Physics 371, Galactic Astrophysics: Fall 2025

This material can be found online at URL

http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys371/phys371.html

Outline for the course, class schedule, etc.

Lectures

Week 1, Day A: Intro to the course, review of stars (I)
Week 1, Day B: Review of stars (II)

Week 2, Day A: Celestial coordinates and an overview of the Milky Way
Week 2, Day B: The main varieties of radiation from space

Week 3, Day A: Trigonometric parallax
Week 3, Day B: Limitations of trigonometric parallax

Week 4, Day A: Stellar populations: demographics
Week 4, Day B: Stellar populations: evolution over time

Week 5, Day A: Stellar populations: chemical evolution
Week 5, Day B: Measuring distances beyond parallax

Week 6, Day A: Rotation of the Milky Way
Week 6, Day B: What can we learn from the rotation curve?

Week 7, Day A: Review and vote on "best mnemonic"
Week 7, Day B: Midterm test

Week 8, Day A: Fall Break -- no class
Week 8, Day B: Overview of the ISM, HI

Week 9, Day A: HII regions (I)
Week 9, Day B: HII regions (II)

Week 10, Day A: Clouds of molecular hydrogen
Week 10, Day B: Gravitational collapse in molecular clouds

Week 11, Day A: Dust in the ISM
Week 11, Day B: Very hot gas in the ISM

Week 12, Day A: Dynamics: Newtonian gravity
Week 12, Day B: Dynamics: self-gravity, the virial theorem

Week 13, Day A: Two-body relaxation (I)
Week 13, Day B: Two-body relaxation (II)

Week 14, Day A: The Local Group: the Magellanic Clouds
Week 14, Day B: Thanksgiving -- no class

Week 15, Day A: The Local Group: tracers of the Milky Way's mass
Week 15, Day B: Review, or tidal radii of satellite galaxies

Final Exam: Fri, Dec 12, 1:30 - 4:00 PM, WAL-3605

Homework sets

In order to use the on-line homework system, you need to know your login name and have a means of two-factor authentication. Your "login name" should be the same as your last name, but with lowercase letters only; something like richmond. Your initial password is the final four digits of your student ID; you can change that password later if you wish. You'll need to use some sort of 2FA application, such as Duo Mobile.

Introduction to Webwork system due Friday, Aug 29, at 6:00 PM.
- Answers to Homework 0

Review of stars due Monday, Sep 8, at 5:00 PM.
Note from our TA: you might find that using a computer and a bit of code could make some of these problems go faster...
- Answers to Homework 1

Extra Credit Projects

The deadline for extra credit assignments is, in general, 5 PM, Mon, Dec 8, unless stated otherwise. All work must be submitted to the instructor by this time to count towards your grade.

Create an HR diagram using Gaia DR3 data
Invent a good mnemonic for the sequence of stellar spectral classes (this is due by Tuesday, Oct 7, at noon. )
How much has our knowledge of the stellar neighborhood improved?

For more information:

I've taught vaguely related courses in the past.
- SPSP 240: Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology (long ago, basic level)
- SPSP 443: Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology (not so long ago, moderate level)
- The Extragalactic Distance Ladder (grad course at Univ of Tokyo)

This page maintained by Michael Richmond.