synthesis: exoplanets, multi-messenger astronomy, surveys, ethics of sky access, and final review. | Portfolio workshop and observing synthesis discussion. | Problem Set 07 due; final observing synthesis due; final exam preparation. |
Downstream Artifact Plan
Each lecture week should later receive `lecture-##-slides.html` and `lecture-##-notes.html`. Problem sets are assigned roughly every two weeks to preserve depth and allow revision. Labs are sequenced after the lecture tools needed to complete them, with some exploratory activities placed early to build observing habits.