Astronomy 102 Laboratory Syllabus
As an Astronomy 102 lab student, you are responsible for everything in this syllabus. We will assume that you have read and understand everything in here. If you do not understand something, please be sure to speak with the professor or a TA to have it clarified for you.
- Announcements Page— find
out where lab is meeting tonight
- Goals
- Your Responsibilities
- Labs To Do This Semester
- The Observing Facility
- What To Bring To Lab
- Grading of the Labs
- The Observing Log
- Lab Reports: Turning in Your Labs
Goals
The goals of this lab are:
to gain a familiarity with the night sky and the motions of the night sky.
to learn how to use your eyes and a portable telescope to make observations of celestial objects,
to analyze the data and learn something both about the objects you have observed and how scientists can take observational data to learn something about the Universe.
During this semester, you will:
learn to set up, point and use a small telescope,
learn to identify stars, constellations, and planets,
carry out observing programs of the Moon, selected planets and celestial objects, with and without the telescope, and
perform calculations and think about follow-up questions based on those observations.
Your Responsibilities
Your responsibilities as a student in this lab are:
to keep up with your observing program, as well as with write-ups;
to make sure you attend every lab session;
to regularly read the course announcements web page, especially the part of that page specifically for your lab section, to know of any changes in assignments;
to maintain an organized and complete Observing Log, and to turn in lab reports on the indicated due dates;
to come prepared for lab: bring what you need, read and print-out the labs and supporting material, and be able to follow the instructions in each lab;
to ensure that all observations, data, write-ups, calculations, and drawings are your own, even though you are encouraged to discuss the lab work and results with your classmates, and even though limited equipment may require you to share a telescope with a lab partner.
Understand that your ability to keep up with these responsibilities will likely be reflected in your lab grade.
Labs To Do This Semester
Due to the unpredictability of the weather, we can't tell you which lab we'll be doing which day until the day of the lab. The announcements page will tell you which lab we'll be doing each night. The lab we do will depend on whether we're meeting at the lab facility, or in the computer room. This will also affect due dates for the lab.
possible that due dates will change. Consult the announcements page regularly for the latest information. As due dates change, this syllabus will not be updated.For how you should keep your labs organized, see The Observing Log below. For how labs should be turned in for grading, see Lab Reports below.
Observing Facility Labs
These are labs which require observations of the sky. They will be done in the lab facility. Some of them require use of the telescopes, while in others you will observe the sky using your naked eye. We will do these labs roughly in order, although depending on conditions we may slightly rearrange them.
- Telescope Basics
- Constellations and Bright Stars
- Daily Rotation of the Sky
- Stellar Observations
- Jupiter
- Lunar Observations
- Lunar Craters
Computer Room Labs
These are labs that you will do using data that you have collected in an observing facility lab, that can be found on the Internet, either from surveys or databases, or from archived results of space missions.
- Field of View Analysis
- Daily Rotation Analysis
- Jupiter and Moon Drawing Analysis
- Sunspots Web Lab
- Galaxies Web Lab
Advanced, Optional Labs
These are very difficult labs that require you to be very familiar with the telescope and very skilled at making careful observations through the eyepiece. These labs are not normally assigned, but may be done by advanced and competent students for extra credit. These labs may not substitute for one of the regular labs.
- Star Hopping
- Stellar Spectroscopy
The Observing Facility
Labs will normally be held at the observing facility. It is located at the top (11th) floor of the 25th Avenue Parking Garage that is between the VA Hospital (big white building) and the tennis courts. Check out the campus map. The facility is located near the southwest corner of the garage. There are stairs or elevators in each corner of the structure. There are no restrooms in the garage, however, so plan accordingly. The top floor lights will be turned off during the astronomy labs. If you are concerned for your safety, please make sure you are accompanied by a classmate when you walk over.
About the Weather
If it is cloudy, lab will be held in the Stevenson Center computer classroom. Each day there will be an announcement in lecture as to where the alb will meet that evening.
What to Bring to Lab
Before lab, you should read completely thorugh any labs you will be working on that night. Note that a few labs link to separate pages, such as mapping the orbit of planets or the method of transit time. Also print out and read those pages!
Bring the following with you to lab:
Print-outs of any labs and supporting material (linked from the labs) that you might work on;
Print-outs of any observation templates that the labs indicate you will need;
Your logbook, writing implements, and a watch;
Your star wheel and star maps;
Warm clothing! Except in September and April, it will be a lot colder than you expect. You will need more layers standing still on top of the parking structure than you need just walking outside. It's easier to take layers off than add layers you didn't bring.
Lab Attendance
Lab attendance is required. This lab is a class and must take precedence over all other non-academic activities. You are expected to attend every meeting of the lab, and to stay and work on your lab materials for the full three hours, or until dismissed by the TAs.
If you are not present on a given lab day, you will receive a zero for the laboratory activities that were performed that day. If you miss more than two lab meetings, you will automatically fail the course.
