Astronomy 172:
Stellar, Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
Spring, 2000
Syllabus & Reading Assignments
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Textbook:
R. C. Bless
Discovering the Cosmos
Week 1 (March 27-31) :
Introduction
Lecture 1
(March 27):
What is Astronomy?
Lecture 2
(March 28):
The Scale of the Universe
Light: the Cosmic Messenger
Lecture 3
(March 29):
The Nature of Light
Lecture 4
(March 30):
Flux and Luminosity. Stellar Magnitudes.
Lecture 5
(March 31):
Temperature, Surface Brightness, and Blackbody Radiation
Week 2 (April 3-7) :
Lecture 6
(April 3):
Stefan-Boltzmann and Wien's Laws.
Homework 1 due
Lecture 7
(April 4):
Atoms and Spectral Lines.
Lecture 8
(April 5):
Kirchhoff's Laws. The Composition of Stars
Lecture 9
(April 6):
Stellar Spectra and the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
Gravity and the Masses of Stars
Lecture 10
(April 7):
Binary Stars: Review of Kepler's Laws
Week 3 (April 10-14) :
Lecture 11
(April 10):
The Doppler Effect.
Homework 2 due
Lecture 12
(April 11):
Measuring Masses of Stars
Lecture 13
(April 12):
Extrasolar Planets
The Lifes of Stars
Lecture 14
(April 13):
How Stars Work (I): Nuclear Fusion
Lecture 15
(April 14):
How Stars Work (II): Stellar Structure
Week 4 (April 17-21) :
Lecture 16
(April 17):
How Stars Work (III): Stellar Structure
Lecture 17
(April 18):
Do we Know how Stars Work? Neutrinos from the Sun.
Lecture 18
(April 19):
Stellar Evolution: Solar-like Stars
Homework 3 due
Lecture 19
(April 20):
White Dwarfs
Lecture 20
(April 21):
Evolution of Massive Stars: Supernovae.
Week 5 (April 24-28) :
Midterm I: April 24.
Lectures 1 to 17.
Lecture 21
(April 25):
Neutron Stars and Pulsars. Cluster HR Diagrams.
Lecture 22
(April 26):
The Interstellar Medium
Lecture 23
(April 27):
Star Formation
Galaxies
Lecture 24
(April 28):
Structure of the Milky Way. Cepheid Stars.
Week 6 (May 1-5) :
Lecture 25
(May 1):
Other Galaxies: History of the Discovery of the External Nebulae
Relativity
Lecture 26
(May 2):
Review of Special and General Relativity
Lecture 27
(May 3):
Tests of General Relativity
Homework 4 due
Lecture 28
(May 4):
Black Holes
Lecture 29
(May 5):
The Search for Black Holes: X-ray Binaries and Active Galactic Nuclei
Week 7 (May 8-12) :
Cosmology
Lecture 30
(May 8):
The Expansion of the Universe: Hubble's Law
Lecture 31
(May 9):
Olbers' Paradox. Age of the Universe.
Lecture 32
(May 10):
The Cosmological Principle and the Big Bang Model
Lecture 33
(May 11):
The Critical Density. The Open, Flat, and Closed Models.
Homework 5 due
Lecture 34
(May 12):
The Scale Factor. The Cosmological Redshift.
Week 8 (May 15-19) :
Midterm II: May 15.
Lectures 1 to 29.
Lecture 35
(May 16):
The Cosmic Microwave Background in the Big Bang Model
Lecture 36
(May 17):
The Cosmic Microwave Background: Discovery and Spectrum.
Lecture 37
(May 18):
Dark Matter
Lecture 38
(May 19):
Clusters and Superclusters of Galaxies. Formation of Galaxies.
Week 9 (May 22-26) :
Lecture 39
(May 22):
Origin of Structure. The Anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background.
Lecture 40
(May 23):
Primordial Nucleosynthesis.
Lecture 41
(May 24):
History of the elements: Supernovae and the Element Abundances of Stars.
Lecture 42
(May 25):
Tests of the Big Bang Model.
Homework 6 due
Beyond the Big Bang
Lecture 43
(May 26):
The Cosmological Constant.
Week 10 (May 30- June 2) :
Midterm III: May 30.
Lectures 1 to 42.
Lecture 44
(May 31):
The Big Bang did not start at a Point: The Horizon Problem and the Curvature Problem.
Paper due
Lecture 45
(June 1):
History of Life in the Universe.
Lecture 46
(June 2):
The Future of Life in the Universe.
FINAL EXAM
June 5, 7:30am to 9:18am.
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J. Miralda-Escudé
Astro-172 Home
J. Miralda-Escudé
Astro-172 Home
J. Miralda-Escudé