ASTRONOMY 124, Section 3, Sched. No. 91332

COURSE OUTLINE

Text : Fundamentals of Astronomy (Seeds)

Ch 1 & App. A : Introduction to Astronomy.
Learn what the subject of astronomy is about, obtain a sense of scale and scope for the subject, review units of measure and powers of ten.

Ch 6.1 & 7 : Light.
Nature of light, waves, particles. Different wavelengths, atsmospheric transparency. Temperature and thermal spectra. Blackbody radiation. Atomic structure. Emission and absorption spectra. Star colors, temperatures, and spectral types. Star composition. The Doppler effect. Line broadening.

Ch. 8 : The Sun.
The sun as a star. Photosphere, granulation, chromosphere, corona, solar wind. Helioseismology. Sunspots, sunspot cycle, magnetic fields, flares, storms. Energy source. Nuclear reactions. Fission, fusion, E=mc2. Solar neutrinos.

Ch. 9 : Stars.
Star distances and the parsec. Proper motion. Star brightness and luminosity; magnitudes. Star sizes. Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Luminosity classes. Binary stars and star masses. Mass-Luminosity relation. Star frequencies.

Ch. 10 : Interstellar Matter.
Rarefied galactic atomosphere. Extinction & reddening. Hydrogen & 21cm emission. Molecules & dust. Four phases : cold to hot.

Ch. 11 : Star Formation.
Cloud collapse to form stars & planets. Evolution onto Main Sequence. Energy sources. Interior structure : Energy transport, hydrostatic equilibrium.

Ch. 12 : Stellar Evolution.
Stellar models. Main sequence evolution : core hydrogen fusion. Star lifetimes. Giants. Evolution off the main sequence. Star cores. Star clusters and age dating. Variable stars.

Ch. 13 : Star Death.
Low mass stars : mass loss; planetary nebulae; white dwarfs. Novae and type I supernovae. High mass star evolution : onion shell structure, rapid nucleosynthesis, type II supernovae. SN 1987A. Supernova remnants.

Ch. 14 : Neutron Stars & Black Holes.
Neutron stars \& pulsars; slowdown and glitches. Escape velocity and Schwarzchild radius. Searching for black holes. Black hole properties. Compact stars in binaries.

Ch. 15 : Our Galaxy.
Overall structure : bulge, disk, halo, globular clusters. Galaxy mass and origin : stellar populations and chemical enrichment. Spiral arms. The galactic center.

Ch. 16 : Other Galaxies.
Shapley-Curtis debate. Hubble classification : spirals, ellipticals, and irregulars. Galaxy properties. Hubble's Law and Ho. Rotation curves and dark matter. Galaxy collisions and mergers. Clusters of galaxies. Origin of galaxies.

Ch 17 : Active Galaxies and Quasars.
Seyfert galaxies, radio galaxies. Supermassive black holes, accretion disks, jets. Quasars.

Ch 18 : Cosmology & The Big Bang.
Global properties. Expanding universe and cosmological redshift. Age of Universe, the Big Bang. Background radiation. Early history : Helium synthesis & recombination. Dark matter. Recent developments : inflation, dark energy, cosmic acoustics.