ASTRONOMY 310 HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

For information on homework rules & requirements see below. Remember that the written homework counts as a quarter of your total grade. If you don't put enough effort into the homework, the grade you earn will reflect this.

Recent Homework Assignments:

May 7:
Study for the final exam.
Fill out your ParSCORE Enrollment form before taking the exam.

 May 5:
Study for the final exam.
Examine NASA's Kepler Mission website

May 2:
- Read the final chapter of the textbook, the Epilogue.
- Read the final two articles in the Course Reader: the excerpt from the book Rare Earth: ``Views of Earth Through Human History'' and Refugees from a Hostile Universe. These were written by the authors of the Rare Earth hypothesis.

Apr 30:
- Read Ch 13.3 (You can skip Ch 13.1 and 13.2)
Note: You should be finished reading all of Chapters 1-13 by the end of this assignment, and all but the last 2 articles in the Course Reader. Please try not to fall behind as we go into the homestretch of the semester!

Apr 25:
- Finish Reading Chapter 12
- Be sure to have examined JPL's MER website, and also NASA's Mars Exploration Program and the NASA/ESA Cassini/Huygens web sites.
- Tips for homework #4: Be sure to give proper reference for the images; in other words, cite the source of the images. You do not have to print in color or full-page size. Note: these do NOT have to be of Mars - any good astrobiology image will do. Be sure to write a full caption explaining what the figure is and why it is important, not just 2 sentences!

Apr 23:
- Review Chapter 8.
- Begin reading Chapter 12.
- Examine and explore the MER website.
- Written Assignment #4 (due Friday May 2:) Note: this homework requires extensive use of the wwweb.
1. Ch 8, p 294, Q #59, but use only 5 images, not 10.
2. Using Google Mars, examine Gusev Crater and the Pathfinder landing sites. Why do you think these locations were chosen? Explain in detail, up to 1 full page each. (Less is ok, but don't cheat yourself.) Along with your answers, print out and hand in: (i) a detailed infrared image of Gusev; (ii) a topographical (elevation contours) image of the Pathfinder site that helps explain your answer for the Pathfinder question.

Apr 21:
- Course Reader: Laying out the Evidence: The Case for Life on Mars by Bruce Jakosky
- Course Reader: Breakthrough Discoveries by J. William Schopf

April 18:
- Read/review Ch 8, 10 and 11
- Explore the NASA & ESA Cassini/Huygens websites.

April 14:
Read Chapter 9



Old Homework Assignments:

April 7:
Fill out your ParSCORE Enrollment scantron form.
Study for Exam #2 on Friday.
Examine/explore the web pages:
NASA/JPL's NEO FAQs
SpaceWeather.com

Mar 28:
Over Spring Break:
- Study for Exam #2.
- Review Chapter 8.
- Examine and explore NASA's Mars Exploration Program website.
- Explore the NASA & ESA Cassini/Huygens websites.
- Examine and thoroughly explore the "Google Mars" website.
- Course Reader: White Mars by N. Hoffman
- Preview of next homework: Ch 8, p 294, Q #59, but use only 5 images, not 10.

March 26:
Work on HW #3 due on Friday.

March 24:
- Work on HW #3 due on Friday.
- Finish reading Ch 8.
- Suggested reading in the Course Reader (not mandatory - we are not covering these articles this semester):
The Thrill of the Search: Finding ALH 84001
"Uncovering Martians Hidden Among Us: The Source of ALH84001"

March 21:
- Begin Reading Ch 8
- Course Reader: The Origin of Life On the Earth by L. Orgel. This is a challenging article. Make sure you have read Chapter 5 in the textbook and the Course Reader article/chapter by Evans before attempting to read this article. If you have questions, please ask.

March 17:
- Read Ch 7

March 14:
- Read Ch 4
- Read several articles in Astrobiology Magazine.
- Written Assignment #3 (due Friday Mar 28):
+ Textbook questions: Chapter 5 Q# 28, 29, 35; Chapter 6 Q# 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39
+ Summarize and state the key results of a recent article in Astrobiology Magazine (published since 2008 February 11). Why is the article important? What made it interesting to you?
+ Suppose you are a cell and want to make a new protein to help you survive. You are going to very slightly modify a protein that you already make by changing the last amino acid from phenylalanine to serine. This will give the protein a slightly different shape and therefore a different function. In your DNA, how will the last few base pairs of the gene for this protein change? Give the last codon in the DNA before and after the modification. (By "last", I mean the codon before the stop codon, not the stop codon itself. Ignore any "junk" DNA.) Note: There are 8 codons that are involved - list ALL of them.
Hint 1: Remember that "T" base in DNA is replaced by the "U" base in RNA.
Hint 2: You will need a copy of the genetic code to do this problem. There is one in the Course Reader.

 March 12:
Read Ch 6

March 10:
Read N. Evan's chapter in the Course Reader

March 7:
Read N. Evan's chapter in the Course Reader: Terrestrial Evolution : 1. Chemical Evolution and the Origin of Life on the Earth.

March 5:
Course Reader: Meet the Relatives
Textbook: Finish reading Chapter 5

March 3:
Begin reading Chapter 5

Feb 25:
Written Assignment #2 (due Monday March 3):
1) Choose one of the articles from the Course Reader that have been assigned as reading homework as of today. Select 2 sentences or phrases that express the key points of the article. State these sentences and fully explain why they illustrate the main point(s) of the article.
2) Approximately at what wavelength (in nm) is the Sun's light at its maximum (peak) intensity? (Hint: you need to know the Sun's surface temperature). EXPLAIN AND SHOW ALL WORK
3) Textbook Questions:
- Chapter 3 Quick Quiz: #35, 37, 38, 39, 52 (part a only); Ch 11 #28
- Review Question: Ch 10 #1
- Quantitative Problem: Ch 11 #52 (SHOW ALL WORK)

Feb 22:
- Reader: Finish reading "The UFO Controversy and the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis"
- Exam on Friday Feb 29. Fill out your ParSCORE Student Enrollment form before the exam. See the Class News webpage for more details.

