# ASTR 430 Course Materials Review Report

**Status: Approved for review release. Not yet approved for instructional use.**

## Review scope

Reviewed the assembled ASTR430 package: syllabus, schedule, reference log, manifest, README files, data and source READMEs, 14 lecture slide decks, 14 lecture notes files, 7 research-methods workshops, 7 problem sets, 7 solution keys, 7 assessment-instruction files, final index, and repository navigation links.

## Completeness and dependency order

- The package contains 14 lecture slide/note pairs, 7 workshops, 7 problem sets, 7 solution keys, and 7 assessment-instruction files.
- The syllabus and schedule define the sequence before downstream artifacts. Workshops and problem sets follow seven explicitly documented two-lecture units.
- The manifest counts match the concrete files on disk: 14/14/7/7/7/7.
- `index.html` links planning documents, all title-bearing lecture pairs, all workshops, all problem-set artifacts, source, data, manifest, and this report.

## Depth, rigor, and alignment

The lecture arc moves from reproducibility and literature search through archive query provenance, cross-matching, calibration uncertainty, model selection, coding environments, visualization, observing-time allocation, ethics, archive choice, statistical ethics, communication, capstone design, and peer review. Each deck has a motivating research problem, a formal object or relation, a worked audit, a failure mode, an active reasoning prompt, a paired workshop connection, takeaways, and exact source anchors. Notes expand the lecture logic with assumptions, interpretation, misconceptions, independent recomputation guidance, and study prompts.

Workshops are concrete and non-interchangeable: they use distinct provenance manifests, literature screens, Gaia query records, model comparisons, figure audits, time budgets, and capstone review rubrics. Each specifies setup, procedure, an analysis record, sensitivity treatment, deliverables, assessment expectations, and data provenance. Problem sets contain four lecture/unit-specific tasks, complete solution routes, and separate assessment instructions with revision guidance.

## Visual-reasoning check

Each lecture deck contains two large, lecture-specific SVG reasoning figures. A mechanical comparison found 14 distinct visual bodies and no repeated full SVG body or coordinate skeleton across the 14 decks. The diagrams include traceability paths, screening bars, archive footprints, cross-match geometry, calibration bands, residual curves, environment pipelines, encoding plots, time-allocation vectors, contribution/accountability diagrams, archive-product comparisons, multiplicity geometry, message compression, proposal matrices, and review-leverage plots. No generic three-box schematic remains.

## Quantitative correctness and independent recomputation

An independent calculation, retyping the formulas rather than importing the generator, returned:

- Cross-match Gaussian separation weight: `exp[-0.5(0.8/0.3)^2] = 0.0285655`.
- Inverse-parallax distance uncertainty at `p=2.0 mas`, `sigma_p=0.05 mas`: `sigma_d = 0.0125 kpc`.
- Distance after applying the stated `-0.017 mas` zero-point convention: `0.495786 kpc`.
- BIC checks for `n=20`: `BIC_2 = 23.9915`, `BIC_4 = 23.9829`.
- Probability of at least one false positive in 20 independent tests at `alpha=0.05`: `0.641514`.
- Capstone rubric score for the supplied `4/3/4/2` ratings at `40/30/20/10` weights: `3.5/4`.

No unit-direction, comparative-direction, or arithmetic mismatch remained in these checks. The materials label simplified calculations as audits or teaching examples rather than observations.

## Source and provenance integrity

The reference log uses exact official documentation anchors for NASA ADS, Gaia EDR3, MAST, SDSS SkyServer, NASA Exoplanet Archive, SIMBAD, Astropy, NASA Open Science, and the AAS Code of Ethics. Fetch outcomes are disclosed per source: successful inspections are level 1, incomplete or standard documentation/policy claims are level 2 and flagged for human spot-check, and all compact CSVs, diagrams, rubric values, query manifests, and worked-example records are level 3 instructor-provided artifacts. No generated record is presented as a live archive result or new astronomical measurement.

## Final assembly and navigation

The displayed lecture titles in `index.html` were compared with the linked slide `<h1>` titles; all 14 pairs match. Workshop and solution identifiers were checked for local alignment. The existing ASTR430 Year 4 course-list row now links to `materials/ASTR430/index.html`, and its existing calendar card has one Course materials badge. The root `index.html` was not changed. No ASTR420 or Cosmology template strings remain in the ASTR430 generated package.

## Residual risks before instructional use

- Human spot-check the exact current wording and access policies for ADS, SDSS SkyServer, NASA Exoplanet Archive, NASA Open Science, and the AAS Code of Ethics because one or more pages were inaccessible or incompletely extracted during production.
- Replace level-3 teaching records with instructor-selected live queries or preserve them explicitly as teaching extracts before assigning real archive work.
- Finalize institution-specific accessibility, academic-integrity, accommodations, attendance, late-work, safety, and instructor-policy language.
- Confirm archive citation and data-release requirements at the time of instruction.

**Review verdict: Approved for review release.**