Grading of the Labs
Lab grades are an integral part of your total grade for Astronomy 102. The lab does not appear as a separate grade on your transcript. For Astronomy 102, the lab will make up 25% of your course grade. However, no matter how well you do in the 75% of the class that accrues from the lecture portion of the course, you must pass the laboratory portion of the course in order to earn a passing grade in the course. If you score A's on all tests and homeworks, but miss too many lab meetings, you will fail the course.
Your grade in the lab is based on the following:
| Lab Reports | 70% |
| Telescope Practical | 15% |
| Constellation Practical | 15% |
- Lab Reports
The format and requirements of the Observing Log, and the Lab Reports you will turn in for grading, are discussed below. Labs we receive in the wrong format, or multiple labs grouped together under a single report, will result in severe penalties.
Each major part of each lab will be graded on a 0-3 scale:
- 0 – insufficient meaningful work done.
- 1 – a reasonable partial (at least 50%) effort was made towards this portion of the lab
- 2 – this portion of the lab was mostly or adequately completed.
- 3 – this portion of the lab was completed and shows exemplary work.
There will typically be 2-4 major parts in each lab. Your score on each major part will be averaged to yield your score on the entire lab.
Your lab report score will be calculated by summing the scores you received on all the labs. You will receive 3 additional points for each lab on which your averaged score is at least 1. The number of points you receive will be divided by the total number of points it is possible to receive (54 points for 9 assigned labs) in order to yield a percentage score for the lab. This score will be converted to a grade using the "standard" percentage system (90%=A-, 80%=B-, etc.).
For example, a score of 3 on every lab will translate to an A for the lab reports portion of the lab grade; a score of 2 on every lab will translate to a high B-; a score of 1 on every lab will translate to a low D+. Note that if you fail to turn in more than three labs, it will become impossible for you to obtain a passing grade for the lab reports portion of your lab grade, even if you have a perfect score on the remaining labs.
It is possible that bad weather will prevent the lab from meeting enough times in the lab facility for you to reasonably complete all of the telescope labs assigned. If this is the case, then one or two things will happen. First, one or more web-based labs may be assigned; these are labs you can do on your own time using data available over the Internet. Second, the lab reports may be graded out of a smaller number of points, reflecting that it was possible to complete a smaller number of labs. The decision as to whether to implement either of these contingency plans will be made by the course staff as the semester progesses.
- Telescope Practical
Early in the semester, you will be required to demonstrate proficiency with the lab telescopes. After a few weeks to learn how it works, each student will be required to set-up the telescope, find a focus on a bright star identified by the TA administering the exam, and take down the telescope. Each student will be tested individually so don't rely on a lab parter to "know the scope". Each of the three parts of the lab (set-up, finding a star, take-down) will be graded on a 0-3 scale, where 3 indicates everything was done correctly, 2 indicates that there were a few mistakes (or it took two tries to find the star), 1 indicates serious problems or incomplete skills, and 0 indicates demonstrated incompetence. Your grade on the telescope practical will then be:
Points Grade Points Grade 0 F 5 C+ 1 D- 6 B 2 D+ 7 B+ 3 C- 8 A- 4 C 9 A Telescope Practical Grade
- Constellation Practical
One of the goals of the course is for you to learn the night sky; specifically, the chance alignments of bright stars we call constellations. The Constellations and Bright Stars lab will help you learn the constellations.
Each student will be asked to identify ten constellations and five stars by name. These tests will be done one-on-one by the TA. Not all students will necessarily be tested on the same night.
The constellation practical will be graded on a standard 0-100 scale (90=A-, 80=B-, etc.). You will receive 6 points for each constellation you correctly identify, and 8 points for each star you correctly name. You can receive half-credit for a constellation or star if you name them incorrectly initially, but correctly after the TA informs you that you've erred.
The Observing Log
Throughout the semester, you will keep a record of your observations and calculations in an observing log. This will be the one place where you keep all of your notes and work relevant to the astronomy lab. When labs are due, you will extract all pages relevant to that lab into a lab report which you turn in.
Format
Use a 3-ring binder (1.5 inches thick will do) with pockets inside the covers. Keep the star charts and the star wheel you were given in the pockets. Use dividers to place your work for each lab in a separate section. You do not want to fail to turn in something needed in a lab report due to your own disorganization. Since much of the log will be handwritten outdoors and at night, please make an effort to write legibly and maintain a decent level of organization.
Whenever you make an observation through the telescope, always use an observation template. These are pages with circles or other shapes drawn to represent the field of view of the telescope or a celestial object. There will be links to PDF files of the templates on the appropriate lab; print out and bring what you need to lab. Always be sure to correctly indicate the date and time of the observation, the location of the observation, the scale of your drawing, and the directions (north/south/east/west) on the drawing you make on the template.
