Instructor: | Prof. Greg Taylor, PAIS room 3236, email gbtaylor@unm.edu | |
TA:TBD | TBD | |
Time and place: | Tu/Th 9:30 AM-10:45 AM PAIS 1160 |
|
Syllabus and course web page: | http://leo.phys.unm.edu/~gbtaylor/astr421/index.html | |
Lectures in PDF format: | http://leo.phys.unm.edu/~gbtaylor/astr421/lectures | |
Textbook: | An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, B.W. Carroll & D.A. Ostlie, 2nd Edition. | |
Prerequisites: | Physics 330 or 491, 492 or their equivalent. | |
Exams and Grades: | Your final grade will be determined through three sectional exams (each 20% of the grade), eight sets of homework (20%) and a term paper (20%). There will be no final exam. |
Some useful links:
Science Daily's website for astronomy
news
Greg Taylor's home page
Search engines for
articles: ADS
database,
Astro-ph
Example of term paper
outline and final write-up. The outline and paper will of course be different depending on your topic, but by writing an outline we will be able to make sure that you work on the relevant pieces from the beginning. And you should study the example to see what all the parts are and the level of detail desired.
Code for statstar.f in fortran from Carrol & Ostlie
Date | Topic | Chapter |
Tu Aug 23 | Course Introduction, Mechanics I | 1,2 |
Th Aug 25 | Mechanics II | 2, 19.2 |
Tu Aug 30 | Radiation and Matter I | 3 |
Th Sep 1 | Radiation and Matter II Homework 1 due |
5 |
Tu Sep 6 | Special Relativity I Term paper topics due |
4 |
Th Sep 8 | Special Relativity II Homework 2 due |
4, 17.2 |
Tu Sep 13 | Binary Stars |
7 |
Th Sep 15 | Spectral Lines Homework 3 due |
3, 8 |
Tu Sep 20 | Review | 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 |
Th Sep 22 | Exam 1 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 |
Tu Sep 27 | Telescopes | 6 |
Th Sep 29 | Stellar Atmospheres I |
9 |
Tu Oct 4 | Stellar Atmospheres II |
9 |
Th Oct 6 | Stellar Atmospheres IIIHomework 4 due | 9 |
Tu Oct 11 | Stellar Interiors I Term paper outline due |
10 |
Th Oct 13 | Fall Break | |
Tu Oct 18 | Stellar Interiors II | 10 |
Th Oct 20 | Stellar Evolution I Homework 5 due | 13 |
Tu Oct 25 | Review |
6, 8, 9, 10 |
Th Oct 27 | Exam 2 | 6, 8, 9, 10 |
Tu Nov 1 | Stellar Evolution II |
13 |
Th Nov 3 | Stellar Evolution III |
13, 15 |
Tu Nov 8 | Stellar Remnants: White Dwarfs Homework 6 due |
16 |
Th Nov 10 | Stellar Remnants: Black Holes |
17 |
Tu Nov 15 | Stellar Explosions: GRBs and Magnetars Homework 7 due |
17 |
Th Nov 17 | Finish GRBs and Magnetars and Review | 16 |
Tu Nov 22 | Exam 3 | 10, 13, 15, 16, 17 |
Th Nov 24 | Thanksgiving | |
Tu Nov 29 | Peer Review Exercise Homework 8 written reports due on Nov 28 at noon |
|
Th Dec 1 | Stellar Remnants: Neutron Stars |
|
Tu Dec 6 | Term paper presentations: 1-7 |
|
Th Dec 8 | Term paper presentations: 8-14 | |
Mo Dec 12 | Written papers Due by 12:00pm MDT |