PHYS 374, Introduction to Astrophysics: Fall 2026

This material can be found online at URL

http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys374/phys374.html

Outline/syllabus for the course, class schedule, etc.

Tentative schedule for the quarter.

• Week 1: The refereed literature, ADS. HR diagrams (I)
• Week 2: Reading papers, making graphs. HR diagrams (II)
• Week 3: No class - Labor Day

• Week 4: Rotation curves and dark matter
• Week 5: Reflections of a current AST graduate student
• Week 6: The distance-velocity relationship (I)
• Week 7: The distance-velocity relationship (II)
• Week 8: Exoplanets (I)
• Week 9: Exoplanets (II)
• Week 10: Beyond graduate school
• Week 11: Little Red Dots (I)
• Week 12: Little Red Dots (II)
• Week 13: Student presentations (I)
• Week 14: Student Presentations (II)

Homework

• HW 1: Make an HR diagram using Gaia data (now ready to go!)
  Due Monday, Sep 14, at start of class.
  
  Answers to HW 1

For more information

This page maintained by Michael Richmond. Last modified Aug 23, 2026.

Copyright © Michael Richmond. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.