| Course Outline & Lecture Notes |
| Week 0 | |||
| Sep 8 | Instructor at Jodrell Bank | No class | |
| Week 1 | |||
| Sep 11 | PS I available | Course Overview pdf, pdf4 |
Syllabus; topics; basic astronomical units. CO, S3.1, 3.2. |
| Sep 13 | Gravity I pdf, pdf4 |
Kepler's laws (for 1-body); energy & angular momentum. CO, S1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2. |
|
| Sep 15 | Tutorial | Seasons; distances to Moon, Sun & nearest stars; parallax. CO, S1.3, 3.1. |
|
| Week 2 | |||
| Sep 18 | Gravity II pdf, pdf4 |
Generalized Kepler's laws for 2-body (binary stars); N-body. CO, S2.3 |
|
| Sep 20 | Gravity III pdf, pdf4 |
tides; tidal friction; synchronization & circularization. CO, S19.2, 18.1 (up to "classes of binary systems"). Also, a nice review on the Earth-Moon system. |
|
| Sep 22 | PS I due | Tutorial |
Detecting extra-solar planets (applying Kepler's laws). CO, S7.4, 23.1 |
| Week 3 | |||
| Sep 25 | PS II available | Astrophysics I. Hydrostatic Equilibrium pdf, pdf4 |
Gravity of spherical body; dynamical collapse; hydrostatic equilibrium; pressure; ideal gas; mean molecular weight. CO, S10.1, 10.2 |
| Sep 27 | Astrophysics II. Virial Theorem pdf, pdf4 |
Gravitational, thermal, kinetic energy; virial theorem; application to Sun; gravito-thermal collapse, negative specific heat. CO, S2.4, 10.3 (up to nuclear) |
|
| Sep 29 | Tutorial | ||
| Week 4 | |||
| Oct 2 | Astrophysics III. Nuclear Fusion pdf, pdf4 |
Binding energy of nucleus; quantum tunneling; nuclear fusion; stability of the Sun CO, S5.4 (up to p. 132, QM atom), 10.3 |
|
| Oct 4 | Astrophysics IV. Radiation pdf, pdf4 |
Photons; mean free path, random walk, photon diffusion time; blackbody; photosphere of the Sun. CO, S3.3, 3.4, 5.2, 9.3 |
|
| Oct 7 | PS II due | Tutorial | |
| Week 5 | |||
| Oct 9 | PS III available | Thanksgiving | No class |
| Oct 11 | Presentation choices can be made |
Astrophysics V. Photon-Matter Interaction pdf, pdf4 |
Hydrogen model atom; electronic transitions; stellar spectra; optical depth, radiative transfer equation. CO, S3.5, Ch.5, S8.1 (parts), 10.4 (up to pressure scale height) |
| Oct 13 | Tutorial | ||
| Week 6 | |||
| Oct 16 | Stars I. Basics pdf, pdf4 |
Observed properies:
colour-magnitude diagram; spectral types; mass-radius-luminosity
relation; main-sequence; life times; equations of stellar structure. CO, S10.5 (up to Num. model.), 10.6, Ch. 7, S3.6, 8.2 |
|
| Oct 18 | Stars II. High Mass Stars pdf, pdf4 |
Evolution of high-mass stars after core-hydrogen exhaustion. CO, S13.1 (parts), S15.1–15.2 (up to light curves) |
|
| Oct 20 | Tutorial | NS merger - gravitational
wave detection (nice explanation; also CO, pp703—706) |
|
| Week 7 | |||
| Oct 23 | Presentation choices due PS III due |
Stars III. Low Mass Stars pdf, pdf4 |
Evolution of low-mass stars after core-hydrogen exhaustion; degeneracy. CO, S13.1–13.3, S16.1, 16.3 |
| Oct 25 | Stars IV. Stellar Corpses pdf, pdf4 |
End products of stellar evolution: White dwarfs; neutron stars, black holes; degeneracy; ultra-dense matter. CO, S16.1–16.4, 16.6, 16.7, Ch. 17 (basics only, like Schwarzschild radius) |
|
| Oct 27 | Tutorial pdf, pdf4 |
Including pre-midterm summary | |
| Week 8 | |||
| Oct 30 | Midterm Exam (in class) |
||
| Nov 1 | Star Formation pdf, pdf4 (simulation shown in class) |
Jeans mass, observations, disk formation, binary formation. CO, Ch. 12 (broad picture only for parts not dealt with in lecture notes) |
|
| Nov 3 | Solar System Overview pdf, pdf4 |
Inventory, orbital characteristics, spin, roundness; definition of a planet; mass-radius relation; heating by the Sun. CO, S19.1, 19.3 (temperatures only) | |
| Week 9 | |||
| Nov 6-10 | PS IV available | Fall break | No class |
| Week 10 | |||
| Nov 13 | Giant Planets pdf, pdf4 |
mass-radius relation; composition; cores; internal heat. CO, S21.1 |
|
| Nov 15 | Terrestial Planets pdf, pdf4 |
Vulcanism; plate tectonics;
tectonics and climate; snow-ball Earth; atmospheres; divergent
evolution between Earth & Venus. CO, S19.3, Ch. 20, parts of Ch 21 |
|
| Nov 17 | PS IV due | Student presentations | Sun & stars |
| Week 11 | |||
| Nov 20 | PS V available | Planet Formation pdf, pdf4 |
Minimum mass solar nebula;
stability criterion; ice line, planetestimal formation; giant
planet & terrestrial planet formation; isotope dating
results; formation of the Moon; open issues. CO, S23.2, S22.4 (first few pages), S20.4 |
| Nov 22 | Student presentations | Stellar evolution | |
| Nov 24 | Student presentations | Stellar corpses | |
| Week 12 | |||
| Nov 27 | Extrasolar Planets pdf, pdf4 |
Detection methods, statistics. CO, Ch. 23 |
|
| Nov 29 | Student presentations | Space missions/telescopes | |
| Dec 1 | PS V due | Student presentations | Giant (exo)planets |
| Week 13 | |||
| Dec 4 | Student presentations | Terrestrial (exo)planets | |
| Dec 6 | Vote for best presentation | Exoplanets (cont'd) pdf, pdf4 |
Proto-planetary &
debris disks; puzzles, possible solutions; migration CO, Ch. 23 |
| Dec 7 | Final
review pdf, pdf4 |
question & answer | |