Astrophysics
| Science Course | |
|---|---|
| Course Code | ASTR |
| Year Opened | 1982 |
| Sites Offered | JHU, LAN, SAR |
| Previously Offered | CLN, HKG, LOU, TEC, UNI |
Course Description
Astrophysics covers an introductory astronomy textbook, from solar system motions, through stellar evolution and galaxies, to relativity and cosmology. It also involves hands-on experience with equipment during Study Hall.
The course used to include a trip to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
For the Baltimore campus in 11.1 both field trips were canceled
Class History
Astronomy at Lancaster has been taught by Jason St. Pierre for the past few years. He is "really honkin'" fantastic (and is rumored to play the King in the RA circle during American Pie). Remember, former LAN Astro students: Gravity works!
ASTR.LAN.09.1 was TA'd by Lauren Weiss.
Astronomy at Siena is very Carl Sagan-centric, with "Cosmos" videos almost every day, and various quotes repeated over and over, such as...
- "In order to make apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."
- "Crumbly, but good."
- "He had a... zest for experimentation."
- "Our planet, our society, everything around us is star stuff."
ASTR.B.LAN 16.1 (otherwise known as Astrology B or Astroloby G) was instructed by Mohammad Shahabuddin and TA'd by our savior Henry Cornell. Class consisted of photons being "like large birds who just kinda flap around and run into stuff," Ratboy Genius and the quest to save Summer Solstice Baby from the clutches of evil King Little John, vigorous paper eating, $110 bets on whether TA Henry had watched Cowboy Bebop, unnecessarily gendered straight bats, Doppler sportsball (which quickly resulted in the wreckage of scientific equipment), Moomin Valley, "yiffersnappers," people floating nicely into black holes, BBC Carl Sagan, and theories that TA Henry was actually the user behind the twitter account @dril. The instructor was soon denounced to just be some guy who is always giving lectures because it was agreed by the class that Henry was "our real teacher," as he actually knew our names by the end of the session. While the course was extremely difficult to many of the students and it was hard to pay attention because of the droning nature of the instructor's voice during lectures, the class became good friends with one another and suffered together as a whole to make the class worth it in the end.
‘“ASTR.B.LAN 17.2’” included the award winning beach ball Pat along with a large amount of air spent attempting to save him after a game of S**t ball gone wrong. The majority of breaks were spent saving Pat and using duck tape to patch him. The course was amazing, there were a multitude of field trips and a people who actually worked semi decently together. Indoor breaks consisted of playing Super Smash Flash II on computers. Kirby was the best.
ASTR.A.JHU.18.2 was instructed by Rutu Das and TA'd by Jason. There were only four girls and 14 boys, many of which did not seem to know of the concept of showering and/or clothes-changing. It was not uncommon to see a boy wear the same pair of (dirty) shorts for almost a week straight and black stuff on his teeth for several days in a row.
The class learned that "THE UNIVERSE IS ALWAYS CORRECT!", some of the boys like singing to pop songs, there is no special place in the universe, and "GUARDIANS ASSEMBLE!" is code for "FIGHT YOUR PHONE ADDICTION AND PUT YOUR DANG DEVICE AWAY and then listen to me talk". The most commonly played video game was Disco Zoo.
Frankie was known for being extremely curious and asking tons of questions. However, while he was the one to ask the most questions, almost all the boys frequently asked questions, and on more than one occasion, hands were raised before the lecture even started. Frankie also made an awesome impression of Fritz Zwicky's facial expression in the photo he chose for his presentation on him.
The most interesting class project was writing a sci-fi story using at least three astrophysics concepts learned in the course. Two of these had the entire class completely unable to speak coherently due to explosive giggling.
Both Astrophysics classes at Baltimore in 18.2 met Marshall Perrin, who worked with the Hubble telescope and is currently working on the James Webb Space Telescope. He went to CTY Lancaster in '95-'98.
ASTR.B.JHU.18.2 was taught by a teacher that could not speak English fluently (this was likely because all Astrophysics instructors and TAs were hired late), causing the entire class to learn very little. The teacher often responded to questions with unhelpful answers. A prime example was when one student asked what a brown dwarf was, and the teacher responded by incoherently explaining what red and blue dwarfs were. This was typical behavior for the three weeks.
Students were often left behind/forgotten outside on breaks or at various places. When visiting a telescope and a museum attached to it, the class had to stay in the five story building for an extra hour due to lightning. Students decided to play hide and seek in the entire building, and the teacher laid down on the ground to sleep. Many students were almost left behind due to this game.
The teacher ended the session by saying to the whole class "I hope you all can go home and be happy again". During the car-jacker situation on campus, the TA of this class lied to the students when they were receiving word of the situation from their friends in other classes. The TA told the students that nothing was wrong and nothing was happening, resulting in many of the students being angry afterward for not getting the full story.
ASTR.B.LAN.18.2 was instructed by Shawn Lemke and TA'd by Andrew. There was a beautiful gender divide of nine boys and nine girls but within the first few days we were a homogenous mess of hormonal teens reigned only the electromagnetic spectrum song, Aidan's questionable music taste, Lemke's physics puns, and our love for Andrew. Aside from actual astrophysics, we learned that:
- yeet can and should be used as a verb
- bose is the plural of bees
- DESTINY IS CALLING ME
- Cole is the best pineapple
- male lactation should always be explained in terms of Harry Potter
- the electromagnetic spectrum can lead to uncontrollable sobbing
- 3E is not hungry
- it's a lamb, duh
- frisbees are dangerous weapons, especially when wielded by Aanya
- balls are to be stolen, then fondled
- bathrooms are for High School Musical singalongs
- bathrooms are also not soundproof
- bathrooms also have terrible plumbing systems
- bathrooms in general
In summary, it was the best class ever.
