The goal of physics is to understand the physical universe. Beyond that, an understanding of the astrophysical principles may help you perceive the universe around you in a more comprehensible, enjoyable, and fascinating way. Like other physics subjects, astrophysics is best learned through steady effort. Many of the concepts will come to seem natural only with continued practice. These skills are not only essential to solving problems in physics, but to solving problems in general, and are applicable to many situations in many different environments.
Attendance is required at all lecture and lab classes.
You must notify the instructor in advance if you are unable to attend a lab. Using a preprogrammed calculator on an exam to store information not available to the entire class, including solutions or equations, is considered cheating. This is an astrophysics class and, therefore, it has similarities to physics classes. Astrophysics is a conceptual and mathematical science and will require using mathematics and mental models as tools for solving problems. Some students believe that if they can follow the lectures in class, then they have learned physics.