The aim of the course is to acquaint you with how Cosmology has developed from early times to the present day and, in doing so, how it has influenced scientific thinking. The major issues that currently confront the science will also be covered.

Most of the lectures will be given by A/Prof. Michael Ashley and A/Prof. John Webb, both of whom are observational cosmologists with first-hand experience in pursuing this type of science. There will also be an opportunity for you to participate in a viewing session with the Department of Astrophysics' 14-inch reflecting telescope, located on top of the Geography and Surveying Building. This will be organised approximately mid-way through the semester.

 
How to enrol

If you are a UNSW student who wishes to take this subject as part of the General Education program, see the UNSW General Education Handbook and/or speak to the Enrolment Section on 9385 3085.

If you are not a member of UNSW and wish to attend this lecture series, you should contact the Admissions Office on 9385 3156 to obtain the appropriate entry forms ("Non-Award Enrolments").

 
Lectures and tutorials

The course has been allocated the Wednesday 9 - 11 time slot which will be divided equally into tutorial and lecture time as follows:

9 - 10	Tutorials
10 - 11	Lecture

The lectures take place in room OMB 112. Tutorials take place in OMB 114, 115 and 117.

You will be assigned to one of three tutorial groups:

Tutor	Room
Neil Crighton	OMB 114
Marton Hidas	OMB 115
Tracey Hill	OMB 117

The main purpose of the tutorials in this course is to broaden the scope of lectures in two ways: (i) to explore in more detail and thus better understand the concepts/material covered in lectures, (ii) to digress onto other (related) topics not covered in the lectures. Ideally this takes place through open discussion which involves everybody rather than just a monologue from the tutor.

 
Assessment

The course will be assessed as follows :

• Journal - 30%
• Essay - 30%
• Exam - 20%
• Participation - 20%

Journal - for this you will be required to maintain a week-to-week log of what was covered in the lecture and what you learnt from the tutorial discussions. To minimise your effort and our's in marking it, we suggest you produce a one-page summary for each week; your final submitted journal should therefore be of the order of 12 pages. Journals are to be handed in to your tutor by the end of week 14.

Essay - at the end of week 12, you will be required to submit a 2000 word essay on a topic of your choice related to cosmology. You must, however, obtain approval of your topic from your tutor!

Exam - a 1 hour internal exam will be held during the 10 - 11 lecture slot in week 14. The end of session exam consists of two Sections. Section A is on History & Development of Cosmology (first set of Lectures) and Section B is on Modern Cosmology (second set of Lectures). Each Section contains two questions, of which you are required to answer only one. The total number of questions you are to answer in the test is two, one from each Section. The questions are of the short answer type and may contain a number of parts.

Participation - tutorials (and lectures) run a lot better when students are well prepared and actively participate during discussion time. 20% of the course mark is therefore reserved to assess you on this basis.

 
Text and Reference Books

For reasons of cost, there is no recommended text for the subject. However, there are a number of excellent books held in the UNSW library that you might want to consult during the course:

Concepts of Contemporary Astronomy - The Evolving Universe	M. Zeilick
Discovering the Universe	W.J. Kaufmann
Explorations - An Introduction to Astronomy	T.T. Arny
Astronomy Through Space and Time	S. Engelbrektson

Also, Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos by Denis Overbye provides an entertaining and very readable account of the development of 20th century cosmology and the personalities involved and is highly recommended.

 
Availability

Not available to students of the Faculty of Science & Technology.

 
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