Class Time: MWF 2:30 - 3:20 Class Room: 541 Davey Lab
Professor: Robin Ciardullo Office: 519 Davey Lab
Office Hours: MWF 1:30-2:30 or any other time Zoom Address: https://psu.zoom.us/j/3404085003
e-mail: rbc@astro.psu.edu Web page: https://sites.google.com/psu.edu/robin-ciardullo/teaching/astro-501
This course is an overview which will touch on topics throughout astronomy. Ten percent of the grade will be based on class participation. For the remaining 90%, half of the grade will be based on the homework, and the other half will come from the tests (midterm and final).
Problem sets will be assigned (very roughly) every other week. Science is a collaborative discipline, so you are encouraged to work with other students on these problem sets. However, your writeups must be expressed in your own words and not shared with other members of the class. Late homework will be penalized with a 10% deduction in points for each day past the due date. Please DO NOT start the homework the night before it's due!! Come ask me for help if you are stuck on any problems.
There are two on-line textbooks associated with the class. Both can be accessed from any Penn State computer. If you are not on a Penn State computer, you can still access the texts via Penn State's GlobalProtect Virtual Private Network (VPN). The software to do this can be downloaded at https://downloads.its.psu.edu/.
Fundamental Astronomy by Karttunen et al. covers much of the material of this course (although in a different manner than I do). You can find the book at https://link-springer-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/book/10.1007%2F978-3-662-53045-0.
Extragalactic Astronomy by Peter Schneider is useful for the latter half of the course. It is at http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-540-33175-9.
Finally, if you would like to know more about any subject, or want a different slant on things, there are numerous other papers and notes associated with this course. Many are/will be given in the links below, while others are included in the class notes.
A list of topics to be covered in the class appears below. The pdfs of the powerpoint slides for each topic will be linked to these entries before class.
Outline of Class
I. Positional Astronomy
Karttunen Reading: Chapter 2
II. Telescopes and Detectors
Karttunen Reading: Chapter 3; Additional Reading: Bevington Chapters 2 - 4
III. Stars -- Basic Data
Karttunen Reading: Chapter 17.2 (stellar distances), Chapter 4 (photometry and magnitudes), Chapter 9 (stellar spectra), Chapter 6 (Celestial Mechanics), and Chapter 10 (Binary Stars and Stellar Masses
IV. Stars -- Structure and Evolution
Karttunen Reading: Chapter 11 (Stellar Structure), Chapter 12 (Stellar Evolution), Chapter 14 (Variable Stars), Chapter 15 (Compact Stars)
V. Galactic Structure
Karttunen Reading: Chapter 16 (ISM), Chapter 17 (Star Clusters) and Chapter 18 (Milky Way); Schneider Reading: Chapter 2 (Milky Way as a Galaxy)
VI. Extragalactic Astronomy
Karttunen Reading: Chapter 19 (Galaxies); Schneider Reading: Chapter 3 (World of Galaxies), Chapter 6 (Groups and Clusters), and Chapter 5 (Active Galactic Nuclei)
VII. Cosmology
Karttunen Reading: Chapter 20 (Cosmology); Schneider Reading: Chapter 4
The Cosmic Microwave Background, and Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations
Early Universe/ Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
Large Scale Structure
I. Positional Astronomy
Astronomical Almanac Online: Updates to the printed version of the Almanac. The Almanac itself, which contains all the numbers you will ever need and then some, is in 530 Davey (top of right bookshelf). Please do not remove this book from the room! IMPORTANT NOTE: This link (and its re-direction) has been down for "essential maintanence" for quite some time (i.e., since the pandemic). I will restore the link if/when it ever comes back up.
Official USNO Data for Time, Celestial Positions, Eclipses, etc.
Richard Wade's notes on Map Projections, Catalogs, and Coordinates
II. Telescopes and Detectors
Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences by Bevington
Astronomical Spectrographs by Bernstein & Schectman in Planets, Stars, and Stellar Systems, Volume 1. Available via a PSU IP address.
III. Stars
Galactic Structure
VI. Galaxies
VII. Cosmology
Homework
Exams
University Related Material