ASTRONOMY 1100.2 INTRODUCTION TO ASTROPHYSICS

Instructor: David G. Turner
Office: AT319B
Telephone: (902) 420-5635 (office), 435-2733 (home)
Email: turner@ap.smu.ca


COURSE SYLLABUS:

1. Astronomy and the Universe: perfect numbers and angular measurement, scientific notation, astronomical units, small-angle formula.

2. Knowing the Heavens: basic constellations, celestial sphere, seasons, precession, timekeeping, calendar.

3. Eclipses and the Motion of the Moon: lunar phases, Moon’s rotation, eclipses, predictions.

4. Planet Orbits: Kepler’s Laws and Newtonian gravity, synodic and sidereal periods.

5. The Nature of Light: wave and particle nature of light, blackbody radiation, spectral lines, atomic structure, the Doppler effect.

6. Optics and Telescopes: refracting and reflecting telescopes, aberrations, detectors.

7–15. Basic Information on the Solar System: terrestrial and gaseous planets, asteroids and comets, cosmogony.

16. Our Star, the Sun: basic properties of the Sun, solar neutrinos, activity, solar spectrum, solar interior.

17. The Nature of Stars: stellar distances, the magnitude scale, colors and temperatures, spectral classes, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, binary stars.

18. The Birth of Stars: dark nebulae and H II regions, giant molecular clouds, star birth, protostars.

19–21. Stellar Evolution and End Products: why and how stars evolve, nuclear reactions, post-main-sequence evolution, giants, supergiants, white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes, supernovae of Types I and II.

22. Our Galaxy: mapping the spiral arms of the Galaxy, nature of the disk, bulge, and halo, the mysterious Galactic center.

23. Galaxies: spiral, elliptical, irregular, and lenticular galaxies, how stellar content varies along the Hubble tuning fork diagram, the Hubble Law, measuring distances to galaxies, clusters of galaxies.

24. Quasars and Active Galaxies: discovery of quasars and quasi-stellar objects, Seyfert and other active galaxies, galaxy collisions.

25–26. Cosmology and the Early Universe: the expanding universe, Big Bang cosmology, cosmic microwave background, standard model.


LECTURES: Monday, Wednesday: 1:00-2:15, Loyola 275

COURSE TEXTBOOK: Universe, Roger A. Freedman, Robert M. Geller, & William J. Kaufmann, III, W. H. Freeman and Company


GRADING SYSTEM:

COURSE COMPONENT PERCENTAGE OF GRADE
Weekly Quizes 25%
Labs and Observing Exercises 25%
Assignments 20%
Final Examination 30%
Total 100%


ASTR 1100 Course Syllabus:

Equation Summary:

ASTR 1100 Lab and Observing Manual:

Ecliptic-Centred Star Chart:

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Old AST205 Final Exam:

Old AST206 Final Exam: