AY20 - Basic Astronomy and the Galaxy

Welcome to (what may be) your first course in "professional" astronomy! In this quarter, we'll cover introductory observational astronomy, garden-variety stars, star-clusters and the dynamics of the Milky Way, and the stellar life cycle from formation to stellar death. This GitHub page will contain all the course materials, logistical info etc.

You will find lecture notes in the attached folder titled LECTURES. When problem sets etc are assigned they will be in the folder titled ASSESSMENTS.

The lowdown

• Instructor: Prof. Vikram Ravi (Cahill 302, office hours by appointment)
• TA: Yuping Huang (office hours by appointment)
• Schedule: Mon/Wed/Fri 11 am, Cahill 219. Recitation Thu 9 am, Cahill 219 (starting Oct 10).
• 25 lectures, 2 guest lectures, 1 exam review.
• Readings from textbook by Carroll & Ostlie (An Introduction to Modern Astronomy, 2nd ed.) noted in the syllabus below.
• Grading: 6 problem sets (30%), midterm (20%), project (20%), final (30%).
• Late submissions: -50% per day for problem sets. No late exams or projects will be accepted. Exceptions only in extraordinary circumstances with proof.
• Collaboration: Usual honor code applies. Discussion in general terms of problem sets is allowed (both in and outside class), but you have to submit your own original solutions. No discussion of the midterm or final.

Syllabus and readings

• Part A - Astronomy (5 lectures)

1. Coordinates, celestial motion, and time. (C&O ch 1)
2. The solar system: planets, moons and minor planets. (C&O ch 2.1-2.3)
3. Measures of radiation and the electromagnetic spectrum. (C&O ch 3)
4. Telescopes I: optical telescopes. (C&O ch 6.1-6.2)
5. Telescopes II: from radio to gamma-rays. Multi-messenger astronomy. (C&O ch 6.3-6.5)

• Part B - Garden-variety stars (9 lectures)

1. The Sun and its blackbody spectrum. (C&O ch 3.4-3.5, 11.2-11.3)
2. The solar energy source: nuclear burning. (C&O ch 10.3)
3. How does energy escape the Sun? Radiation, opacity, and transfer. (C&O ch 9.1-9.4)
4. Opacity mechanisms and convection. (C&O ch 9.1-9.4)
5. Equations that determine stellar structure. (C&O ch 10.1-10.5)
6. Deriving the main sequence, and the H-R diagram. (C&O ch 8.2, 10.6)
7. What are all the other stars? Solar and stellar spectra. (C&O ch 5, 8.1, 9.5)
8. The hydrogen atom and Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics. (as above)
9. Stellar spectral classification. (as above)

• Part C - Star clusters and the Galaxy (4 lectures)

1. Star clusters and stellar population synthesis. (C&O ch 13.3, https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-astro-082812-141017 - pdf available with Caltech credentials)
2. Dynamics: binaries and stellar interactions (C&O ch 2.4, 7).
3. The Milky Way: structure, dynamics, Oort constants (C&O ch 24.1-24.3, https://arxiv.org/pdf/1904.05721.pdf).
4. Missing mass in the Galaxy and galaxy clusters: dark matter (as above).

• Part D - From dust to dust (7 lectures)

1. Revealing the ISM: extinction and the spectral line gallery (C&O 12.1).
2. Components of the ISM and their origins (https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.astro.43.072103.150615).
3. Star formation (C&O 12.1, 12.3).
4. Post-main sequence evolution and giant stars (C&O 13.1, 13.2, 15.1).
5. Degenerate dwarf stars (C&O ch 16.1-16.5, https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.astro.38.1.485).
6. Supernovae: classification, energy sources, and nucleosynthesis (C&O 15.2, 15.3, 18.5)
7. The remnants of supernovae: ISM enrichment, cosmic rays, neutron stars, black holes (C&O 15.5, 16.6, 16.7, 17.3).