Intro to Astronomy (Phy 55) summer 2006   SYLLABUS

MAJOR TOPIC

SUBJECTS

Chapter (Section)

 

 

Universe 7th ed

SPECTROSCOPY

light and spectra; Kirchhoff’s laws

5(1, 2, 5, 6)

 

continuous spectra

the blackbody laws

5(3, 4)

Box 5(2)

 

examples: stars

and planets

Box 19(4)

7 (esp. 1, 4,6,7,8)

 

 

 

STELLAR            PROPERTIES

parallax and distance

magnitude and brightness

19(1); Box 19(1)

19(2-4); Boxes 19(2,3)

 

line spectra: atomic structure

5(7-8); 19(5)

 

color, temperature, spectral class, 

& the H-R diagram

box 7-2, 19(4-8)       

 

Doppler effect:

5(9)

 

  Hubble’s law & the expansion of

  the universe

[26(1-4)] 26(5)

 

  binary stars: orbits and Kepler’s laws

[4(1-4)] 4(5-7)

 

  binary stars: spectroscopic & eclipsing

19(9-11)

 

  galactic rotation curves and dark matter

25(4), Box 25(2), 26(8)

 

  line broadening

 

 

 

 

STELLAR

STRUCTURE

how stars work: energy generation, energy transfer, and sources of pressure

18(1-2), 21(1),

Box 21(1-2)

 

 

the solar neutrino problem

18(5-7)

 

stellar atmospheres: the quiet sun

18(1-3)

 

the active sun: sunspots and magnetic fields

18(8-10)

 

 

 

STELLAR 

EVOLUTION

birth in interstellar space:

protostars and pre-main-sequence stars

20

 

maturity (main sequence) 

and old age (red giant)

21

22(1-2)

 

death of low-mass stars

white dwarfs and planetary nebulae

22(3-4)

 

death of high-mass stars: supernovae

22(5-10)

 

death remnants of middle-mass stars: 

neutron stars

23

21(6)

 

death remnants of high-mass stars:

black holes

24

 

 

 

GALACTIC

STRUCTURE

our home galaxy: The Milky Way

the size of our galaxy: cepheids

25

21(5)

&

normal galaxies

26

EVOLUTION

galactic violence: quasars

27

 

present: expansion: the Hubble flow

26(5), 28(2)

COSMOLOGY

future: expansion forever

or eventual re-collapse?

28 (6-9)

 

past: the Big Bang,

the origin of mass, energy, space, and time

28 (3-5), 29