Astro 28: Special Topics in Field Astronomy

Astro 28 is a 1-unit CSU transferrable field astronomy course held off-campus. Each trip is unique and different. Students may sign up for any or all sections. Each class is held on a single weekend - Friday afternoon through Sunday morning. Evening sessions include telescope examination of the moon, planets, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters. The class is generally organized around a special astronomical event. Past sections have journeyed to Red Rock Canyon State Park in the Mojave Desert, to the Big Sur mountains, the Big Sur coast, the high Sierras, the eastern Sierra and Death Valley National Park, to Carrizo Plain National Monument, and to Mt. Lassen National Park, and have focused on the Leonid meteor shower, asteroid occultations, lunar grazing occultations, and a tour of a radio telescope observatory. Lunar grazes are a particularly beautiful and valuable event to plan trips around. Learn more about them here and here. Trips include group meals, featuring Dr. Rick's famous french crepes breakfast, dark-sky camping, and campfire lectures on special topics. Field studies include geology explorations (faults, earthquake scars, hot springs, semi-precious gem deposits...) and talks relating to planetary processes, a brief section on the sun with sunspot viewing, and note-taking is strongly encouraged. A take-home final exam and attendence at all sessions is required for full credit.

An on-campus session, generally on the Wednesday or Thursday evening before the weekend trip, is required. The session is held in the planetarium (room 706) and includes a planetarium presentation, lecture on solar system formation and evolution, trip planning including distribution of maps, field handouts, pot-luck food decisions, and car pooling.

Sign-Up's and Registration

Unlike most courses, students cannot register for Astro 28 without permission from the instructor. Permission is granted when a camping fee to cover campground reservations is paid. The student is then given permission in the college computer system to register on-line in the usual way. Permission to add is obtained in person.The sign-up session is generally Tuesday 5:30pm of the first week of the semester in room 705. Click here for specific signup time for each class. These classes are very popular and only 28 spots are available, so please plan to have your camping fee and arrive before the beginning of sign-ups. The courses often fill the first day. In Spring I offer two Astro 28's, and so they often do not fill on the first day, but then again, often they do!

Let me be clear to students here - paying the camping deposit does NOT register you for the class. You must still register afterwards with the add slip you will receive once your camping fee payment is verified. Sometimes students are not interested in grades and credit and therefore feel they need not register. Please - you will NOT be welcome on our trip until and unless you register! Cabrillo College is not so much interested in the camping fee, or even in the tuition fee when you register - Cabrillo needs your enrollment in order to receive funding for your education from Sacramento. When you fail to register, you are depriving Cabrillo of nearly $1,000 in Sacramento funding per student per unit. Also, in these difficult economic times, classes must show strong registration to keep from getting cut. I love teaching these classes and want to keep doing so. Finally, Cabrillo's insurance policy does not apply to non-registered people. This is why my Dean (Natural and Applied Sciences) has made it clear that students are not to be permitted to attend any classes, most especially the field classes, unless they are registered. So just to further clarify --- REGISTER for the field classes before the first class meeting!

Driving Distance Calculator

CurricuNet status