ASTR 101: Principles of Astronomy

Course website for ASTR 101 (Spring 2026) at San Diego State University.

Instructor: Dr. Anna Rosen Live Site: astrobytes-edu.github.io/astr101-sp26

Quick Start

# Preview with live reload
quarto preview

# Build the site
quarto render

# Build instructor version (includes answer keys)
quarto render --profile instructor

Requires Quarto v1.4+.

Project Structure

astr101-sp26/
├── _quarto.yml              # Main config + course params
├── _extensions/course/      # Custom Lua shortcodes
├── _includes/               # Reusable content blocks
├── assets/
│   ├── figures.yml          # Central figure registry
│   ├── images/              # All images by module
│   ├── slides/              # RevealJS theme
│   └── theme/               # Site SCSS
├── course-info/             # Syllabus, schedule, policies
├── modules/
│   ├── module-01/           # Foundations
│   ├── module-02/           # Inferring Star Properties
│   ├── module-03/           # Stellar Structure & Evolution
│   └── module-04/           # Galaxies & Cosmology
├── handouts/                # Reference sheets
├── homework/                # Assignments
└── exams/                   # Exams

Each module follows this structure:

modules/module-NN/
├── index.qmd                # Module hub page
├── _prep/                   # Instructor-only (not published)
│   └── lecture-NN-*.md
├── slides/
│   ├── _metadata.yml        # Shared RevealJS config
│   └── lecture-NN-*.qmd
└── readings/
    └── lecture-NN-*.qmd

Key Features

Central Figure Registry

All figures are registered in assets/figures.yml:

figures:
  hr-diagram:
    path: /assets/images/common/hr-diagram.png
    caption: "Hertzsprung-Russell diagram"
    alt: "Plot showing stellar luminosity vs temperature"
    credit: "ESA"

Use in content with shortcodes:

{{< fig hr-diagram >}}         # Figure with caption
{{< img hr-diagram >}}         # Image only (for slides)

Custom Shortcodes

Shortcode	Output
{{< fig id >}}	Figure with caption from registry
{{< img id >}}	Image only (no caption)
{{< due "2026-02-15" >}}	Formatted due date
{{< points 10 >}}	Point value badge
{{< reading "Ch 3" "pp. 45" >}}	Reading reference
{{< meta params.instructor >}}	Course metadata

Course Parameters

Single source of truth in _quarto.yml:

params:
  course-code: "ASTR 101"
  instructor: "Dr. Anna Rosen"
  semester: "Spring 2026"
  # ... more params

Access anywhere with {{< meta params.X >}}.

Student/Instructor Profiles

Conditional content using Quarto profiles:

quarto render                      # Student view (default)
quarto render --profile instructor # Includes answer keys

Development Workflow

Using Templates

Copy templates to create new lectures quickly:

# Create new slides
cp assets/templates/slides-template.qmd modules/module-02/slides/lecture-03-topic.qmd

# Create new reading
cp assets/templates/reading-template.qmd modules/module-02/readings/lecture-03-topic.qmd

Then find/replace all [BRACKETED] placeholders with actual content.

Template	Includes
slides-template.qmd	RevealJS config, extensions (pointer, spotlight, quiz, roughnotation), placeholder sections
reading-template.qmd	Metadata, "Check Yourself" questions, collapsible solutions, reference tables

Standard Workflow

1. Create slides from template at modules/module-NN/slides/lecture-NN-topic.qmd
2. Register figures in assets/figures.yml before using {{< fig >}}
3. Preview with quarto preview
4. Verify with quarto render (check for warnings)

Dates

Keep ISO format in frontmatter (date: "2026-01-22"). Renders automatically as "January 22, 2026".

Units Convention

Always use CGS units (cm, g, s, erg) for physics content. Solar units (M☉, R☉, L☉) for stellar quantities. Never SI units (meters, kg, Joules).

CI/CD

GitHub Actions workflow (.github/workflows/ci.yml):

• Renders HTML on push/PR to main
• Validates links and images weekly
• Uses proof-html for link checking

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

© 2026 Anna Rosen