Copyright © Michael Richmond.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
PHYS 370, Stellar Astrophysics: Fall 2020
This material can be found online at URL
http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys370/phys370.html
Outline/syllabus for the course, class schedule, etc.
Tentative schedule for the quarter.
The numbers in parentheses refer to sections
within our textbook (Carroll and Ostlie, first edition).
- Week 1B:
Introduction, properties of light I (3.3-3.4, 5.2)
- Week 2A:
Properties of light II (3.4-3.5, 5.1, 5.3)
- Week 2B:
Magnitudes, colors and distance (3.1-3.2, 3.6)
- Week 3A:
Spectral and luminosity classes (8.1)
- Week 3B:
HR diagram, main sequence, giants and dwarfs (8.2)
- Week 4A:
Stellar atmospheres I: Intensities and radiation pressure (9.1)
- Week 4B:
Stellar atmospheres II: LTE and opacity (9.2)
- Week 5A:
Stellar atmospheres III: random walks and limb darkening
(9.3)
- Week 5B:
Stellar atmospheres IV: the shapes of spectral lines
(9.4)
- Week 6A:
Curve of growth, and the abundance of sodium in the solar photosphere
(9.4)
- Week 6B:
Stellar interiors I: mass and pressure
(10.1-10.2)
- Week 7A:
Stellar interiors II: energy generation
(10.3)
- Week 7B:
Stellar interiors III: The transport of energy by radiation and by convection
(10.4)
- Week 8A:
Stellar interiors IV: Running a stellar model, and what it can tell us
(10.5-10.6)
- Week 8B: midterm test
- Week 9A:
Star formation: the Jeans criterion
(12.1-12.2)
- Week 9B:
Pre-main-sequence evolution
(12.2-12.3)
- Week 10A:
Post-main-sequence evolution I
(13.1-13.2)
- Week 10B:
Post-main-sequence evolution II
(13.3, 15.3-15.4, 17.4 in first edition)
- Week 11A:
Stellar remnants: neutron stars
(15.6-15.7)
- Week 11B:
Stellar remnants: black holes
(16.1-16.3, 17.1-17.2)
- Week 12A:
Eclipsing binaries I
(7.3)
- Week 12B:
Eclipsing binaries II
- Week 13A:
Pulsing stars I
(14.2-14.3)
- Week 13B:
Pulsing stars II
(14.1)
- Week 14A:
Putting pulsing stars to work
- Week 14B: Student presentations I (review early for credit)
- Week 15A: Student presentations II (review early for credit)
-
Final Exam: Tuesday, Dec 1, 1:30 PM - Wed, Dec 2, 1:30 PM, at home
Homework
-
HW 1: Properties of light
Due Tuesday, Sep 1, at start of class.
-
HW 2: Stars in the solar neighborhood
Due Thursday, Sep 10, at start of class.
-
HW 3: Stars and radiation
Due Thursday, Sep 24, at start of class.
-
HW 4: Stellar interiors and models
Due Tuesday, Oct 27, at start of class.
-
HW 5: Stellar evolution
Due Tuesday, Nov 10, at start of class.
-
HW 6: Review and comment on student presentations
Due Thursday, Nov 19, and Tuesday, Nov 24, at least 3 hours
before class meets.
Before a presentation is given in class,
read the copy which sits in the "Discussions" section
of myCourses. If you leave a comment in the topic,
providing praise and/or constructive criticism for the
speaker, you will earn credit toward HW 6.
You must comment cogently on at least four presentations
in order to earn full credit. Commenting on additional
presentations can earn extra credit.
Extra credit projects
Extra credit assignments are completely optional.
If you choose to do one,
you can add up to five percent to your overall course score.
Each assignment must be submitted via
the appropriate section of the
Assignments
tab of myCourses.
- I taught a course on stellar astrophysics, but with quite a
different focus, a long time ago. Perhaps some of the
material there could be useful.
- There are some excellent textbooks which are free to read on line;
look in the
ADS Digital Library . For this course, you might consider
- Another set of resources which are free to read online are
the lecture notes written by J. B. Tatum,
of the University of Victoria. For this course, you might examine
This page maintained by Michael Richmond.
Last modified Nov 11, 2020.
Copyright © Michael Richmond.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.