Outline of ASTP 789, "Exoplanets"

Course material can be found online in several places:

http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/extrasol/extrasol.html

Instructors

Michael Richmond
Building 76 = CAR, Office 1274
Office phone: 475-2538
FAX: : 475-5988
E-mail: mwrsps@rit.edu

Joel Kastner
Building 17 = ENG, Office 3197
Office phone: 475-7179
E-mail: kastner@cis.rit.edu

Class hours

   Tuesday    2:00 -  3:20 PM   CAR-1230
   Thursday   2:00 -  3:20 PM   CAR-1230

Office Hours

 Richmond
   Monday     1:00 -   2:00 PM  CAR-1274                          
   Wednesday  1:00 -   2:00 PM  CAR-1274
   Thursday   noon -   1:00 PM  CAR-1274
   Friday     9:00 -  10:00 AM  CAR-1274

You may call to make an appointment. If my office door is open, feel free to enter. I'm almost always in my office :-(

Homework

Homework problems must be written or printed onto paper and given to the instructors by the assigned due date. You are welcome to work together on the problems, but you must write all the steps yourself on the papers you submit.

Answers to the homework problems will appear after the due date. Because the answers will be visible to everyone at that time, we will accept no late homework.

Grading

There are several components to the final score in this course. The list below is not definitive, but a rough guide to the importance of each component.

   20  percent  in-class quizzes and discussion
   40  percent  homework 
   20  percent  oral presentation 
   20  percent  final project
   -----------
  100  percent

If you know in advance that you will have to miss an assignment, please contact the instructors.

Textbook

There is one official textbook for this course. However, there are other books which we recommend that you read. These books may clarify material covered in class, and they may also give you a second view which makes more sense to you than our explanations.

Exoplanets edited by Sara Seager. Required.
This book is available online from the RIT Library.

Exoplanet Atmospheres by Sara Seager.
This book is available on reserve in the RIT Library.

Transiting Exoplanets by Carole Haswell.
This book is available on reserve in the RIT Library.

Exoplanets: Finding, Exploring, and Understanding Alien Worlds by Chris Kitchin.
This book is available online from the RIT Library.

Extrasolar Planets and Astrobiology by Caleb Scharf.
This book is available on reserve in the RIT Library.

Planets for Man by Stephen H. Dole and Isaac Asimov.
Despite being published in 1964, this book presents lots of useful and still relevant information in an easy-to-digest form. You can download a free PDF copy of the book at the website above; thanks, RAND Corporation!

This page maintained by Michael Richmond. Last modified May 06, 2018.