Astronomy 2020: Stars, Galaxies and the Universe
Instructor: Tom Megeath
EMAIL: megeath@physics.utoledo.edu |
TELEPHONE: (419)530-7812 |
OFFICE: Ritter 204 |
OFFICE HOURS: Monday 11-12, Wednesday 1-2, Friday 11-12
|
Syllabus and Lectures
Syllabus
Lecture 1: Introduction, Cosmic Distances
Lecture 2: Cosmic Evolution
Lecture 3: Constellations, Distances to Stars
Lecture 4: Laws of Motion
Lecture 5: Light
Lecture 6: Telescopes
Lecture 7: The Sun
Lecture 8: The Stars
Lecture 9: Star Formation
Lecture 10: Stellar Evolution
Study Guide for first midterm
Lecture 11: White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars and Black Holes
Lecture 12: Black Holes, The Galactic Center and the Milky Way
Lecture 13: Midterm Grades, The Interstellar Medium
Lecture 14: Other Galaxies
Lecture 15: The Cosmic Web & Gamma Ray Burst
Lecture 16: Galaxy Formation and Evolution
Study guide for 2nd midterm
Lecture 17: Special Relativity
Lecture 18: Midterm grades, General Relativity + What is a theory?
Lecture 19: Cosmology
Lecture 20: Cosmology and the Big Bang
Lecture 21: Quantum Mechanics, Fundamental Physics, and the Big Bang
Lecture 22: The end of everything (warning: depressing)
Lecture 23: Cosmic Calendar and the Search for Life in the Universe
Study guide for Final
Homework
Homework 1: Due 1/26/2010
Homework 2: Due 2/02/2010
Homework 3: Due 2/09/2010
Homework 4: Due 2/16/2010
Homework 5: Due 3/18/2010
Homework 6: Due 3/25/2010
Homework 7: Due 4/20/2010 - Requires a balloon
Homework 8: Due 4/27/2010
Lecture 1
Computer simulation of two galaxies colliding, from
the web page of John Dubinski - http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~dubinski/antennae
The expansion of the Universe, from Einstein Online,
http://www.einstein-online.info/en/elementary/cosmology/expansion/index.html
Lecture 2
Flight to the Virgo Cluster, from Brent Tully's web pages
Computer simulation of the gas from the big bang coallescing into the seeds of galaxies, from
http://cosmicweb.uchicago.edu/filaments.html
Computer simulation of the
formation of a group of galaxies, from http://cosmicweb.uchicago.edu/filaments.html
Science! Curse thee, thou vain toy; and cursed be all the things that
cast man's eyes aloft to that heaven, whose live vividness but
scorches him, as these old eyes are even now scorched with thy light,
O sun! Level by nature to this earth's horizon are the glances of
man's eyes; not shot from the crown of his head, as if God had meant
him to gaze on his firmanent.
Captain Ahab in Herman Melville's Moby Dick