Astronomy 404, Fall 2013
Lectures
August 26 (Mon)
- overview
- syllabus
- stellar parallax
- the magnitude scale - apparent magnitude, absolute magnitude, distance modulus
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p. 57-63
August 28 (Wed)
- blackbody radiation, Planck Function
- color index, color-color diagram
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p. 68-79
August 30 (Fri)
- spectral lines, Kirchhoff's Laws
- photons - photoelectric effect, Compton effect
- Bohr model of a hydrogen atom
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p. 111-112, 116-127
September 4 (Wed)
- quantum mechanics and wave-particle duality
- quantum mechanical tunneling
- spin and the Pauli Exclusion Principle
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.127-137
September 6 (Fri)
- classification of binary stars
- mass determination uding visual binaries
- spectroscopic binaries
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.180-188
September 9 (Mon)
- mass-luminosity relation
- using eclipses to determine radii and ratios of temperatures
- search for extrasolar planets
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.189-198
September 11 (Wed)
- spectral types of stars
- the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
- luminosity classes and stellar radii
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.202-205,219-228
September 13 (Fri)
- formation of spectral lines
- the Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution
- the Boltzmann equation
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.204-213
September 16 (Mon)
- Saha equation
- combining the Boltzmann and Saha equations
- relative spectral line strengths
- the dependence of spectral line strengths on temperature
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.213-220
September 18 (Wed)
- the description of radiation field
- stellar opacity
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.231-239
September 20 (Fri)
- stellar opacity
- general sources of opacity
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.239-247
September 23 (Mon)
- general sources of opacity, Rosseland mean opacity
- radiative transfer
- the transfer equation
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.248-257
September 25 (Wed)
- radiative transfer equation
- the profiles of spectral lines
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.258-267
September 27 (Fri)
September 30 (Mon)
- hydrostaic equilibrium
- pressure equation of state
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.284-296
October 2 (Wed)
October 4 (Fri)
October 7 (Mon)
October 9 (Wed)
- stellar energy sources
- energy transport and thermodynamics
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.311-328
October 11 (Fri)
- energy transport and thermodynamics
- stellar model building
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.328-340
October 14 (Mon)
- the main sequence
- the solar interior
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.340-343, 349-360
October 16 (Wed)
October 18 (Fri)
- the solar atmosphere
- the solar cycle
- Lecture notes
- Reading: p.375-394
October 21 (Mon)
October 23 (Wed)
- extinction
- cloud collapse and formation of stars
- Reading: p.398-402, 407-408, 412-417
- Lecture notes
October 25 (Fri)
- cloud collapse and formation of stars
- Reading: p.419-431
- Lecture notes
October 28 (Mon)
- HII regions and young stars
- evolution on the main sequence
- Reading: p.431-441
- Lecture notes
October 30 (Wed)
- late stages of stellar evolution
- Reading: p.446-457
- Lecture notes
November 1 (Fri)
- late stages of stellar evolution
- Reading: p.457-474
- Lecture notes
November 4 (Mon)
- late stages of stellar evolution
- stellar clusters
- pulsating stars
- Reading: p.467-479, 483-486
- Lecture notes
November 6 (Wed)
- pulsating stars
- review (chap 10-13)
- Reading: p. 486-491
- Lecture notes
November 8 (Fri)
November 11 (Mon)
November 13 (Wed)
November 15 (Fri)
November 18 (Mon)
- the fate of massive stars
- Reading: p. 529-534, 537-550
- Lecture notes
November 20 (Wed)
- SN light curves
- cosmic rays
- the degenerate remnant of stars
- Reading: p. 534-537, 550-553,557-563
- Lecture notes
November 22 (Fri)
- the degenerate remnant of stars
- Reading: p. 563-572
- Lecture notes
December 2 (Mon)
- the degenerate remnant of stars
- Reading: p. 572-585
- Lecture notes
December 9 (Mon)