• 09/15/06 - last date for unrestricted course withdrawal
• 10/27/06 - last date for restricted course withdrawal

Required Materials for the Astro part of SES 103

• National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky (1991, Chanticleer Press, $19 at campus bookstore)
• Edmund Scientific's Star and Planet Locator ($3 at campus bookstore)
• SC001 Constellation Chart ($0.75 at campus bookstore)
• SC002 Constellation Chart ($0.50 at campus bookstore)

Additional materials will be necessary throughout the semester that we will not be providing - make sure you have these available to you:

• A low-powered flashlight, preferably with a red lens
• A scientific calculator

SES 103 is a one credit-hour laboratory class associated with one of the lecture classes AST 111 or SES 101. Every student wishing to take SES 103 must be currently enrolled in AST 111 or SES 101, or have previously taken one of these the classes. Knowledge of the lecture course material is assumed in the SES 103 curriculum and exercises.

Grades

The final grade for the class will be calculated based on a simple sum of all of your numerical scores during the semester. These will be based on approximately 6 of the best Astro Labs and 6 of the best Geo Labs that you can find under the ``Labs Scripts'' and ``Links'' buttons, respectively.   The lowest lab score will be dropped.  There will therefore be no make-up Labs --- if you need to miss a Lab, that will be the one you drop. The final letter grade may be curved to allow for differences in grading between TA's or graders. Based on previous years, the typical grade distribution will be approximately as follows:
 

% of points possible	Letter grade
93 - 100%	A
90 - 92.9 %	A-
87 - 89.9 %	B+
83 - 86.9 %	B
80 - 82.9 %	B-
77 - 79.9 %	C+
70 - 76.9 %	C
60 - 69 %	D
< 60 %	E

Stated simply, your grade will be directly proportional to the number of lab exercises you attend, write-up and hand in. You are expected to attend all class times your section is scheduled to meet.

Lab Exercises

Each student is expected to complete the lab report during the class period that the exercise is performed. The first laboratory exercise  of the semester will guide the student through what is expected of them in their lab reports for the semester. Reports will be graded against the criteria detailed in that class.

Each student's work is assumed and required to be their own. NO GROUP LAB REPORTS WILL BE ACCEPTED!  Any cases of plagiarism will be met with a penalty, and possible assignment of a failing grade. Remember, your grade must reflect your ability to do the Lab material, not your ability to copy from your neighbor. You are allowed to discuss Lab material with your Lab partners while doing the Lab, but when you write the Lab report and answer the questions, you must do this by yourself.

Each lab section has a different schedule. Make sure you know your schedule! Your class time will not change, but the location where the class will be meeting can change from time to time - so know where you are going to be meeting.

The scripts for each lab exercise are posted on the class web page (see above) in printable form (PDF documents). It is your responsibility to download and print out the lab scripts for each lab exercise. Your TA will not have copies for you to use. All computers in public areas on campus are equipped to read and print PDF documents - so you should not experience too much trouble downloading these scripts. If you do experience difficulty, contact the Instructor ASAP. Again, the schedule of which scripts you will need each lab meeting are listed under the schedule on the class webpage.

Pre-labs are due at the beginning of class the night of the lab to be performed.  Lab reports are due at the end of the class period.  No late labs will be accepted.

Attendance

Laboratory classes require participation.  As stated above, students are expected to attend all scheduled class periods.  Missing three labs (as recorded by attendance or by missing lab scores) will result  automatically in a grade of "E".  Because we drop the lowest lab score in the calculation of the final grade, no makeup labs will be scheduled.  Please contact your TA and instructor in advance if you must miss a lab.
 
 

Useful Astronomical Information

Observing from Tempe, Arizona:

Longitude = 112º West

Latitude = +33º North

Arizona is on Mountain Standard Time (MST) [MST = UT - 7 hrs]

Time:

1 minute = 60 seconds

1 hour = 60 minutes = 3600 seconds

1 day = 24 hours = 1440 minutes = 86400 seconds

1 year = 365.25 days = 8766 hours = 525960 minutes = 31557600 seconds

Angles:

1 arcminute = 1' = 60 arcseconds = 60"

1 degree = 1º = 60' = 3600"

Full circle = 360º = 21600' = 1296000"

Time and Angles (on the Celestial Equator):

Moon:

Apparent Angular Diameter = 0.5º = 30'

Sidereal Period (time to make 1 360º rotation about Earth) = 27.3 days

Synodic Period (time to return to same phase) = 29.5 days

Earth to Moon = 384000 km = 0.0026 AU

Distance:

1 light year = 63000 AU = 9.5x10¹² km

1 astronomical unit (AU) = Earth to Sun distance = 1.5x10⁸ km

1 parsec (pc) = 3.26 light years = 3.08x10¹³ km = 206265 AU

Planets (Note: Pluto is now considered a ``dwarf'' planet):