The TAs monitor the weather, the weather maps, and satellite and radar images to determine the likely sky conditions for the lab. If it is clear for the first night, the makeup will not be offered. If it is cloudy on both nights, we will do our best to make it possible for you and your lab mates to catch up quickly. See the first laboratory, Constellations and Telescopes , for more information on acceptable lab books. You do not have to turn in your lab book, but at the end of each lab make sure that the graduate student TA in charge examines you lab book to make sure that you have made the required observations and answered the questions.
Labs are graded pass-no credit.
There are no formal lab write-ups. So come dressed for temperatures that can feel 20 degrees colder than what you experience outside your dorm. It also helps you stay warm if you get actively involved in labs and ask lots of good questions. Students who take an active interest have ended up traveling to remote sites to observe comets, solar eclipses, and the aurora borealis. The night sky is ever changing, with limitless possibilities for discovery and new phenomena.