Physics 171
Fall 2020

Planetary and Stellar Astronomy 

Course Materials:

• Week 0: 8/19-21                  Intro to Astronomy [Ch. 1, 2]
  Physics 171 syllabus
  Wednesday, August 19: Lecture 1: Course structure, science & astronomy, units & notation.
  Wednesday, August 19: Problem session notes: SI units, speed of light, light year.
  
  Friday, August 21: Lecture 2: Distances with c, scientific notation, length scales, Eratostenes.
  Friday, August 21: Problem session notes: Exponents and trigonometry review.
  
  Problem Set 1, due Friday, August 28, 2020.
  
  
  
• Week 1: 8/24-28            Basic Physics I: Motion and Orbits [Ch. 3]
  Monday, August 24: Lecture 3: Retrograde motion, seasons, parallax, Kepler's laws.
  Monday, August 24: Problem session notes: How long does is take Earth to pass Mars?
  
  Wednesday, August 26: Lecture 4: Constellations and Kepler's laws.
  Wednesday, August 26: Problem session notes: Speeds at aphelion and perihelion.
  
  Friday, August 28: Lecture 5: Galileo, gravity, Galilean relativity, and Newton's laws.
  Friday, August 28: Problem session notes: Orbital speed vs orbital radius.
  
  Problem Set 2, due Friday, September 4, 2020
  
  
  
• Week 2: 8/31-9/4          Basic Physics II: Newton and Gravity [Ch. 3]
  Monday, August 31: Lecture 6: Momentum and energy, gravity by Newton, circular motion.
  Monday, August 31: Problem session notes: Conservation of momentum, rifle recoil.
  
  Wednesday, September 2: Lecture 7: Center of mass, angular momentum, escape velocity, tidal forces.
  Optional: Video on tides (advanced) on YouTube.com: LINK
  Wednesday, September 2: Problem session notes: Acceleration due to Earth's gravity.
  
  Friday, September 4: Lecture 8: Electromagnetic waves & spectrum, blackbody radiation, photons.
  Friday, September 4: Problem session notes: Newton's version of Kepler's 3rd law for mass determination.
  
  Problem Set 3, due Friday, September 11, 2020
  
  
  
• Week 3: 9/7-9/11          Basic Physics III: Light and Matter [Ch. 5, 16.1-2]
  Monday, September 7: Lecture 9: light pressure, atomic structure, spectroscopy, Doppler effect.
  Monday, September 7: Problem session notes: Blackbody radiation, light pressure.
  
  Wednesday, September 9: Lecture 10: Doppler effect, nuclear particles, P-P chain solar fusion.
  Wednesday, September 9: Problem session notes: Doppler Shift.
  
  Friday, September 11: Lecture 11: Nuclear particles vs photons, astrolabe, refracting and reflecting telescopes.
  Friday, September 11: Problem session notes: Structure of midterm test.
  
  Problem Set 4, due Monday, September 21, 2020
  
  
  
• Week 4: 9/14-9/18          Astronomy Instruments [Ch. 6]
  Midterm #1 on Monday, September 14, 2020.
  Formula sheet for midterm #1
  
  Wednesday, September 16: Lecture 12: Reflecting telescopes, angular resolution, adaptive optics.
  Wednesday, September 16: Problem session notes: Reflection and refraction, angular resolution.
  
  Friday, September 18: Lecture 13: Angular resolution, interferometry, CCD cameras, telescopes by wavelength.
  Optional: Video of ALMA telescope array on APOD: LINK
  Friday, September 18: Problem session notes: Size of Betelgeuse.
  
  Problem Set 5, due Friday, September 25, 2020
  
  Instuctions for interludes
  
  
  
• Week 5: 9/21-9/25          Solar System I: Overview [Chpt 7]
  Monday, September 21: Lecture 14: Space probes, structure of Solar System, density of planets.
  Monday, September 21: Problem session notes: Event Horizon Telescope resolution, density of planet Earth.
  
  Wednesday, September 23: Lecture 15: Density differentiation, formation of Solar System, protoplanetary systems.
  Optional: Protoplanetary disk photo on APOD: LINK
  Wednesday, September 23: Problem session notes: Density of planet Earth.
  
  Friday, September 25: Lecture 16: Formation of Solar System, age of Solar System, radioactive dating.
  Friday, September 25: Problem session notes: Potassium-40 radioactive decay.
  Slides for interludes 1 and 2 instructions (Sept. 25)
  
  Problem Set 6, due Friday, October 2, 2020
  
  
  
• Week 6: 9/28-10/2          Solar System II: Earth & Rocky Planets [Chpt 8, 9, 10]
  Monday, September 28: Lecture 17: Earth as a planet, interior of Earth, magnetosphere.
  The problem session is replaced by a team building exercise.
  Optional: Plate tectonics in the Pacific Northwest: "The Really Big One" by Kathryn Schulz (New Yorker)
  Paper and presentation guidelines PDF
  
  Wednesday, September 30: Lecture 18: Earth's atmosphere, greenhouse effect, Earth's temperature vs time.
  Optional: Extracting temperatures from ice cores: Scientific American article (2004)
  Wednesday, September 30: Problem session notes: Mass of the Moon from its radius.
  
