AST 101: INTRODUCTION TO ASTRONOMY: STARS AND GALAXIES

Course Timetable: Fall 2015

 
 

1

Aug. 25

  General Introduction and Overview of the Course, and Information.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect01.pdf and in BW Lect01BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch.1.

2

Aug. 27

  Order of magnitude Astronomy - Size scales - Light year - Lookback time.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect02.pdf and in BW Lect02BW.pdf.
  Reading: Remains on Ch.1.

3

Sep. 1

  Properties of light and its interaction with matter.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect03.pdf and in BW Lect03BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch.5.1, 5.2.

4

Sep. 3

  Review of matter: the Atom. Interaction of light with matter: Emission and Absorption Spectra.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect04.pdf and in BW Lect04BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch.5.3 and 5.4 up to pag.153.

Sep. 8

 Labor day holiday

5

Sep. 10

  Continuum Spectra: Blackbody spectrum and temperature determination - Measuring speeds via the Doppler effect. Quiz #1.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect05.pdf and in BW Lect05BW.pdf.
  Reading: all of Ch.5.4.

6

Sep. 15

  Telescopes.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect06.pdf and in BW Lect06BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch 6 (all).

7

Sep. 17

  The Sun: distance measurement - composition - force balance. Fusion at the problem of the solar neutrino.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect07.pdf and in BW Lect07BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch 14.1, 14.2.

8

Sep. 22

  The Sun: structure - Helioseismology - Sunspots- Flares and coronal mass ejections. Quiz #2.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect08.pdf and in BW Lect08BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch 14.2, 14.3.

9

Sep. 24

  Stars: Apparent Brightness - Parallax method to measure distances - Measuring temperatures and spectral classification.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect09.pdf and in BW Lect09BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch 15.1 up to pag. 494.

10

Sep. 29

  Midterm I

11

Oct. 1

  Measuring star masses - Binary stars: visual, eclipsing and spectroscopic binary - The H-R diagram: properties of stars on the main sequence.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect10.pdf and in BW Lect10BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch 15 (all).

12

Oct. 6

  Star Birth: Gravitational collapse in molecular clouds - Protostars and their evolution on the H-R diagram - Brown Dwarfs.
  Post main sequence evolution: Red giants. Quiz #3.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect11.pdf and in BW Lect11BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch 16 (all) and Ch. 17.1 and 17.2 up to pag. 536.

13

Oct. 8

  End state of low-mass stars: Planetary Nebulae and White Dwarves.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect12.pdf and in BW Lect12BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 17.2, Ch. 18.1 up to pag. 557.

14

Oct. 13

  End state of high-mass stars: Massive-star supernovas and supernovae remnants. Neutron stars.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect13.pdf and in BW Lect13BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 17.3, Ch. 18.2.

15

Oct. 15

  Massive-star supernovae and supernovae remnants (cont). - Novae and white dwarf supernovae. Quiz#4.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect14.pdf and in BW Lect14BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 17.4, Ch. 18.1.

16

Oct. 20

   Basics of General Relativity - Black Holes - Gamma-Ray Bursts.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect15.pdf and in BW Lect15BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 18.3, 18.4.

17

Oct. 22

  Midterm II

18

Oct. 27

   The Milky Way anatomy: disk, bulge and halo - The various phases of gas in the Milky Way.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect16.pdf and in BW Lect16BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 19.1, 19.2.

19

Oct. 29

   The various phases of gas in the Milky Way (cont.) - The history of the Milky Way. Quiz #5.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect17.pdf and in BW Lect17BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 19.2, 19.3.

20

Nov. 3

  Measuring the Mass of the Milky Way: evidence for Dark Matter - The Supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic center - Galaxy types.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect18.pdf and in BW Lect1BW.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 19.4, 20.1, 23.1, 23.2.

21

Nov. 5

   Galaxy classification - Groups and clusters of galaxies - Measuring galactic and extragalactic distances -   Hubble's law and the expansion of the Universe.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect19.pdf and in BW Lect19W.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 20.1, 20.2.

22

Nov. 10

   Hubble's law and the expansion of the Universe (cont.) - Cosmological redshift - The age of the Universe -
  The life histories of galaxies: Formation of spiral and elliptical galaxies - Galaxy mergers - Starburst galaxies.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect20.pdf and in BW Lect20W.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 20.2, 20.3, 21.1, 21.2.

23

Nov. 12

   Active Galactic Nuclei: Quasars - Radio Galaxies - Formation of the Supermassive black holes.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect21.pdf and in BW Lect21W.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 21.3.

24

Nov. 17

   Structure Formation - Dark Energy and the Fate of The Universe.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect22.pdf and in BW Lect22W.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 23.3, 23.4.

25

Nov. 19

   The Birth of the Universe: The Bing Bang Theory - Evidence for the Big Bang
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect23.pdf and in BW Lect23W.pdf.
  Reading: Ch. 22.1, 22.2.

26

Nov. 24

  Midterm III

Nov. 26

 Thanksgiving

27

Dec. 1

   General Review of the Course.
  Lecture Notes for the Day: in color Lect24.pdf and in BW Lect24W.pdf.

28

Dec. 3

 Instructional Video on Black Holes, and their astrophysical manifestations.


 

 
 

home

course update

syllabus

time table