Extra Credit Opportunities in the Age of CoVid-19

You can earn extra credit by several ways. Try 'em all! Remember - there's almost no chance I'll be generous about bumping up your grade above the numerical calculation unless you show your work ethic by doing extra credit - you win once by the extra credit points, and maybe twice if you then end up near a transition to the next grade higher and I give you a nudge higher, over the cutoff. Note that you cannot earn more than the percentages shown, So, more is only better up to the limit shown.

(a) Star Party or under-the-dark skies field trip +1%: By spending a couple of hours at a "star party" put on at the Cabrillo Observatory or other nearby location. We'll show you the real stuff... stars, planets, galaxies! Attend and get 1% extra credit. If it's clear you should definitely jump on the chance - Clouds cancel, and over the years typically at least half of our star parties are clouded out, and no guarantee of a re-schedule. Now, in the Co-Vid era, we can't actually meet because of virus transmission worries and college worry about liability. So, if you have a more informal night under the stars, please take photos and then arrange to email me with your photos and an description of your night under the stars, and I'll grant you the +1%. However, just for completness anyway, here is Cabrillo Observatory

(b) Astro News Clippings: +1% by emailing me 3 news clippings links. Or +2% for 6 news clippings. They are suitable for posting so the class can see them too. The idea is to put up fresh news of recent discoveries, not put up long articles summarizing current knowledge out of magazines. Try "Sky and Telescope" or "Astronomy" magazine; they have current news sections. Much easier than constantly looking for something in the newspaper. To qualify, the clipping should be short enough a person could read it in a few minutes. For Astro 7, you can include climate news. For Astro 5, include news stories relevant to life outside Earth.

(c) Short Essay - Here's my List: +1% per essay, maximum of 2 essays. Must Ask me to give you a short essay question. The essay will be one from my own list on-line. This is to be your own thinking and therefore no two students will get the same essay. Write a page or two, in Word or a text file is OK too, submitted on Canvas

(d) Attend an Astronomy/Climate related Zoom lecture. +1%. UCSC Astronomy has weekly seminars. So does UCSC Physics, and the UCSC IGPP (Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics).

(d) Find Factual Errors in my PowerPoints. Up to 3%.
+1% per significant factual error. Errors of fact, errors of knowledge, gets you +1% to your grade. We like fact-checkers! Must include a link to a source which is reputable and which shows my entry is wrong. Must include the slide number and enough detail that I can find and fix it easily. I don't want to be misleading anyone in my teaching! Find a significant error and you'll get my accolades as well. Typo's and suggestions for better presentation don't count. I'm looking for errors in my content, if there are any.