ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
Time: 1:00-2:15
TR 6515
Sterling
Office Hours: 2:30-3:30 TR or by
appointment
COURSE DETAILS
Final Exam: Friday, December 19
2:45 pm (location TBD)
Midterm Exam: Thursday, October 23 (in class)
Required Text: Linda S. Sparke
& John S. Gallagher, Galaxies in
the Universe, Cambridge University Press 2007
Optional
& Supplementary
Readings: We'll be using a number of different sources throughout
the
semester.
The primary professional
(peer-reviewed) journals are:
The Astrophysical
Journal, The Astronomical Journal, Astronomy
and Astrophysics, and Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. You'll
also find scientific papers in the journals Science
and
Nature. I'll be assigning papers from these
journals
throughout the semester, and you
will
be reading and commenting on specific
articles in your homework assignments. There are a
number of texts that will also be on reserve in the Astronomy
Library (Woodman Library located next to our classroom). These
are:
Binney and Merrifield's "Galactic
Astronomy", Binney and Tremaine's "Galactic Dynamics", Pagel's
"Nucleosynthesis and Chemical Evolution in Galaxies", and Krolik's
"Active Galactic Nuclei".
Grading:
Homework
- 30%
Midterm Exam - 20%
Final Exam - 30%
Project - 20%
Homeworks: Homeworks
will mostly be problem sets, with
a few other brain teasers thrown
in for good measure. They
will be handed out on Tuesdays and due the
Thursday of the following
week. I am planning on
handing out homework every other Tuesday beginning
the second week
of class. You are
encouraged to work together on the homework, but
what you turn in must represent
you own work.
Exams: The exams will look somewhat like the
homework, but with a few more qualitative
questions
in the mix.
Project:
There will be a large project due at the end of the semester. I'm
still working on the details, but I should have it all figured out by
the second week of classes.
COOL WEB PAGES
NASA Extragalactic Database
(NED)
Astronomy and
Astrophysics Abstract Server
Various Sky Surveys
UV-Optical
Spectra of Galaxies
Multimission Archive at Space Telescope
Sloan Digital Sky Survey
NRAO Surveys