Welcome to Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics. This is an elective course in which you'll learn about the solar system, stars, and galaxies. You'll also learn why scientists believe things are this way (that's the "Astrophysics" part), and for that we will use some physics and math.
There are two earlier versions of this course available on the web, one taught in Fall 1996 and the other taught in Fall 1997. You're welcome to take a look at them. Those materials are in fact useful for studying for exams and otherwise learning this material.
Class meets twice a week, Tuesday and Thursdays 10:00-11:50. On Tuesdays, class meets in room SC 2C30 and I will present the material in a lecture format, and show you lots of pretty pictures of things in the sky. Thursday classes will meet in SC 2C22 and will be devoted to "labs" to extend your understanding of the stuff we did earlier in the week. Homework will be on the material covered in class, and is due at the start of Tuesday's class the following week.
The required textbook is Introductory Astronomy and Astrophysics, Fourth Edition, by Zeilik and Gregory. It's unfortunately expensive, but you may be able to find used copies. (Be careful not to get the obsolete Third Edition.) It will be important for you to have your own copy because exams are open book, but you have to use your own.