Steinn Sigurðsson - Astronomy 475(W) Fall 2011

E-mail me - steinn@astro.psu.edu if you have any difficulty reading or downloading pages

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Syllabus and Basic Information:

• Syllabus
• Ancillary information - rules etc
• A LaTeX primer
• The Astrophysical Data System is a free, searchable on-line database of all the major journals in asttronomy and astrophysics.
• arXiv - preprint database
  These are very useful for tracking down references and copies of papers, though going to the library is also recommended!

  Other useful resource:

• Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ARAA).
  These are blue books with black markings on the spine.
  A reference set (do NOT remove) is in the 5th floor reading room.
  A good way to get started is to browse through the index of the last few volumes of ARAA and see if there is a review on the subject of your paper. If there is, you have found a very good (if lengthy) starting point!
  

Schedule - only partially in place yet.
Lecture notes are not yet online
Caveat: - class topic sequence may be extended, folded, cut or expanded at my discretion without notice - it will hopefully have converged on the basic sequence by mid Sept.

Tentative Outline of course - LINKS WILL BE ADDES AS WE GO ALONG

Class	Date	Topic	Class	Date	Topic	Class	Date	Topic
1	22 Aug	Organization Homework 1	2	24 Aug	Introduction - M vs m, review	3	26 Aug	Introduction - Stellar Populations
4	29 Aug	IMF	5	31 Aug	Star Formation and Binaries - DROP DAY	6	02 Sep	Forming Binaries - Homework 1 due
7	05 Sep	NO CLASS - Homework 2	8	07 Sep	Star Forming Associations	9	09 Sep	Open and Globular Clusters
10	12 Sep	Potential	11	14 Sep	Distribution Functions	12	16 Sep	Moments of the df - Homework 2 due
13	19 Sep	Collisionless Boltzmann Equation - Homework 3	14	21 Sep	Solutions to the CBE	15	23 Sep	Fokker-Planck Equation - Paper I Outline due
16	26 Sep	Integrals of Motion	17	28 Sep	Collisions	18	30 Sep	Relaxation and Catastrophe - Homework 3 due
19	03 Oct	Milky Way Local and Overview - Homework 4	20	05 Oct	Galactic Centre	21	07 Oct	More Galactic Centre - Paper I due
22	10 Oct	Local Group	23	12 Oct	Normal Galaxies	24	14 Oct	More Galaxies - Homework 4 due
25	17 Oct	Star Formation - Homework 5	26	19 Oct	Disk-Halo Conspiracy	27	21 Oct	Dark Matter
28	24 Oct	More Dark Matter	29	26 Oct	Disk Stability	30	28 Oct	Q - Homework 5 due
31	31 Oct	Oral Presentations I - Homework 6	32	02 Nov	Oral Presentations II	33	04 Nov	Oral Presentations III - Paper II Outline due
34	07 Nov	Oral Presentations IV	35	09 Nov	Oral Presentations V	36	11 Nov	Correlations - LATE DROP - Homework 6 due
37	14 Nov	Galaxy Interactions - Homework 7	38	16 Nov	Black Holes in Galaxies	39	18 Nov	Black Hole Conspiracies - Paper II due
40	21 Nov	NO CLASS	41	23 Nov	NO CLASS	42	25 Nov	NO CLASS
43	28 Nov	Intermediate Mass Black Holes - Homework 7 due - Homework 8	44	30 Nov	Galaxy Evolution	45	02 Dec	Topics - Between Galaxies - Final Paper Outline due
46	05 Dec	Topics - Population III	47	07 Dec	Topics - Peculiar GC populations	48	09 Dec	LAST CLASS - Topics Gone Wild - Homework 8 due
49	14 Dec	NO CLASS - FINAL PAPER DUE	50	16 Dec	NO CLASS	51	18 Dec	NO CLASS

Some relevant links - THESE ARE DATED BUT WILL BE UPDATED REAL SOON NOW... ;-)

• Office of Space Science - Missions
• ESA science missions
• Penn State Astronomy
• Bad Astronomy
• AstroWeb
• Space Telescope
• Picture of the Day
• Picture of the Day - Index
• Astronomy Cafe
• Ask an Astronomer
• Hubble Space Telescope - Heritage
• Astropix.com

Specific info

• The Sun live - SOHO images
• Virtual Tour of the Sun
• Bahcall's Standard Solar Model
• The sky at different wavelengths
• Deep Sky photos of stars
• Hipparcos
• Princeton Pulsar Page
• Jodrell Bank Pulsars
• Galaxy Pictures
• Bill Keel's Mosaic of Galaxies

This class follows the departmental academic integrity policy as described here in the dept web pages

This class follows the current Penn State policy on dealing with H1N1 influenza cases, as needed.

Last updated 08/11

If you find an error or an unreadable link on this page, then E-Mail me!

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