ASTR2050: Introductory Astronomy and Astrophysics Syllabus for Spring 1999 January 4, 1999

Transcription

1 ASTR2050: Introductory Astronomy and Astrophysics Syllabus for Spring 1999 January 4, 1999 This is a working document and will change periodically. It outlines the topics that will be covered during the term, including breakdowns and some random thoughts. It also lists other details, such as relevant textbook sections in Zeilik and Gregory (4e), homework, and studio exercises. There are thirteen separate main topics each corresponding, more or less, to one week in the course. I am always trying to include hints of stuff to be covered in later weeks using cool examples that hopefully follow logically from the present topic. The course will be taught as two one-hour lectures (or one 1-1/2 hour lecture) on Tuesdays, and a two-hour studio exercise period on Thursday. Homework listed is due at the start of class on the Tuesday of the following week. Week One: January 12 and 14 Course Introduction and Gravity and Orbital Motion The main goal is to get students familiar with the concept of circular orbits of light bodies about a single massive object. The studio will emphasize this, but the homework will cover other stuff too. Introduction and course outline Newton s law of gravity P1-2 F=ma and circular orbits about a massive body P2-2 (Eq. P2-5) - Kepler s Third Law 1-2A - Examples: Planets and their moons - Examples: Rotating disks and spiral galaxies Elliptical motion (don t derive, but refer to textbook) P1-1; Kepler s First and Second Law s; Revisit Third - Examples: Planets and comets Falling from a large distance P5-4 Gravitation in mass distributions P2-1,2,3 - Galactic rotation and the dark matter problem - Gravitational collapse: Pictures of star birth regions Equivalence Principle and General Relativity P7-1 - Picutres of gravitational lenses Studio Exercise: CLEA on Moons of Jupiter Maybe do some observing? Is Jupiter still up? ; Mass of the Sun exercise

2 Page 2 Syllabus for Intro A&A 1/4/99 Week Two: January 19 and 21 The Solar System The idea is to tour the planets and show lots of images and discuss them. Some of the important physics topics will be introduced and interspersed among the images and discussion. Exploring the solar system Chapter 2 - Escape velocity and intersection orbits P2-2 Two kinds of planets: Terrestrial and Gas Giants Chapters 5,6,7 Gravitational contraction - Heat coming out of gas giants 6-1B Tidal forces: The Roche limit 3-4D - Rings of Saturn and other planets 7-1C - Activity of Jupiter s Galilean moons 7-1B New concept: Thermal energy kt and thermal distributions - Application to planetary atmospheres 2-1D Studio Exercise: Scale model of the solar system (with prep time) Week Three: January 26 and 28 Light and the Electromagnetic Spectrum Review the basic properties of light and electromagnetic radiation in general. Make the point that light is only one part, but an important part. Sources, including lines and blackbody. Wavelength, frequency, and photons 8-1A,B Blackbody radiation Temperature and the color of stars - The spectrum of the Sun (from Shu) Atoms, molecules, and spectral lines 8-2,3 - Emission and absorption - Examples from stars and galaxies Doppler shift Eqs. 8-11,12,13,14 Second hour: Spectrographs and discharge tubes Studio Exercise: UOregon blackbody JAVA applet

3 Page 3 Syllabus for Intro A&A 1/4/99 Week Four: February 2 and 4 I will be away on Thursday! Telescopes Different instruments for different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Diffraction limit and practical limits. Telescope optics. Recording devices. Importance and limitations of angular resolution 9-1 Optical telescopes Examples from around the world, and the HST Radio telescopes 9-2A - Examples, including interferometry and high resolution Infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, and γ-ray 9-2B,C,D Recording and image processing 9-3 Studio Exercise: Build and study telescopes Week Five: February 9 and 11 Stars from the outside Concepts of luminosity, magnitude (absolute and apparent), distance modulus, spectral classes and surface temperature, HR diagrams and the main sequence. Pictures of clusters and hints about stellar evolution. Luminosity and flux 8-1C, 11-4C - Blackbody radiation and Stefan-Boltzmann 8-6C Apparent and absolute magnitude 11-2,3 - First mention of parallax 11-1A Color index and surface temperature 11-4 Spectral classification and connection to temperature 13-2 HR diagrams andthe main sequence 13-3 HR diagrams of star clusters 13-3C, 16-4 Studio Exercise: CLEA Classification of Stellar Spectra Week 5A: February 18 (No class on Feb.16) Studio Exercise: CLEA Photometry of the Pleiades

