Astro 103 Lectures

The Evolving Universe: Stars, Galaxies, Cosmology


Instructor: Professor Matthew Bershady

11:00-11:50 MW, 3425 Sterling


Contents




Part I:   An Astronomical Framework
Week # Date LectureReading & Problem Sets
1 1 Mon, Jan 22 Introduction & Tour of the Cosmos
Text: Prologue P.1,2,3, scientific notation
Articles: 
Problems Sets:    
  2 Wed, Jan 24 History: From heresy to gravity
Text: Ch. 1.1-1.4
Articles:#1 assigned
Problems Sets:   
2 3 Mon, Jan 29 Particles, waves, blackbodies, and lines
Text: Ch. 2 (all)
Articles: 
Problems Sets:  #1 assigned
  4 Wed, Jan 31 Cosmic chemistry
Text: Ch. 2 (all)
Articles: 
Problems Sets:   
3 5 Mon, Feb 05 Sol
Text: Ch. 9 (all)
Articles: 
Problems Sets:  #1 due in class
  6 Wed, Feb 07 Light buckets
Text: Ch. 3 (all)
Articles: 
Problems Sets:   
4 7 Mon, Feb 12 First Exam  

Part II:   From Stars in the Milky Way . . .

Week # Date Lecture Problems & Reading in Text :
  8 Wed, Feb 14 Stellar Types
Text: Ch. 10 (all), Prologue P.5
Articles: #2 assigned
Problems Sets:    
5 9 Mon, Feb 19 The Physical Properties of Stars
Text: Chs. 10 & 11 (all), 12.5
Articles:  
Problems Sets:   #2 assigned
  10 Wed, Feb 21 Star: Environs and Formation
Text: Chs. 11 (all), 12.5
Articles: #3 assigned
Problems Sets:    
6 11 Mon, Feb 26 Stellar guts
Text: Chs. 9.1, 9.2, 9.5, 12.1-12.3, MP9-1
Articles:  
Problems Sets:   #2 due in class; #3 assigned
  12 Wed, Feb 28 Aging gracefully
Text: Ch. 12.1-12.3, 12.6
Articles:  
Problems Sets:    
7 13 Mon, Mar 05 End game I: Explosion
Text: Ch. 12.4-12.5,I12-1
Articles:  
Problems Sets:   #3 due in class
  14 Wed, Mar 07 End game II: Collapse
Text: Ch. 13 (all), MP12-1
Articles:  
Problems Sets:    
8 15a Mon, Mar 19 Review  
  15b Wed, Mar 21 Second Exam  

Part III:   . . . To Distant Galaxies
Week # Date Lecture Problems & Reading in Text :
9 16 Mon, Mar 26 The Mily Way
Text: Ch. 14.1-14.3, 14.6
Articles: #4 assigned
Problems Sets:   #4 assigned
  17 Wed, Mar 28 Spatial Structure and Stellar Populations
Text: Ch. 14.4, I14-1
Articles:  
Problems Sets:    
10 18 Mon, Apr 02 The galaxy manifold
Text: Ch. 15.1-15.3, I15-1
Articles: #5 assigned
Problems Sets:   #4 due in class; #5 assigned
  19 Wed, Apr 04 Rotation, mass and interaction
Text: Chs. 14.3, 14.5, 15.1-15.3, I15-1
Articles:  
Problems Sets:    
11 20 Mon, Apr 09 Formation & evolution
Text: Ch. 14.3, 15.4
Articles:  
Problems Sets:   #5 due in class
  21 Wed, Apr 11 Hubble's bubble and cosmic spikes
Text: Ch. 15.2, 15.5, 17.1
Articles:  
Problems Sets:    
12 22 Wed, Apr 18 Third Exam   --note new date!  

Part IV:   Cosmology
Week # Date Lecture Problems & Reading in Text :
  23 Mon, Apr 16 Giant black holes
Text: Chs. 13.4-13.7, 16.4; MP13-1, 13-2; I13-1
Articles: #6 assigned
Problems Sets:   
13 24 Mon, Apr 23 Quasars: Evolution or revelation?
Text: Ch. 16: all
Articles:  
Problems Sets:   #6 assigned
  25 Wed, Apr 25 Is the expansion real?
Text: Ch. 17: all
Articles: # 7 assigned
Problems Sets:    
14 26 Mon, Apr 30 Big Bang or Steady State?
Text: Ch. 17: all
Articles:  
Problems Sets:   #6 due in class; #7 assigned
  27 Wed, May 02 Open, closed, or critical?
Text: Ch. 17: all
Articles:  
Problems Sets:    
15 28 Mon, May 07 The early universe
Text: Ch. 17: all
Articles:  
Problems Sets:   #7 due in class
  29 Wed, May 09 The meta-universe
Text: Ch. 17: all
Articles:  
Problems Sets:    
 
  30 Sun, May 13 Final Exam 12:25-2:25 PM


Last updated: Jan 15, 2001   Matthew A. Bershady