Feb 20:
- Read the rest of Chapter 11
- Exam #1 on next Friday. You will need a ParSCORE Student Enrollment form (the larger pink scantron) for Exam #1 next Friday. This will be a multiple choice exam, 50 questions, closed-book and no calculators.

Feb 18:
- Reader: begin reading "The UFO Controversy and the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis" by S. Dick.

Feb 15:
- Course Reader: "Creating False Memories" by E. Loftus.

Feb 10:
- Carefully review Chapter 3 - there is a LOT of material in this chapter! Read it 2-3 times.
- Read Chapter 11.1 "Distant Suns"

Feb 8:
- Course Reader: "Abducted! Encounters with Aliens" by M. Shermer from his book "Why People Believe Weird Things".
- Textbook pages 373-377 "The Doppler Technique" in Ch 11
- Written HW #1 due on Monday

Feb 6:
- Finish Chapter 3: pages 88-95 (section 3.5 "The Process of Science")
- Course Reader: "Hallucinations" by Carl Sagan (a chapter from the book The Demon Haunted World)

Feb 4:
- Read Chapter 3.4 pages 80-88, "A Universe of Matter and Energy"
- Written Assignment #1 (due Monday Feb 11):
Remember: the homework is worth 25% of your grade, and there are only 4-5 homework assignments. Each one is a big part of your grade. Treat each homework like a mini-term paper. Length should be approximately 2 typed pages. Be sure to use proper college-level English. Staple your pages together.
1) Chapter 2 Review Question #12 (p 44)
2) Chapter 3 Quantitative Problem #58 (p 98)
3) Read several recent articles from Astrobiology Magazine. Choose your favorite one then present a one-paragraph summary and say why you think the article is interesting. Give the full name & date of the article.

Feb 1:
- Course Reader: "The Search for Extraterrestrial Life" by C. Sagan.
Read Chapter 3 of the textbook: pages 70-80 (section 3.3 "The Nature of Worlds")

Jan 30:
- Read Textbook Chapter 3, pages 59-70 (you can skip the "Movie Madness" section on page 69)

Jan 28:
Read in Chapter 3 of the textbook pages 48-58 (section 3.1 and 3.2 "The Structure, Scale and Evolution of the Universe")
In the Course Reader, read:
- "Claiborne Pell, Senator from Outer Space" by M. Gardner
- "Courtney Brown's Preposterous Farsight" by M. Gardner

Jan 25:
Read Textbook Chapter 2. (You can skip section 2.4 if you want)
In the Course Reader: "Are We Alone in the Cosmos?" by T. Owen.

Jan 23:
- Read Chapter 1 in the textbook.
- Explore, read, and bookmark the class WWWeb site. Learn what's available to help you with this course like the Important Links on Astrobiology and the class notes.
- Flip through the textbook and Course Reader to get an idea of what you are going to learn this semester. We will cover nearly all of the book and Course Reader.



Information on Homework Assignments:
Grading Policy:
Written homework assignments are graded on the following scale (no curve):
A = excellent work; full and thorough answers; no mistakes and no English errors
B = good work, only very minor errors; very few English errors
C = acceptable work, but more than one error in the science and/or English
D = poor work; several areas that could be improved
F = major problems with the answers or not submitted
Remember that the homework counts as 25% of your course grade! Be sure to put in the appropriate amount of effort. Poor grades on the homework almost always lead to poor grades in the course.
Think of each written homework assignment as a mini term paper. All assignments must be typed and written in proper, college-level English and multiple pages must be stapled together.
Homework is due at the start of class. Do not interrupt class to hand in your homework - put it on the table at the side of the class. Do not interrupt the lecture or you're homework will treated as if were late. Late homework will be accepted but one letter grade is deducted per class late. Show all work when doing calculations. Just writing down the answer is insufficient. Showing your work allows me to give partial credit if the numerical values are incorrect and it is the only way to see how you are doing the problem (i.e. the method). All material submitted for a grade must be written in proper English, at a level appropriate for a college course. Write complete and full sentences for all questions that are not purely mathematical in nature. All written homework assignments must be typed.


Reminder: Committing plagiarism could be the end of your college career.
``... an appropriate penalty, even severance from the University and in some cases revocation of an advanced degree,...'' (see page 447-449 of the 2005-2006 General Catalog). Plagiarism and cheating are at the top of the list of reasons for expulsion, suspension and probation of students.

Take a look at the SDSU Academic Dishonesty Incident Form (in .pdf format).

Plagiarism is theft. If you copy more than 4 words in a row from any source (including the textbook) and do not reference that source, you may be committing plagiarism.
Fraud and stealing is not taken lightly. Don't throw away all the effort, time, and money you spent going to college (this or any other one) by plagiarizing someone else's work. It is just not worth the risk. You almost certainly will get caught - just as it is so easy to steal material off the WWWeb, it is sooo easy to get caught. It requires just a few keystrokes to check your project and homework for plagiarism. And there is no time limit - semesters later, or even years later, the crime is just as serious (in fact, usually more so - you can lose your degree, job, career)!

Simple Rule: If you copy a phrase of 4 or more words, put it in quotes and reference the source.
Simple Rule: If in doubt, reference the source.
 What is plagiarism? Find out from the exact definition from the Turnitin.com website.