ASTRONOMY 422
Concepts of Astrophysics II

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Astronomy 422 (Spring 2009) is intended for advanced (senior level) undergraduates, and is also counted as an elective for graduate students. This course covers galaxies and the Universe, starting off with the interstellar medium. We will then discuss the structure of the Milky Way and other galaxies, galaxy evolution, to end with the large scale structure of the Universe. The last part of the course will concentrate on cosmology, and the early Universe.

Instructor:	Prof. Y. Pihlström, phone 277-4492, email ylva@unm.edu
TA:	Tiffany Hayes, thayes77@unm.edu
Time and place:	Tu/Th 8:00 AM-9:15 AM Room 184, Physics & Astronomy Building
Textbook:	An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, B.W. Carroll & D.A. Ostlie, 2nd Edition.
Prerequisites:	Physics 330 or 491,492 or their equivalent, and Astro 421.
Exams and Grades:	Your final grade will be determined through three sectional exams (each 20% of the grade), six sets of homework (20%) and a term paper (20%). There will be no final exam.

Some useful links:
Science Daily's website for astronomy news
Search engines for articles: ADS database,   Astro-ph
Example of term paper outline. The outline will of course be different depending on your topic, but by writing an outline we will be able to make sure that you work on the relevant parts from the beginning.

Lecture schedule - updated 1/16/09

Date	Topic	Chapter
Tu Jan 20	The Interstellar Medium: ISM phases, neutral hydrogen	12.1
Th Jan 22	The ISM: WIM, dispersion measures, HII regions	12.1 and add. mtrl.
Tu Jan 27	The ISM: HIM, cosmic rays, synchrotron radiation	15.5 and add. mtrl.
Th Jan 29	The ISM: molecular clouds, H2, interstellar chemistry, IMF	12.1-12.3
Tu Feb 3	The Milky Way: morphology, ISM distribution	24.1-24.2
Th Feb 5	The Milky Way: kinematics Term paper topics due Homework 1 due	24.3
Tu Feb 10	The Milky Way: the Galactic Center	24.4
Th Feb 12	Galaxies: the Hubble sequence, galaxy types Homework 2 due	25.1
Tu Feb 17	Exam 1	12, 15.5, 24
Th Feb 19	Galaxies: spiral galaxies, rotation curves	25.2
Tu Feb 24	Galaxies: spiral structure	25.3
Th Feb 26	Galaxies: ellipticals, galaxy overview	25.4
Tu Mar 3	Galactic Evolution: galaxy interactions	26.1
Th Mar 5	Galactic Evolution: formation of disks and ellipticals Homework 3 due	26.2
Tu Mar 10	Structure of the Universe: extragalactic distance scale Term paper outline due	27.1
Th Mar 12	Expansion of the Universe: Hubble's law, large scale structure Homework 4 due	27.2-27.3
Tu Mar 17	Spring break
Th Mar 19	Spring break
Tu Mar 24	Exam 2	25, 26, 27
Th Mar 26	Active Galaxies: types, evolution	28.1
Tu Mar 31	Active Galaxies: unified model, gravitational lensing	28.2-28.4
Th Apr 2	Cosmology: Newtonian cosmology	29.1
Tu Apr 7	Cosmology: The CMB, Big Bang nucleosynthesis	29.2
Th Apr 9	Cosmology: Relativistic cosmology, dark energy Homework 5 due	29.3
Tu Apr 14	Cosmology: observational cosmology	29.4
Th Apr 16	The Early Universe: inflation, hot and cold dark matter Homework 6 due	30.1
Tu Apr 21	The Early Universe: origin of structure	30.2
Th Apr 23	Exam 3	28, 29, 30
Tu Apr 28	Term paper presentations Term papers due
Th Apr 30	Term paper presentations
Tu May 5	Term paper presentations
Th May 7	Term paper presentations