ASTR 101 Lab - Department of Physics and Astronomy

There will be a quiz at the beginning of every class over the lab we will do that day. The
quizzes are designed to test that you conceptually understand the purpose and goals of the
lab. The sum of all your quiz scores will be equivalent to one lab grade. If you are late for
lab or miss a lab, you will get a zero for that quiz. No quizzes will be dropped. There will
be two opportunities for extra quiz points that will be discussed during class.
Grading is done on a curve. The curve is based on the number of points you receive for
the lab. Your grade will depend on how you do relative to the rest of the class. The
number of standard deviations you are away from the mean will determine your letter
grade for that lab. The grade distribution will be as follows:
Number of Standard Deviations from Mean
> +0.5 A
-0.5 +0.5 B
-1.5 -0.5 C
-2.5 -1.5 D
< -2.5 F
Letter Grade
After the labs are graded, I will post the distribution on WebAssign so you can keep track
of where you stand. Keep in mind that a 90 is not necessarily an A, 80 is not necessarily a
B, etc. Some of the labs by design will have low numerical averages. Please do not fret
about your grade until you see the curve.
Late Policy
All labs must be submitted by noon on Thursday the week after the lab. This should give
you ample time to meet with me if something does not work or you have questions. I will
not answer questions about the previous lab on the day of our next lab. The telescopes we
use are PROMPT, your work should be as well. Late work will not be accepted.
However, sometimes life does not go as planned. If something happens, please let me
know and we will work something out.
Laptops
Bring a computer with you to class every week. It is your responsibility to have access to
a computer capable of doings these labs.
Schedule of Labs
Date
Lab
24 January Orientation
31 January Lab 1 **At Moorehead Observatory**
7 February Lab 1: Introduction to Skynet
14 February Lab 2: Earth and the Seasons
21 February Lab 2: Earth and the Seasons
28 February Lab 3: The Galilean Revolution
13 March Lab 4: The Cosmic Distance Ladder I
20 March Lab 5: The Cosmic Distance Ladder II
27 March Lab 6: The Great Debate
3 April Lab 7: Dark Matter
10 April Lab 8: Hubble’s Law