Astr 102: Introduction to Astronomy

Tuesday/Thursday 9:30 – 10:50 am, ARC 160
Instructor: Željko Ivezić
Teaching assistant: Sarah Loebman

Class Materials

• Class syllabus.
• Sarah's section syllabus.
• Practice final exam.

Lecture Notes

• Lecture 1: Introduction, gravity.
• Lecture 2: Atoms and matter.
• Lecture 3: Thermal radiation.
• Lecture 4: The electromagnetic spectrum.
• Lecture 5: Measuring distances in astronomy.
• Lecture 6: Basic properties of stars.
• Lecture 7: Spectral classification of stars, the Sun.
• Lecture 8: Stellar birth and evolution.
• Lecture 9: Stellar evolution and death.
• Lecture 10: Introduction to galaxies.
• Lecture 11: Lives of galaxies.
• Lecture 12: Quasars and active galactic nuclei.
• Lecture 13: Our galaxy, the Milky Way.
• Lecture 14: Expansion of the Universe.
• Lecture 15: Observational cosmology.
• Lecture 16: Cosmic microwave background and other evidence for the Big Bang.
• Lecture 17: Dark matter, dark energy and cosmological models.
• Lecture 18: The early Universe and inflation.
• Lecture 19: Life in the Universe: are we alone?

Help on printing lectures with 4 pages on each printout page.

Related Links and Materials

Popular Astronomy Publications

• Space.com.
• Sky & Telescope.

Images

• Hubble Heritage Image Gallery.
• Astronomy Picture of the Day.
• Best of the Hubble Space Telescope.
• Real-time updates for the Sun from the satellite SOHO.
• Jupiter and its satellite Io—a truly spectacular image obtained by the spacecraft Galileo.

Astronomical Data

• Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)—optical images and spectra.
• 2MASS—near-Infrared images.
• NASA Extragalactic Database (NED)—find information on any galaxy, quasar, or cluster.
• Astronomical Data Center—lots of catalogs of astronomical data.
• High-Energy Data—X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and UV data from satellites.
• Spectra of Stars—downloadable spectra of different stellar types.
• SIMBAD—find information on any star, globular cluster, etc. (i.e. like NED, but closer).

Professional Articles

• Astronomical Abstract Service (ADS).
• New astronomy articles (astro-ph preprint server).

Other Links

• Ned Wright's Cosmology Tutorial—an excellent website to learn more cosmology.
• Books on relativity and black holes.
• Simulations of galaxy encounters.
• The difference between astronomy and astrology.
• Space coloring book for children (and others).