What Goes in the Observing Log and in Lab Reports
Your logbook entries should include a record of what you did and what you observed. Each and every logbook entry should have all of the following:
- Date and Time of the observation
- Location where the observation is made
- Sky conditions
- Any people you are working with (or a note that you were working alone)
- An indication of the scale (or which kind of telescope & eyepiece you were using, if any), and directions of North and East, on any drawing.
Entries should include the difficulties you encounter and your personal impressions as you first use the telescope and look at celestial bodies. A variety of projects (observing the moon, planets, constellations, double stars, the sun, sunsets, spectra of stars, etc.) are described on the course website. Everything you observe is to go in your log, in the form of sketches/drawings, notes, comments, measurements, etc., as appropriate for each type of object and project. The key is to pay attention to what you see! Your personal impressions about what you see and comments about the lab activities are also an important part log. Anything else that seems important or relevant should be noted; it may help you reconstruct your observations later.
Examples of Log Entries
8/12/2000, 9:35pm CDT on Branscomb Quad (naked eye observation). The night is cloudless but hazy. Bright first quarter moon lights up the sky and only the brightest stars are visible. I spotted the Summer Triangle (Vega, Altair & Deneb) easily. The triangle is very large and overhead and it points "downward" (i.e. towards the South). Vega is the brightest star of the three and shines with a bluish-white light. It twinkles a lot. Using these three bright stars, I spotted several constellations: Cygnus, Aquila, Hercules. Constellations are sketched below. I couldn't see any of the stars in Lyra, except for Vega (haze + moon + light pollution?). I should try again on a better night.
[Your sketch here]
9/22/00, 8:23pm CDT on Library lawn. Lab night. The night is quite clear with a few scattered clouds. It is rather windy and the telescope shakes quite a bit. Observation of Jupiter with the telescope. With the 25mm eyepiece, Jupiter is a bright little ball with two gray bands straddling the equator. Three bright "stars" are located more or less in a line about the planet (see sketch below) and there are several fainter stars in the field. If these three stars are moons of Jupiter, I wonder where the 4th bright moon is (to figure out later). The view is much bigger with the 10mm eyepiece and more details can be seen on the surface. The image is somewhat blurry, however and details come and go. Our plan: make a sketch of the planet now, go observe something else and come back for another sketch at the end of the lab period to see how much the planet has rotated in the meantime. Sketching is hard! Details are difficult to see. The sketch below is the most I could see with certainty. [Make a sketch of the planet. An example is given in the Jupiter lab ]. There is an interesting oval shape, like an "eye". TA says it is the famous Red Spot. Cool! Clouds moved in before my lab partner could sketch the planet again, so we can't figure out the rotation. Bummer.
[Your sketch here]
Note: Examples
Examples of sketches of planets, phases of the moon, constellations, etc. will be available in a binder at the observing facility. Templates with the correct outline of planets (and rings for Saturn) as well as for drawing the phase of the Moon will be provided by the TAs.
Lab Reports: Turning in Your Labs
All work in every lab must be your own. In one or two of the labs, where it is clearly marked, you will share data with the person with whom you shared the telescope. However, all observations, all drawings, and all write-ups must be your own. Copying other people's work, reporting observations you didn't make, or using other references to "fake" observations are all considered cheating and/or plagiarism, and will be treated as such!
When a lab is due to be turned in, you turn in a Lab Report folder. Extract all of the pages (notes, data, calculations, maps, charts, etc.) relevant to the given lab, and place them in a folder with brads (putting the brads through the punched holes of all your lab notes). Do not just place any loose, unaffixed sheets inside your lab report, as they are likely to be lost; the TAs are not responsible for any lost pages. Label the outside of the lab report with your name and the name of the lab; failure to do this will result in a penalty to your grade (if we ever figure out who you are at all; if we don't, you'll just get a zero).
Each lab must be in a separate folder. If you include multiple lab reports in one folder, only the first one will be graded. You will receive a 0 on the other labs.
When you have turned in a lab report, you will still have the rest of your observing log, and will be able to continue making telescope and naked-eye observations and recording them in it.
After a lab has been graded and returned, remove everything from the lab report folder and return all of those materials to your observing log. At the end of the semester, when you turn in your observing log, all parts of all labs, even graded ones, must be present; you will lose points for previously-graded labs which do not appear in your observing log at the end of the semester.
How, When, and Where to Turn in Lab Reports
Lab reports must be turned in at the beginning of class on the day when they are due. No late lab reports will be accepted. This includes lab reports turned in after class has begun. Make sure you are on time to class when the lab is due. If you won't be in town that day, make sure to get the lab report to the professor, during office hours, in person, before the lab due date. The course staff is not responsible for labs which are lost due to not having been turned in during class.
Graded lab reports generally will not be returned. You will be able to access your score on each lab online after it has been graded. If you wish to look over your graded lab, you may speak with the TAs during office hours.