Astro 4

Black Holes and Cosmic Catastrophes

Spring 2020


Schedule of Lectures

Tuesday, March 31st General introduction to the course. The scale of the universe and our place in it.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 1)
Thursday, April 2nd Motion, force, & energy.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 4)
Tuesday, April 7th Gravity!
Reading (TCP, Ch. 4)
Thursday, April 9th Light and Thermal Radiation.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 5)
Tuesday, April 14th Matter and Energy Levels.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 5)
Thursday, April 16th The Sun.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 14)
Tuesday, April 21st Properties of stars.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 15)
Thursday, April 23rd More Properties of Stars, Star Clusters.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 15)
Tuesday, April 28th Midterm Exam in class
Thursday, April 30th Evolution of Low- and High-mass Stars.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 17)
Tuesday, May 5th End states of stars.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 18, S4)
Thursday, May 7th More End States of Stars, Supernova Explosions.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 17, 18)
Tuesday, May 12th Pulsars, Black Holes
Reading (TCP, Ch. 18)
Thursday, May 14th Special relativity
Reading (TCP, Ch. S2)
Tuesday, May 19th General Relativity and Black Holes.
Reading (TCP, Ch. S3)
Thursday, May 21st AGNs, QSOs, and Supermassive Black Holes.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 20, 21)
Tuesday, May 26th Gravity in our own Milky Way.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 19)
Thursday, May 28th The Galactic Center; Galaxies and the Distance Ladder.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 19, 20)
Tuesday, June 2nd The Expansion of the Universe.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 20, 23)
Thursday, June 4th Dark Matter, Dark Energy, the Origin and Fate of the Universe.
Reading (TCP, Ch. 22, 23)
Monday, June 8th Final Exam