Readings
in the Text
- Tue 8/28
& Th 8/30: Ch. 1
(1.3
optional)
& 2
- The simulations of
structure formation
in the
universe are here.
- Tue
9/4:
Ch. 2
- Information on the
Black Hole at the
Center of
our Galaxy can be found here
(including movies).
- Th
9/6:
Ch. 3
- Tue
9/11: Ch. 5
- Th
9/13: Ch. 6
- Tue
9/18: Ch. 7
- Th 9/20
and Tue 9/25: Ch. 8
- Th 9/27: Overview of
the Sun
- Take a quick look through Ch.
11 (our discussion will be more qualitative and pictoral for now)
- Movies
of the solar corona from TRACE. Also take a look at the TRACE
homepage
and their education
page
to find more pictures, information about the mission, etc.
- Movies of the solar corona from SOHO. The movie of comets crashing
into
the sun is about 1/2 of the way down on the left. Also take a
look at the SOHO homepage
and their education
page. SOHO's "real time" movies of the sun are here.
-
- Tue 10/2: Ch. 9
- this
material will not be on
Exam 1 (it will definitely be on Exam 2)
- The material in Ch. 9 is more technical than I think it
needs
to be, so you don't need to read the whole Chapter. The
required
reading is 9.2 (particularly the idea of optical depth), Section 9.3
through p. 254 (stop after limb darkening), and Section 9.5 from p.
268-270. You should also be familiar with the fact that
photons
have momentum and thus produce a pressure -- radiation
pressure.
This is eq. 9.11 in section 9.1. Everything else in Ch. 9 is
optional. Note in particular that the concept of "intensity"
used
in Section 9.1 and later in the Chapter will not be used in
lecture. We will phrase all of the relevant results in terms
of
flux (which you are already familiar with) instead of intensity.
- Th 10/4: Exam 1 (in class)
- Tue 10/9: Ch. 9 (see above about the reading)
- Th 10/11 -
Th
10/25: Ch. 10
- It would be good to reread about Heisenberg's
uncertainty
principle in Ch. 5 (5.4). Also, you should be familiar with the idea
behind E = mc2 (we will use it; if you want a
more detailed
understanding, see 4.4, but this is very much optional).
- You are not responsible for the material on nuclear
reaction
rates and the Gamow peak (bottom of 302 - top of 307). As I
noted
in class, you are also not responsible for the material on specific
heats, thermodynamics, and the adiabatic temperature gradient, all used
primarily in the discussion of convection (p. 318-329) although you are
responsible for the basic ideas related to convection discussed in
class. Finally, you are not responsible for the material on
polytropes (p. 335 to top of 340).
- Tue 10/30: No Class: Trip to Lick. Meet at 2:15 outside Campbell Hall for the trip.
- Th 11/1: Ch. 12
- Once again the Chapter is excessively detailed relative to what
we will cover in class. Scan 12.1 to get a feel for the different
phases of the ISM and our observational probes of each. p. 431
on is optional.
- Tue 11/6
& Tue 11/13:
Ch. 13 & 15
- The chapters on stellar evolution are pretty
dense. Our
discussion will not be so detailed, nor do you need to know a few
of the technical issues raised in these chapters (in particular, the
Schonberg-Chandrasekhar limit; eq. 13.1; p. 451-456). To help
see
the forest through the trees, you may find it useful to look at these
links, each of which provides a broad, much more succinct overview of
stellar evolution
- Th. 11/8: Exam 2 (in class)
- Th 11/15,
Tue
11/20, & Tue 11/27: Ch. 16
- Th
11/29: Ch. 17
- Our discussion will be significantly less technical
than
the
book. Focus on 17.1 and 17.3.
- A pretty good website on BHs is here.
- Tue 12/4 & Th 12/6: Ch. 18