Lahore University of Management Sciences

AST 104 \ PHY 106 The Universe Around Us

Fall 2015-16

Instructor
Room No.
Office Hours
Email
Telephone
Secretary/TA
TA Office Hours
Course URL (if any)
Course Basics
Credit Hours
Lecture(s)
Recitation/Lab (per
week)
Tutorial (per week)

Babar Ahmed Qureshi

9-213A
Babar.qureshi@lums.edu.pk
8361

3
Nbr of Lec(s) Per
Week
Nbr of Lec(s) Per
Week
Nbr of Lec(s) Per
Week

Course Distribution
Core
Elective
Open for Student Category
Close for Student Category

Duration

Duration

Duration

75 minutes

No
Can be taken as university distribution, SSE elective and
free elective
Open for all

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is an introductory Astronomy course that covers our knowledge of the universe as a whole. The emphasis will
be on understanding how we know what we know about the universe and discovering the physical basis of our
beliefs about the current cosmological model. The learning will be based on physical concepts and available
experimental evidence, explained without assuming any science pre-requisites. The only math needed is elementary
high school algebra. An important theme will be to develop a historical perspective on our astronomical world view.
The course should be accessible to all university students and not just science majors.
COURSE PREREQUISITE(S)
None

COURSE OBJECTIVES
-Explain the current scientific understanding of the
universe , its contents and its history
-Explain the science behind our understanding of
astronomical phenomena and present the scientific
evidence for our knowledge
-Explain the scientific way of inquiry as applied to the
astronomical phenomena.
-Discuss the historical evolution of the scientific ideas
about the universe.

Learning Outcomes
-Students should be able to appreciate the current
scientific world view about the universe.
-Appreciate the evidence based nature of evolving
scientific theories.
-Should be familiar with the theories about the history
and structure of the universe
-Should know the basics of astronomical phenomena
including working of stars, structures of galaxies and
other contents of the universe.

Grading Breakup and Policy

There will be several in class quizes. Some class activities may also be given
credit towards the grade. The final project consists of writing a paper on a topic
of student's choice.

Assignment(s):
Home Work:
Quiz(s): 50 %
Class Participation:
Attendance: 10 %
Midterm Examination:
Project: 40 %
Final Examination:

Examination Detail

Midterm Exam

Yes/No: No
Combine Separate:
Duration:
Preferred Date:
Exam Specifications:

Final Exam

Yes/No: No
Combine Separate:
Duration:
Exam Specifications:

FORMTEXT
COURSE OVERVIEW
Week/ Lecture/ Module

Topics
Classical Astronomy,
Historical Perspective and
the Big picture
Gravity, Kepler and
Planetary Motions
FORMTEXT
Stars, their structure,
formation and evolution.
Death of Stars
FORMTEXT

Recommended
Readings

Objectives/
Application
Understand the key
observations in Astronomy
and get an idea of the
arena of the universe.
Understand gravity and
how it determines the
motions in the sky
Understand key
observations regarding the
stars and physical ideas
from quantum mechanics
behind their working and
the above observations.

Galaxies, Exotica
(including black holes,
quasars etc.)
FORMTEXT
Cosmology, large scale
structure and history of the
universe. The big bang
model. The Particle
Physics connection to the
early universe.

FORMTEXT The
origin of the universe,
string theory and quantum
gravity. Life in the
universe. Anthropic
Principle.

Understand the meaning

of and evidence for an
expanding universe. Study
the evidence and physical
ideas and implications of
big bang universe.
Understand Einsteins
ideas about spacetime.
Connection of Particle
physics understanding at
LHC and the
understanding of early
universe. How do the
satellites study the very
early universe?
Study the current range of
speculative ideas about the
very beginning of the
universe. Discuss the
statistical ideas about
possible life in other parts
of the universe.

Textbook(s)/Supplementary Readings
Recommended Text: The Essential Cosmic Perspective by Bennett, Donahue and Schneider and Voit.
Lots of other reading material will be provided in the class.