Astro 103 Lectures

The Evolving Universe: Stars, Galaxies, Cosmology


Instructor: Professor Matthew Bershady

11:00-11:50 MW, 3425 Sterling


Contents

Part I: Introduction to Astronomy

Part II: Stars in the Milky Way

Part III: From the Milky Way to Distant Galaxies

Part IV: Quasars and Cosmology




Part I: Introduction to Astronomy

Week # Date Lecture Optional Problems
Reading in Text :
1 1 Wed, Jan 21 Introduction & Tour of the Cosmos scientific notation,
Prologue P.1
2 2 Mon, Jan 26 History: From heresy to gravity Ch. 1.4-1.7
. 3 Wed, Jan 28 Particles, waves, blackbodies, and lines Ch. 2: all
3 4 Mon, Feb 02 Cosmic chemistry Ch. 2: all
. 5 Wed, Feb 04 Sol Ch. 9: all
4 6 Mon, Feb 09 Light buckets Ch. 3: all
. 7 Wed, Feb 11 First Exam .


Part II: Stars in the Milky Way

Week # Date Lecture Reading and Problems in Text
5 8 Mon, Feb 16 Stellar types Ch. 10: all, Prologue P.3
. 9 Wed, Feb 18 Stars and their environs Ch. 10 & 11: all, Ch. 12.5
6 10 Mon, Feb 23 Star formation Ch. 11: all, Ch. 12.5
. 11 Wed, Feb 25 Stellar guts Ch. 9.1, 9.2, 9.5, 12.1-12.3
7 12 Mon, Mar 02 Aging gracefully Ch. 12.1-12.3, 12.5
. 13 Wed, Mar 04 End game I: Explosion Ch. 12.3-12.4
8 14 Mon, Mar 16 End game II: Collapse Ch. 13: all
. 15 Wed, Mar 18 Second Exam .


Part III: From the Milky Way to Distant Galaxies

Week # Date Lecture Reading and Problems in Text
9 16 Mon, Mar 23 Stellar populations Ch. 14.1-14.4, 14.7
. 17 Wed, Mar 25 Spatial structure Ch. 14.5, I14-1
10 18 Mon, Mar 30 The galaxy manifold Ch. 15.1-15.3, I15-1
. 19 Wed, Apr 01 Rotation, mass and interaction Ch. 14.3, 14.6,
Ch. 15.1-15.3, I15-1
. 20 Mon, Apr 06 Formation & evolution Ch. 14.4, 15.4
11 21 Wed, Apr 08 Hubble's bubble and cosmic spikes Ch. 15.2, 15.5, 17.1
12 22 Mon, Apr 13 Third Exam .


Part IV: Quasars and Cosmology

Week # Date Lecture Reading and Problems in Text
. 23 Wed, Apr 15 Giant black holes Ch. 13.4-13.7, MP13-1,
MP13-2, I13-1, 16.4
13 24 Mon, Apr 20 Quasars: Evolution or revelation? Ch. 16: all
. 25 Wed, Apr 22 Is the expansion real? Ch. 17: all
14 26 Mon, Apr 27 Big Bang or Steady State? Ch. 17: all
. 27 Wed, Apr 29 Open, closed, or critical? Ch. 17: all
15 28 Mon, May 04 The early universe Ch. 17: all
. 29 Wed, May 06 The meta-universe Ch. 17: all
.
. . Thu, May 14 Final Exam 2:45-4:45 PM


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Last updated: Jan 14, 1998 Matthew A. Bershady