Examination 15% - Class attendance and participation (note: the first, second and third lectures do not count) 35% - Homework (three assignments) 50% - Essay (or Research Project). Note that there is no final exam. The grade statistics of the 2014 class can be found here. Also, here you can find information about majors the students in the 2014 class. Homework Three homework assignments will be handed out during the lectures. The assignments should be written in English. English spelling and grammar mistakes are unimportant (this is not an English class), but of course the answers should be understandable. The homework should be handed in on time. Handing in the homework too late will result in a lower grade. You can choose if you want to hand in a hand-written assignment or a computer print-out. Each student should make the homework individually. Essay The essay should be written in English, and should be roughly 3000 words long, but it can be shorter or longer if you want (I will not count the number of words). You can choose the topic of your essay yourself. You are encouraged to to choose a topic in astronomy or space science that is related to your major. Instructions and examples are provided during the lectures. You should hand in your essay before or on (date to be decided) to Yunfeng Chen or Zhen Guo. Please also email me a copy of your essay. The essays should be written individually, and plagiarism (including self-plagiarism) is not allowed. Research Project Instead of an essay, you can also do a small research project related to astronomy. For example, you can write an computer simulation code to solve an astrophysical problem. The deadline for the research report is the same as for the essay. If you are interested, please come and talk to me first. You can come up with your own idea. Doing a research project can be quite complicated and it can cost a lot of time, but you might find interesting new results. The research projects can be carried out individually, or by a group of two students. Literature You do not need to buy books for this lecture course. However, for your homework, essay, and your general interest, the following books can be very useful. You can find many of these in the Peking University library. Here is a description of serveral useful books. There are many other good books available in the library, on the internet, and the bookstores; explore! 1. 现代天文学十五讲, 吴鑫基,温学诗, 北京大学出版社, 2005 2. 基础天文学, 刘学富, 高等教育出版社, 2004 3. 简明天文学教程(第二版), 余明, 科学出版社, 2007 4. 天文学教程(上), 胡中为、萧耐园, 高等教育出版社, 2003 5. 天文学教程(下), 朱慈墭, 高等教育出版社, 2003 6. 天体物理学, 李宗伟、肖兴华, 高等教育出版社, 2000 7. 天体物理导论, 徐仁新, 北京大学出版社, 2006 8. Modern Astrophysics, Carroll Ostlie, Addisson-Wesley, 1996 9. A brief history of time, Hawking, Bantam Dell Publishing, 1998