Course Description
Instructor: |
Dr. Juan Cabanela | |
Office: |
Hagen Hall 307B (218-447-2453) | |
Research Lab: |
Hagen Hall 302 (218-477-2458) | |
Email: |
||
IM: |
AstroJuanCab (AIM) (MSN) Cabanela (Yahoo! IM) |
|
Office Hours: |
See my office door or my website for my schedule. | |
Homepage: |
http://astrophys410.cabanela.com/ | |
Lecture Period: |
Tuesday and Thursday, 9:00 am - 10:15 am | |
Materials Required or Suggested:
- Access to the Internet, since all course materials that would traditionally be “handouts” will be posted online (see us if this is an issue).
- Ryden and Peterson, Foundations of Astrophysics. This title is new and has a suggested retail price of $137.33. The ISBN is 0-321-59558-4 and I have seen it for sale online on Amazon.com for considerably less than $137.33.
- [Optional, but useful] Maple 12: A Symbolic Mathematics computer package for Mac/Windows/Linux. It is available as a free download online to MSUM students.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course you should be able to:
- Understand some of the terminology unique to astronomy.
- Apply Newton's Theory of Gravity and Kepler's Laws to interactions between astronomical objects.
- Use an understanding of light and its interactions with matter in order to analyze astronomical data including optical and non-optical imaging and basic spectroscopy.
- Explain the basic physical properties of stars and how we have determined them.
- Explain our theoretical understanding of stellar interiors, specifically hydrostatic equilibrium, as well as applying that understanding to other astronomical situations, such as planetary atmospheres.
- Be comfortable reading journal articles and trying to extract information from them.