  Friday, October 2: Lecture 19: The Moon, Mercury, Venus.
  Friday, October 2: Problem session notes: Temperature of Earth without the greenhouse effect.
  
  
  
• Week 7: 10/5-9          Solar System III: Rocky Planets & Gas Giants [Chpt 9, 10, 11]
  Monday, October 5: Lecture 20: Mars (properties, moons, surface, internal structure, atmosphere, water).
  Monday, October 5: Problem session notes: Northern ice cap water volume on Mars.
  
  Wednesday, October 7: Lecture 21: Icy gas giants (density & gases, internal structure, atmospheres, magnetosphere).
  Wednesday, September 30: Problem session notes: Winds and surface speed of Saturn.
  
  Friday, October 9: Lecture 22: Jupiter (properties, 'vacuum cleaner', energy puzzle, moons, upcoming missions).
  Friday, October 9: Problem session notes: Angular size of Jupiter from Io.
  
  
  
• Week 8: 10/12-16      Solar System IV: Gas giants, rings, dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets [Chpt 11, 12, 13]
  Monday, October 12: Student video presentations for Interlude 1: Humanity in the Solar System
  
  Wednesday, October 14: Lecture 23: Saturn, Roche limit, Titan, Uranus, Neptune.
  Wednesday, October 14: Problem session notes: How big a telescope do you need to see Saturn's rings?
  
  Friday, October 16: Lecture 24: Pluto and dwarf planets, asteroids, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, comets.
  Friday, October 16: Problem session notes: Mass of a comet.
  
  Interlude 1 paper is due Friday, October 16.
  
  
  
• Week 9: 10/19-23      Exoplanets, Life, and the Sun [Chpt 14.4, 30.1-3, 15, 16]
  Monday, October 19: Lecture 25: 2019 Nobel prize, exoplanets, life in the Solar System (?).
  Monday, October 19: Problem session notes: Detecting human-made radiowaves from Alpha Centauri.
  
  Wednesday, October 21: Lecture 26: The Sun (visual tour, surface, internal structure, solar fusion).
  Optional: Ring of fire eclipse photo on APOD: LINK
  Optional: Ring of fire eclipse video on APOD: LINK
  Wednesday, October 21: Problem session notes: Midterm #2 study guide.
  
  Friday, October 23: Midterm #2, 9-9:50 am.
  Formula sheet for midterm #2
  
  
  
• Week 10: 10/26-30      Stars I: Sun-like stars and main sequence stars [Chpt 17, 18, 19, 22, 23]
  Monday, October 26: Lecture 27: Stellar fusion, brightness, color, luminosity.
  Monday, October 26: Problem session notes: How much power is emitted by the Sun?
  
  Problem Set 7, due Monday, November 2, 2020
  
  Wednesday, October 28: Lecture 28: Stellar statistics, luminosity vs mass, H-R diagram, stellar evolution.
  Optional: Extremely zoomable center of Milky Way galaxy (ESO, IR and near-IR): LINK
  Wednesday, October 28: Problem session notes: Mass consumption of a massive blue star.
  
  Friday, October 30: Lecture 29: Main sequence to red giant, planetary nebulae, white dwarfs.
  Optional: Zoomable Helix nebula: Hubble and Kitt Peak (Noir Lab, very high resolution)
  Optional: Zoomable Helix nebula: 2.2 m Max Planck/ESO telescope (high resolution with very high resolution background)
  Friday, October 30: Problem session notes: Luminosity of a just-born white dwarf.
  
  
  
• Week 11: 11/2-6        Stars II: Type-II Supernovae and Einstein's relativity [Chpt 22, 23, 24]
  Monday, November 2: Lecture 30: Evolution of massive stars, type-II supernovae (images and physics).
  Monday, November 2: Problem session notes: Neutrino production during the SN 1987A supernova.
  
  Problem Set 8, due Monday, November 9, 2020
  
  Wednesday, November 4: Lecture 31: Supernova remnants, neutron stars, pulsars.
  Wednesday, November 4: Problem session notes: Rotation frequency of a Sun-based white dwarf ... "neutron star."
  
  Friday, November 6: Lecture 32: Einstein, special relativity, length contraction, time dilation, general relativity.
  Optional: What if c=20 km/h ? Video simulation at captaineinstein.org, or on youtube.com
  Friday, November 6: Problem session notes: Muons from cosmic rays.
  
  
  
• Week 12: 11/9-13       Stars III: General relativity and black holes [Chpt 24]
  Monday, November 9: Student video presentations for Interlude 2: Space art
  
  Wednesday, November 11: Lecture 33: General relativity, gravitational redshift, gravitational waves, black holes.
  Wednesday, November 11: Problem session notes: How big is the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy?
  
  Friday, November 13: Review session for final exam.
  Friday, October 16: Problem session notes: Time dilation near a black hole.
  
  Interlude 2 paper is due Friday, November 13.
  
  
  
• Friday, November 20, 2020:       Final Exam, 9 am-noon, Zoom
  Formula sheet for Final Exam