4 Page 4 Syllabus for Intro A&A 1/4/99 Week Six: February 23 and 25 Binary systems A little more with gravity, then properties of stars from measurements of binaries.use this as a preview of the inside of stars, also compact stars (discussion of Sirius A/B) Binary star systems in general 12-1 Circular orbits with two arbitrary masses P1-8 Visual binary systems: Measuring the stars Luminosity vs Mass; Radius vs Mass - Peculiar example: Sirius A and B Spectroscopic binaries Large mass limit: Extrasolar planets Eclipsing binary stars: Show examples 12-4 X-Ray binaries Cyg X-1; Cen X-3 Studio Exercise: CUPS Binary Stars, match to data Week Seven: March 2 and 4 I am in Siberia all this week! Stars from the inside Principles of stellar interiors. Stellar modeling, nuclear physics, stellar evolution. Gravity again: Hydrostatic equilibrium 16-1A - Pressure and density at the center The ideal gas law 16-1B - Brief derivation: Prelude to compact stars - Temperature at the center Nuclear reactions 16-1D - Recall earlier discussion of thermal energy - Hydrogen burning and two cycles P5-7,8,9 Post-main sequence evolution 16-3,4,5 - Set up the discussion of star deaths Studio Exercise: CUPS Stellar Interiors, plot the ZAMS (see 16-2) Spring Break is the Following Week

5 Page 5 Syllabus for Intro A&A 1/4/99 Week Eight: March 16 and 18 Star deaths Planetary nebula and white dwarfs. Chandresekhar limit and neutron stars, illustrated with Type I supernovae. Type II supernovae discussion. Some more on black holes. Compact stars and relativistic gases P5-3 White dwarf stars Observations: Sirius B and other binaries; HST in M4 17-1B - Gravitational redshift (prelude to black holes) 17-1C - Physical properties 17-1A Chandrasekhar limit and brief discussion of Type I SN Neutron stars HST observation of the isolated case - Pulsars and Supernovae and remnants 18-5B,C,D,E Black holes 17-3 Revisit X-ray binary stars 18-6 Studio Exercise: CLEA Radio Astronomy of Pulsars Week Nine: March 23 and 25 Measuring distances and variable stars Distance scales. Cepheid variables as distance markers. Introduction to galaxies. Overview Fig Trigonometric parallax 11-1 Cluster MS fitting (Recall Week 5A studio) 13-3G Moving clusters 19-3 Variable stars Cepheid variables and RR Lyrae stars Novae 18-5A - Type I Supernovae 18-5B Studio Exercise: Cepheids and M81 (or another example?) Maybe do the CLEA Asteroid Astrometry lab?

6 Page 6 Syllabus for Intro A&A 1/4/99 Week Ten: March 30 and April 1 Galaxies and the Hubble expansion Galaxies, Hubble s law and the calibration issue. The Milky Way galaxy 14-1A,4,5; 20-2C Other galaxies 21-1,5C Hubble s Law Historical evidence - Redshift and the age of the universe 22-2A,C - The value of H 22-2B,D,3 Studio Exercise: UWashington Hubble exercise Week Eleven: April 6 and 8 Space/GM week! Do a project! Will come up with some project associated with Space Week.

7 Page 7 Syllabus for Intro A&A 1/4/99 Week Twelve: April 13 and 15 Active galaxies and quasars Want to motivate massive black holes in the center, and that this weird stuff happens more and more at very high redshift. Leading into cosmology and large scale structure. Starburst galaxies: Images of M82 and HST photos 24-2 Special sources of electromagnetic radiation and AGN s 24-1,3 Seyfert galaxies 24-3A - Images of several examples Radio galaxies 24-3C - M87 images in optical w/jet and radio - Cygnus A in radio and (?) optical (Is it a galaxy??) - Cen A: Images including radio w/hst and Malin - HST gallery Quasars 24-4,5 - Unified model (including HST galaxy images) 24-5D Photographs of the very early universe Studio Exercise: Center of M87 Week Thirteen: April 20 and 22 Cosmology Big bang and large scale structure. Newtonian cosmology and the critical density 25-1B The hot big bang Anisotropy in the microwave background Large scale structure in the universe 23-1A,B,C,2A Creation of the elements 26-2,3 Studio Exercise: CLEA on Large Scale Structure One more class (following Tuesday): It will be a review