Galactic Astronomy

This is the website for the graudate level Astronomy 511, Winter 2023 edition. The course is cross-listed as ASTR 497-C for senior-level astro majors.

Syllabus

Schedule

  • Lecture 01 (Jan 03) - Slides, Video - Introduction & Review
  • Lecture 02 (Jan 05) - Slides, Video - The Solar Neighborhood
  • NO CLASS Jan 10 & 12: (AAS 241)
  • Lecture (Jan 17) - AAS Debrief
  • Lecture 03 (Jan 19) - Slides, Video - History of Galactic Astronomy
  • Lecture 04 (Jan 24) - Slides, Video - Clusters and “Simple” Stellar Populations
  • Lecture 05 (Jan 26) - Slides, Video - Mass and Luminosity Functions
  • Lecture 06 (Jan 31) - Slides, Video - Structure & Properties of the Milky Way PART 1
  • Lecture 07 (Feb 02) - Slides, Video - Structure & Properties of the Milky Way PART 2
  • Lecture 08 (Feb 07) - Slides, Video - Chemical Cartography
  • Lecture 09 (Feb 09) - Slides, Video - Star Formation History
  • Lecture 10 (Feb 14) - Slides, Video - Kinematics, Rotation, and the Oort Constants
  • Lecture 11 (Feb 16) - Slides, Video - Gravitaional Potentials
  • Lecture 12 (Feb 21) - Slides, Video - Nearby Galaxies & Resolved Stellar Populations
  • Lecture 13 (Feb 23) - Slides, Video - Galaxy Morphology and Classification
  • Lecture 14 (Feb 28) - Slides, Video - Ellipticals
  • Lecture 15 (Mar 03) - Slides, Video - Galactic Astronomy in the Next Decade
  • Mar 07 - Final Project Presentations
  • Mar 09 - Final Project Presentations

Assignments

Homeworks for this course are all project based. Group work is encouraged. My grading philosophy is: no points are awarded for right answers, only for critical thinking.

  • Homework 1, due Jan 13
    • AAS Scavenger Hunt
  • Homework 2, due Feb 07
    • Characterizing an Open Cluster
  • Homework 3, due Feb 17
    • Chemical Cartography
  • Homework 4, due Mar 03
    • Destroy this Cluster
  • Final Project
    • Part 1, due Feb 17 (Topic Selection)
    • Part 2, Mar 7 and 9 (Presentations)
    • Part 3, due Mar 14 (Term Paper)