AS 101 - Course overview
AS 101 - Astronomy I: Our Place in the Cosmos - Fall 2026
Section A · Mon & Wed 5:30-6:50 p.m. · LH 3094 · Dr. T. Stephen Sathiaraj (Science Building N 2084A)
Office hours Mon & Wed 3:00-5:00 p.m., by appointment only · [email protected] · 519-884-0710 x3867
No tutorial, no lab. Source: the syllabus in Course Info/
Assessment
| Component | Weight | When |
|---|---|---|
| In-class MyLS quizzes (10 × 1%) | 10% | during lectures - marks for voting in every poll, not for being right |
| Assignment 1 (MyLS) | 10% | opens Wed Sep 30, due Wed Oct 7 |
| Assignment 2 (MyLS) | 10% | opens Mon Nov 30, due Mon Dec 7 |
| Midterm | 30% | Mon Oct 19, 5:30-6:50 p.m., LH 3094 - in class |
| Final exam | 40% | Dec 12-23 period, date TBA |
Both exams are in person on Gradescope, no remote option. A missed midterm is rescheduled once only with an Illness Self-Declaration or equivalent within 72 hours - otherwise it is a zero, and the weight does not move to the final.
Rules worth remembering
- Quizzes are in class only - no late submission. Attend, vote in every poll, and you have the 10%.
- Assignments are take-home in the MyLS RLDB environment with a one-week window; late only with documentation.
- Generative AI is not permitted in this course - using it for any coursework is academic misconduct.
- The syllabus says recording needs his permission - you have his verbal OK to audio-record (2026-09-13).
- Slides are posted to MyLS after every second class, not before.
- Last day of classes: Wed Dec 9. Reading week Oct 13-16 (Thanksgiving Oct 12).
Materials
- ASTRO, 3rd Canadian ed. (Seeds, Backman, Ghose, Milosevic-Zdjelar, Read; Cengage) - required, ~$75, e-text or second-hand. Goes in
Textbook/. - Astronomy 2e (OpenStax, Fraknoi/Morrison/Wolff) - optional, free: https://openstax.org/details/books/astronomy-2e (Ch. 1-14 are the relevant ones).
- The Essential Cosmic Perspective 8e (Bennett et al.) and Astronomy Today 9e (Chaisson & McMillan) - optional.
Schedule
| Wk | Topic | ASTRO |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Scale of the Cosmos | Ch. 1 |
| 2 | The Sky: Patterns and Cycles, Seasons | Ch. 2.1-2.3 |
| 3 | Phases of the Moon | Ch. 2.4-2.7 |
| 4 | The Origin of Modern Astronomy | Ch. 3 |
| - | Reading week Oct 12-16 | |
| 5 | Midterm Mon Oct 19 · Light and Matter, Telescopes | Ch. 4 |
| 6 | The Solar System | Ch. 12 |
| 7 | The stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes, and the Big Bang | Ch. 6, 7.3-7.4, 8.4-8.6, 11 |
| 8-9 | Comparative Planetology of the Terrestrial Planets | Ch. 13 |
| 10 | Comparative Planetology of the Jovian Planets | Ch. 14 |
| 11-12 | not in the syllabus schedule - the thematic-unit list still has meteors & asteroids and exoplanetary systems | - |
Tentative per the syllabus. His week 1 is Sep 14 (first Mon/Wed meeting) and the numbering skips reading week - the class notes carry both his week (syllabus_week) and the pipeline's (week).