Astronomy 202: Stars, Galaxies and the Universe (http://astronomy.case.edu/heather/202/)
Instructor: Heather Morrison, office in Sears 558
Office hours: Wed 1-3pm
you can also email me at
hlm5@cwru.edu to ask
questions or set up a time to see me.
TA: Katie Rennie
Office Hours: TR 9-11:30am. Katie has her office hours in Sears 561. You can also email her at ker8@cwru.edu to ask questions or set up a time to see her.
Text (required): Stars, Galaxies and Cosmology, by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider and Voit. Published by Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-8053-9283-1
There will be homework sets due every Thursday, short tests approximately every 2 weeks, and a final exam.
Grades: Homework: 33% Tests: 33% Final: 34%
Classes will be interactive, with lots of group discussions. Class notes will be available on the web, usually within a couple of days after that class.
Problem Set 1 (due in class Thurs Aug 31)
Course Outline:
Aug 29, 31: Our place in the Universe, The Science of Astronomy
Aug 29: Our Place in the Universe
Aug 31: The Science of Astronomy
Sept 5,7: Motion, Energy and Gravity; Light and Matter
Sept 5: Motion, Energy and Gravity
Sept 12, 14 : Telescopes
Sept 14: Telescopes and
observatories
Prof Kreissler will be taking this class until fall break.
Sept 19, 21: Our Star
Sept 26, 28: Surveying the Stars
Sept 28: Properties of Stars cont
Oct 3, 5: Star Birth
Oct 12: Massive stars,
supernovae,neutron stars
Oct 17: Supernovae and Special Relativity
Oct 24: ************ FALL BREAK *************
Oct 26: Black Holes
Reading: Text Chapter 18.3, Reading from Kip Thorne's Black Holes and Time Warps
Oct 26: Black Holes and relativity
Oct 31, Nov 2: Our Galaxy, the Milky Way
Nov 7,9: Galaxies and Cosmology Foundations (Prof Mihos)
Nov 7: The Hubble sequence of galaxies
Nov 9: See text for notes
Nov 14, 16: Spacetime and Gravity
Nov 14: Expansion of the Universe
more Nov 14: Edges and cosmological principle
Nov 16: no class
Nov 21: Galaxy Evolution
Nov 21: Galaxy evolution and quasars
Cosmological growth of structure movie
(Allgood et al 2006)
Nov 23rd: **********Thanksgiving holiday*************
Nov 28, 30: Dark Matter, Dark Energy and the Fate of the Universe
Nov 28: The Fate of the Universe
Dec 5, 7: The Beginning of Time
Dec 5: Cosmic Background Radiation
Dec 7: Geometry of the universe
***************Final: Dec 14, 12:30 - 3:30***********
Problem Set 2 (due in class Thurs Sept 7)
Problem Set 3 (due in class Thurs Sept 14)
Problem Set 4 (due in class Thurs Sept 21)
Homework 5 (due Thursday Sept 28)
Homework 6 (due Thursday Oct 5)
Homework 7 (due Thursday Oct 12)
Homework 8 (due Thursday Oct 19)
Problem Set 9 (due in class Thurs Nov 2)
Problem Set 10 (due in class Thurs Nov 9)
Problem Set 11 (due in class Thurs Nov 16)
Problem Set 12 (due in class Thurs Nov 30)
Problem Set 13 (due 9am, Monday December 11)
Reading: text Chapters 1, 3
Reading: text Chapters 4,5
Reading: text Chapter 6
Reading: text Chapter 14
Reading: text Chapter 15
Reading: text Chapter 16
Reading: text Chapter 17
Reading: Text Chapter 18, Chapters S2, S4
Reading: Text Chapter 19
Reading: Text Chapter 20
Prof Mihos' galaxy
interaction movies
Reading: Text Chapter S3
Reading: Text Chapter 21
Reading: Text Chapter 22
Reading: Text Chapter 23