Astron 211: Principles of Astronomy

Fall 2017, David Kaplan

Lectures: MW 9:30am-10:45am, KEN 1130. Attendance and participation at lectures is required.

Lecturer: Prof. David Kaplan

Office: KEN 4075
Office hours: Tuesday 11am-12pm, Friday 10:15am-11am, or by arrangement (please stop by or email)
Email: kaplan@uwm.edu
Phone: 414-229-4971

Course Description: This is a general course intended to introduce quantitative astronomy and astrophysics to students with a physical-sciences background. A background in calculus-based physics is required. This semester introduces basic concepts in astronomy and astrophysics including:

Celestial mechanics
The nature of light and its interaction with matter
Telescopes
The structure and evolution of single stars
The evolution of binary stars
The end-products of stellar evolution
The Solar System
Extra-solar planets
Galaxies & quasars
Expansion of the universe & dark matter
The big bang

Course Website: http://www.gravity.phys.uwm.edu/~kaplan/astron211/ (this page)
Lecture notes, reading assignments, and problem sets will be posted there.
Quizzes will be done through Desire2Learn (http://d2l.uwm.edu)

Course Textbook:
Astronomy: A Physical Perspective (2nd edition), M. Kutner, Cambridge University Press

Evaluation:

Problem sets (weekly): 50%; grade will be best 10 of 11 problem sets
Weekly D2L quizzes: 5%
Weekly in-class problems: 5%
Midterm exam: 20%
Final exam (Tuesday, Dec 19 10am-12pm): 20%
You are encouraged to discuss the problem sets with each other but are not allowed to copy each other.
The mid-term will be an in-class, exam of 1 hour duration (only calculator allowed).
The final exam will be an in-class exam of 2 hours duration (only calculator allowed).

Prerequisites: basic physics (algebra-based). Students should have completed Physics 120 (or 209), or have consent of the instructor. Math placement level B is required; knowledge of algebra, basic geometry, and basic trigonometry is assumed.

News:

Handouts:

Syllabus (Aug 28, 2017)
Lecture Notes (Updated Dec 12, 2017)
Useful Constants (Aug 28, 2017)
Useful Formulas (Aug 28, 2017)
Midterm Review (Oct 16, 2017)
Interstellar Medium notes (Nov 1, 2017)
Star formation pictures (Nov 6, 2017)
Star formation lecture (Nov 6, 2017)
Solar System notes (Nov 8, 2017)

In-class Order of Magnitude Problems:

OOM1 (Sep 6, 2017)
OOM2 (Sep 13, 2015)
OOM3 (Sep 20, 2017)
OOM4 (Sep 27, 2017)
OOM5 (Oct 4, 2017)
OOM6 (Oct 11, 2017)
OOM7 (Nov 8, 2017)
OOM8 (Nov 15, 2017)
OOM9 (Nov 29, 2017)

Problem Sets:

PS1 (Sep 6, 2017; due Sep 13, 2017)
PS2 (Sep 13, 2017; due Sep 20, 2017)
PS3 (Sep 20, 2017; due Sep 27, 2017)
PS4 (Sep 27, 2017; due Oct 4, 2017)
PS5 (Oct 4, 2017; due Oct 11, 2017)
PS6 (Oct 25, 2017; due Nov 1, 2017)
PS7 (Nov 1, 2017; due Nov 8, 2017)
PS8 (Nov 8, 2017; due Nov 15, 2017)
PS9 (Nov 15, 2017; due Nov 22, 2017)
PS10 (Nov 29, 2017; due Dec 6, 2017)
PS11 (Dec 6, 2017; due Dec 13, 2017)

Links: