Spring 2027

Our Exploration of the Solar System

Explores the modern view of the solar system, exoplanets, celestial motions, planetary formation, and the origin of life through quantitative and qualitative analysis.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Nicholas Mcconnell3.8/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Alex Lazarian

Weekly homework assignments took only five to ten minutes, and attendance at lectures was not mandatory, though lectures covered all exam material.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Apply quantitative reasoning to evaluate scientific hypotheses to explain astronomical observations

  • Understand and apply--quantitatively--the scientific basis of astronomical concepts such as the inverse square law, Newtonian gravity, and Kepler's laws.

  • Understand--qualitatively--and be able to explain to a lay audience the scientific basis for the laws of stellar structure and stellar and planetary accretion

  • Critically evaluate qualitative scientific arguments using the scientific method

  • Write basic scientific prose for a variety of lay audiences

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Satisfied Quantitative Reasoning (QR) A. Not open to students with credit forASTRON 200.

ASTRON 104 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.20/5 from 10 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.43 GPA, 74.5% A/AB (n=149 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ALEX LAZARIAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

NICHOLAS MCCONNELL is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1590
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 300

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Alex Lazarian

Students described the course as largely self-taught using the textbook, noting that lectures were minimally useful and communication on the course page was poor.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.90 GPA, 91.4% A/AB (n=163 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.77 GPA, 89.2% A/AB (n=148 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.43 GPA, 74.5% A/AB (n=149 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Alex Lazarian

Weekly homework assignments took only five to ten minutes, and attendance at lectures was not mandatory, though lectures covered all exam material.

Past student reviews · Alex Lazarian

One student found lectures pointless at times and learned most material from the textbook, advising others to study homework and textbook questions for exams.

Topics

  • Celestial motions, ancient astronomy, and the Copernican revolution.
  • Gravity, orbits, interplanetary travel, and solar system formation.
  • Survey of the Sun, planets, moons, small bodies, and the origin of life.
  • Exoplanet discovery and its impact on our understanding of planetary systems.

Skills

  • Quantitative reasoning for evaluating astronomical hypotheses and applying laws like Newtonian gravity and Kepler's laws.
  • Critical evaluation of qualitative scientific arguments using the scientific method.
  • Writing basic scientific prose for lay audiences.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.27 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ASTRON 104 · Spring 2027

Our Exploration of the Solar System

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:188:001539",
    "course_id": "ASTRON 104",
    "course_uid": "course_ceb4b306e704c0b67324db5e",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "001539",
    "source_subject_id": "188",
    "title": "Our Exploration of the Solar System",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "94cee8e43edc419edf668ea0ea6ff0e09aa59c376129035444fd43331fb97211",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}