Course Syllabus

Course Description

Modern astrophysics involves applying physical principles to understand astronomical phenomena. Includes the solar system, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and cosmology, with emphasis on origins and evolution. Some nighttime observation with telescopes required. Enroll Info: Physics 202 or 208 or cons inst. Not open to stdts who have taken Astron 100 or 103. Simple calculus required.

We meet at 1335 Sterling Hall at 11 am for 50 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Textbook: The Cosmic Perspective, Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, Voit, 8th or 9th edition are best, there will be some supplementary material. Two other books are on hold at the library: "Astronomy, A Physical perspective", by M.L. Kutner, and "Foundations of Astrophysics" by B. Ryden and B.M. Peterson. These two books develop the material in a more rigorous way than in the textbook, and will be useful for a few selected topics (you will be informed when it is the case).

Please read the official syllabus below for more information, especially on testing and grading.

Course Schedule

Wednesday Jan 23 - Lecture 1 - Introduction: Units of measurement - Stellar parallax - The parsec and the light year, used to measure distances (Part of Chapters 1 and  15) - The GAIA mission

Friday Jan 25 - Lecture 2 - Units of measurement of flux  and the magnitude scale - (Ch 15) - Building the scale of the universe through variable stars - The red shift concept (Introduction to Hubble law, see  Ch 5.5, part of Ch 15, Ch 20.2)

Monday Jan 28 - Lecture 3 - How the distance to the Sun was measured - Gravity and Newton - Kepler's laws (Ch 3)

Wednesday Jan 30 - CLASSES HAVE BEEN CANCELED ON CAMPUS BECAUSE OF THE WEATHER

Friday Feb 1 - Lecture 4 - The radius of the Earth  (Ch 3) - Escape velocity (Ch 3) - The Copernican revolution - Galileo's contributions

Monday Feb 4 - Lecture 5 - Calendars, celestial navigation, coordinates systems (Ch1, part of Ch S1)

Wednesday Feb 6 - Lecture 6 - (Happy Luni-solar new year!) - The wavelength ranges and what they mean in
Astronomy (part of Ch 5 and supplemental material)

Friday Feb 8 - Lecture 7 - Telescopes (Ch. 6)

Monday  Feb 11 - Lecture 8 -  Stars  - Blackbodies, Planks' law, stars and their spectral types (Ch. 15)

Wednesday Feb 13 -   Lecture 9 - Review in preparation for mid-term exam tomorrow

Thursday Feb 14 - 7.15 pm -8.30 pm  Exam 1 Lectures 1-8 - The exam will be in Sterling Hall, Room 1313

Friday Feb 15 - Lecture 10 - Some of the exam solutions - Introduction to the H-R diagram and basic atomic physics and spectral classification

Monday Feb 18 - Lecture 11 - The H-R diagram; Balmer's series, Bohr's atom, spectral classification. Ch. (15)

Wed Feb 20 - Lecture 12 - Thermonuclear burning, the p-p reactions, introduction to stellar structure  (Ch. 14.1-14.2, and a large part of chapter 9 of Kutner's book)

Friday Feb 22 - Lecture 13 - Stellar structure (First half of Chapter 14, supplemental material, see Lecture slides)

Monday Feb 25 - Lecture 14 -  Binary stars and their masses, final phases of stars, core-dollapse supernovae and other stellar explosions (supplemental material, see Lecture slides)

Wednesday Feb 27 - Lecture 15 - More on binary stars' life, novae, White Dwarfs; Thermonuclear Supernovae (Ch. 18.1, 18.2, ...)

Friday March 1 - Lecture 16 - Neutron stars, Black holes (Ch 18) - The LIGO/VIRGO experiment (supplemental material)

Monday March 3 - Lecture 17 - Conclusions on compact objects and their mergers - Star formation (Ch 16, Kutner's book 15.1 without "rotation")

Wednesday March 5 - Lecture 18 - The initial mass distribution of stars, gas in the Galaxy,  Galactic recycling, the structure of the Galaxy

Friday March 9 - Lecture 19 - Galaxies and Cosmology - Types of galaxies, basic dynamics in galaxies, introduction to rotation curves and missing mass problem (Ch 20 up to page 684 in edition 8, 21.1, 21.2, mathematical insight 19.2, 23.2)

Monday March 11 - Lecture 20 - More on rotation curves, the Cosmic Principle and the cosmological red-shift, Our Local Group (supplemental material)

Wednesday March 13 - Lecture 21  - Review in preparation for the mid-term

Thursday March 14 - 7.15 pm-8.45 pm - Exam 2  (Lectures 11-21) The exam will be in Sterling Hall, Room 1313

Friday March 14 - Lecture 22 - The center of our galaxy, quasars, active galactic nuclei (AGN) and starburst galaxies

Monday March 25 - Lecture 23- Dark Matter (Ch. 22., 22.2)

Wednesday March 27 - Lecture 24- Cosmological theories: the Big Bang, inflation (Ch 23)

Friday March 29 - Lecture 25 - Dark Energy (Ch  22.4), the cosmological microwave radiation 

Monday April 1 - Lecture 26 - Summary of cosmology (Ch 23); The solar systems and planets: Our planetary system (Chapter 7)

Wednesday April 3 - Lecture 27 - Formation of the Solar system

Friday April 5 - Lecture 28- Jovian planets and their satellites (Part of Chapter 11)

Monday April 8 - Lecture 29 - The imaging projects

Wednesday April10 - Lecture 29 - Rocky planets in the Solar system -1 (Elements of Ch 9)

Friday April 12 - Lecture 30 - Rocky planets in the Solar System: atmospheres (Part of Ch 10)

Monday April 15 - Lecture 31 - Asteroids, comets (Ch 12) - The Event Horizon Telescope's "picture"

Wednesday April 17 - Lecture 32  - Extrasolar planets (Ch 13, and supplemental material)

Friday April 18 - Lecture 33 - Homework due - Search for life in the Universe - the habitable zone

Monday April 22 - Lecture 34 - Review for mid-term

Tuesday April 23 - Exam 3(Lectures 23-34) - 7.15pm-8.45 pm - Room 1310

Wednesday April 24 - Correction of homework 3 and 3rd midterm exam

Friday April 26- How to prepare for the final: review

Monday April 29 - Presentation of projects - More words about cosmology.

Wednesday May 1 - Presentation of projects

Friday May 3 - Presentation of projects - Final discussion