| Week | Date | Assignment | Reading | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R Aug 27 | I. Our View of the Universe Charting the sky | |||
| 1 | T Sep 01 | Ch 1 | Ancient astronomy | |
| R Sep 03 | Ch 2.2-2.3 | Historical astronomy | ||
| 2 | T Sep 08 | Essay #1 due | Ch 2.4-2.5 | Birth of modern astronomy |
| R Sep 10 | Ch 2.6-2.8 | Copernicus to Newton | ||
| 3 | T Sep 15 | Essay #2 due | Ch 3.1-3.3 | II. How Astronomers
Explore the Universe Astronomical images |
| R Sep 17 | Ch 3.4-3.5 | Electromagnetic spectrum and how celestial bodies radiate | ||
| 4 | T Sep 22 | Paper #1 due | Ch 4 | Astronomical spectral lines |
| R Sep 24 | Ch 5.1-5.4 | Telescopes; diffraction limit; seeing | ||
| 5 | T Sep 29 | Essay #3 due | Ch 5.5-5.8 | Multiwavelength astronomy |
| R Oct 01 | Ch 16 | III. Life and Death of Stars: Do Black Holes Exist? Properties and structure of the Sun | ||
| 6 | T Oct 06 | Paper #2 due | Ch 17 | The Sun as a star; the H-R diagram |
| R Oct 08 | Ch 19,20 | Star formation; evolution of low mass stars | ||
| 7 | T Oct 13 | FALL | BREAK | |
| R Oct 15 | Ch 21 | Evolution of high mass stars, supernovae and nucleosynthesis | ||
| 8 | T Oct 20 | Paper #2rev due | Ch 22 | White dwarfs, neutron stars and stellar black holes |
| R Oct 22 | Relativity; spacetime around blackholes | |||
| 9 | T Oct 27 | Essay #4 due | Ch 23.7 | Sgr A*: a supermassive black hole |
| R Oct 29 | Ch 23 | IV. The Universe at Large The Milky Way as a galaxy | ||
| 10 | T Nov 03 | 30 min test | Ch 18 | Life Elsewhere |
| R Nov 05 | Ch 24.2-24.3,26.2 | Expansion of the universe, distances, redshifts | ||
| 11 | T Nov 10 | Paper #3 due | Ch 24.1 | Morphology; spiral structure |
| R Nov 13 | Ch 24-4-24.5, 25.2-25.3 | Galaxy evolution and interactions | ||
| 12 | T Nov 17 | Essay #5 due | Ch 26 | History of the universe overview |
| R Nov 19 | Ch 27 | Evidence for the Big Bang | ||
| 13 | T Nov 24 | Essay #6 due | Evidence for dark matter | |
| R Nov 26 | THANKSGIVING | BREAK | ||
| 14 | T Dec 01 | Evidence for acceleration and dark energy | ||
| R Dec 03 | Open Questions in Cosmology | |||
A final paper will be due NOT LATER THAN 2 pm on Wednesday December 16. There will be no final exam.