ASTR 81
Astrophysics I: Stars and Nebulae
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisites: Mathematics 31A, 31B, and Physics 1A or 1AH. Open to qualified sophomore and upper-division students. Survey of our knowledge about stars: their distances, masses, luminosities, temperatures, and interrelations between these parameters. Methods and importance for astrophysics. Variable stars. Planetary and gaseous nebulae. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Seems like there's been some time since anyone's left a Prof. Ghez eval. Perhaps she's changed since the last one, because she is an absolutely amazing teacher. She has the enthusiasm and concern for her students that 90% of the professors here seem to have left back in grad school. She may be ever-so-slightly frazzled at times, but it just plays into the loopy astronomer persona and doesn't detract at all from the lectures (which any observant student can tell she puts a lot of time into creating). Besides, it's just pretty awesome to be taught by someone as famous as Prof. Ghez in a relatively small class.
Seems like there's been some time since anyone's left a Prof. Ghez eval. Perhaps she's changed since the last one, because she is an absolutely amazing teacher. She has the enthusiasm and concern for her students that 90% of the professors here seem to have left back in grad school. She may be ever-so-slightly frazzled at times, but it just plays into the loopy astronomer persona and doesn't detract at all from the lectures (which any observant student can tell she puts a lot of time into creating). Besides, it's just pretty awesome to be taught by someone as famous as Prof. Ghez in a relatively small class.
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Most Helpful Review
He is a fast though interesting and coherent lecturer. He is also good at bringing up various current events in astronomy and it really feels like we are at the forefront of the field in the class. Homework and tests are absurdly easy: really not much harder than high-school physics. He gives you any equation with more than three variables to use on the tests: which have calculational type questions that are just like those in the homework and conceptual questions that basically just make sure that you were paying attention in class and reviewed the material before the test. I would definitely not recommend taking this particular class unless you like astrophysics, as it goes pretty fast, though I cannot imagine Larkin being very difficult as a Astro 3 professor. Good class and good professor.
He is a fast though interesting and coherent lecturer. He is also good at bringing up various current events in astronomy and it really feels like we are at the forefront of the field in the class. Homework and tests are absurdly easy: really not much harder than high-school physics. He gives you any equation with more than three variables to use on the tests: which have calculational type questions that are just like those in the homework and conceptual questions that basically just make sure that you were paying attention in class and reviewed the material before the test. I would definitely not recommend taking this particular class unless you like astrophysics, as it goes pretty fast, though I cannot imagine Larkin being very difficult as a Astro 3 professor. Good class and good professor.
Most Helpful Review
Ignore the review posted on March 31 because it was posted by a person who has no clue what she is talking about. The only reason she passed was because the professor is too kind. She whined to him at every one of his office hours, so he didn't feel good about failing her. I would like to remind everyone here that we're graded on results, not on effort. The 3/13 review is incorrect too (as we should know because 3/31 agreed with it). Astro 81 is an introductory class...TO ASTROPHYSICS! They assume you know at least something about astronomy, as you should. Zuckerman is a great professor and a great guy. True, his final is much harder than his midterms, but it was still all stuff that we should've expected from the way he taught.
Ignore the review posted on March 31 because it was posted by a person who has no clue what she is talking about. The only reason she passed was because the professor is too kind. She whined to him at every one of his office hours, so he didn't feel good about failing her. I would like to remind everyone here that we're graded on results, not on effort. The 3/13 review is incorrect too (as we should know because 3/31 agreed with it). Astro 81 is an introductory class...TO ASTROPHYSICS! They assume you know at least something about astronomy, as you should. Zuckerman is a great professor and a great guy. True, his final is much harder than his midterms, but it was still all stuff that we should've expected from the way he taught.
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