Assignments as of Friday, August 22
This page contains the homework assignments that
we assign for Astrophysics during the semester (and their solutions).
Note: In order to read these assignments and the solutions,
you will need to obtain Adobe
Acrobat Reader (click here) if you don't already have it installed.
Current Assignments: This table only list assignments that were current as of Friday, August 22 at 09:43 AM.
Late Assignments: Assignments that are past due in this table are noted by a orange background. With the exception of the first homework, each school day an assignment is late, 20% will be deducted off the score.
| Problem
Set 1 [SOLUTIONS] (Due Fri., Sept. 7 at 4pm) |
This assignment deals with various planetary motion problems exploiting the properties of ellipses, Kepler's Laws, and Newton's Gravitation. |
| Problem Set 2 [SOLUTIONS] (Due Fri., Sept. 14 at 4pm) |
This assignment deals with applications of Kepler's Laws, Tidal Forces, and Hydrostatic Equilibrium. |
| Journal Reading: “On the Masses of Nebulae and of
Clusters of Nebulae” (Due Thu.. Sept. 20 in class) |
Please download “On the Masses of Nebulae and of Clusters of Nebulae” (Zwicky, F. 1937, Astrophysical Journal, 86, 217) from the electronics handouts page on our course website. The article discusses various methods used by Fritz Zwicky to determine the masses of individual galaxies and clusters of galaxies (referred to at the time as “nebulae”) . This paper saw the application of the virial theorem to the problem. It is a longish paper (29 pages), so I don’t expect you to learn all the material in it in one pass, but pay attemtion especially to the sections on the application of the viral theorem to the problem and the results. Come in with a write up of 2 questions and your best attempt at answers based on the paper. |
| Problem Set 3 [SOLUTIONS] (Due Wed., Sept. 26 at 4pm) |
This assignment deals with applications of tidal forces, basic electromagnetic radiation concepts, and magnitudes. You will also need the "magnitudes" handout. |
| Problem Set 4 [SOLUTIONS] (Due Friday, Oct. 5 at 4pm) |
This assignment will deal with the physics of light's interactions with matter, notably spectral line formation. |
| Journal Reading: “On the Probable Existence of a
Magnetic Field in Sun-spots” (Due Tues., Oct. 9 in class) |
Please download “On the Probable Existence of a Magnetic Field in Sun-spots” (Hale, G.E 1908, Astrophysical Journal, 28, 315) from the electronic handouts page on our course website. In this article, probably the oldest we will read, George Hale, a giant in early 20th Century astronomy, outlines what he believes is evidence for a magnetic field on the Sun. This paper involves a through analysis of the Sun’s spectra. It is a longish paper (28 pages), so again, I don’t expect you to learn all the material in it in one pass, but pay attention especially to his discussion of the observations made. Come in with a write up of 2 questions Hale has answered and your best attempt to understand his answers based on the paper. |
| Problem
Set 5 [SOLUTIONS] (Due Fri., Oct. 26 at 4pm) |
This problem set will include a radiative transfer problem and then some problems dealing with telescopes and detectors. |
| Problem
Set 6 [SOLUTIONS] (Due Mon., Nov. 5 at 4pm) |
This problem set includes some questions drawn from the topics of angular resolution (which a few of you had trouble with before), color indices, and the orbits of binary stars. |
| Journal Reading: “Measurement of the Diameter of
Alpha Orionis with the Interferometer” (Due Thurs., Nov. 8 in class) |
Please download “Measurement of the Diameter of Alpha Orionis with the Interferometer” (Michelson, A.A. and Pease, F.G. 1921, Astrophysical Journal, 53, 249) from the electronic handouts page on our course website. In this article, Michelson measures the diameter of Betelguese using an interferometer of his own design, something that hadn't been done before and wasn't pulled off by anyone else for over 20 years. This is a relatively short paper (11 pages), but again, my goal is not for you to memorize the paper, but for you to pay attention to how Michelson and Pease pulled off the measurement of the diameter of a star. Come in with a write up of 2 questions Michelson and Pease answered and your best attempt to understand their answers based on the paper. |
| Problem
Set 7 [SOLUTIONS] (Due Tues., Nov. 13, |
This problem set includes some questions about the mass-luminosity relationship for main sequence stars, the H-R diagram, and spectral classification. It's 16 pages long, but 12 pages are spectra. I highly recommend you print it out single-sided to make the spectra easier to work with. Typos!
|
| Problem
Set 8 [SOLUTIONS] (Due Fri., Nov. 16 at 4pm) Typo Alert: There was a typo in question 2b. It should read "A = m csc(b)" not "A = m/csc(b)". This has been fixed as of 5:09pm Tuesday, Nov. 13. |
This short problem set just covers some Milky Way problems before the 2nd Mid-Term next Tues., Nov. 20. |
Problem
Set 9 [SOLUTIONS] |
This problem set will review the physics of star formation and stellar models. |
Problem Set 10 [SOLUTIONS] |
This problem set has some final stellar structure questions and then contains questions related to the end states of stars. |
| Journal Reading: "The Velocity-distance Relation for
Isolated Extragalactic Nebulae" (Due Tues, Dec. 11, in class) |
Please download “The Velocity-distance Relation for Isolated Extragalactic Nebulae” (Hubble, E. and Humason, M.L. 1934, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 5, 264) from the electronics handouts page on our course website. This short 5 page article provides a summary of Hubble and Humason's investigation of the relationship between observed redshift and distance for galaxies. The actual seminal paper was published in 1931, but this paper is a much shorter summary of the results, so we will read it instead. While not directly related with much of the material in this class thus far, this is one of the seminal discoveries in 20th century astrophysics. Come in with a write up of 2 questions you believe this paper tried to answer and your best attempt at answers based on the paper. |