Astronomy 350CH: Spring 2022

Course Schedule and Readings

The webpages for all class meetings will be stored here; each page includes the lecture notes for that class. You are encouraged to come here to review the topics covered, the images shown, and to follow the links to further information.

Readings are sections (§) from from the course text, Perlov and Vilenkin, Cosmology for the Curious (2017), Springer

Date Topic Reading Assignment Due
Wed Jan 19 Introduction    
Fri Jan 21 History of Cosmology § 1.1, 1.2  
Mon Jan 24 Heliocentric and Geocentric Cosmologies § 1.2, 1.3  
Wed Jan 26 Kepler and Planetary Orbits § 2.1 Discussion Question 1
Fri Jan 28 Newton's Laws of Motion   HW 1
Mon Jan 31 Newton's Law of Gravity    
Wed Feb 2 Light and Stars   Discussion Question 2
Fri Feb 4 Stars and our Galaxy   HW 2
Mon Feb 7 Dark Matter in our Galaxy    
Wed Feb 9 Galaxies   Discussion Question 3
Fri Feb 11 Light and Atoms   HW 3
Mon Feb 14 Life Cycles of Stars    
Wed Feb 16 Hot Gas as Dark Matter   Discussion Question 4
Fri Feb 18 Star Birth and Evolution   HW 4
Mon Feb 21 The Sun's Interior and Solar Neutrinos    
Wed Feb 23 Life Cycles of Stars    
Fri Feb 25 Midterm Exam
Mon Feb 28 Supernovae    
Wed Mar 2 Special Relativity: Theory   Discussion Question 5
Fri Mar 4 Special Relativity: Tests and Evidence   HW 5
Mon Mar 7 The Equivalence Principle    
Wed Mar 9 General Relativity: Tests and Evidence   Discussion Question 6
Fri Mar 11 Gravitational Lensing and Dark Matter   Paper Topic and Outline Due
Mar 14-18 No class meeting--Spring Break
Mon Mar 21 Black Holes: Theory    
Wed Mar 23 Black Holes Observed   Discussion Question 7
Fri Mar 25 Gravitational Radiation   HW 6
Mon Mar 28 The Cosmological Principle and Hubble's Law    
Wed Mar 30 Cosmic Expansion   Discussion Question 8
Fri Apr 1 Cosmodynamics   HW 7
Mon Apr 4 Cosmic Acceleration    
Wed Apr 6 The Meaning of Acceleration   Discussion Question 9
Fri Apr 8 Dark Energy   HW 8
Mon Apr 11 Cosmic Microwave Background    
Wed Apr 13 The Cosmic Microwave Background   Discussion Question 10
Fri Apr 15 CMB: Cosmic Geometry and the Seeds of Structure   HW 9
Mon Apr 18 Primordial Nucleosynthesis    
Wed Apr 20 Primordial Nucleosynthesis   Discussion Question 11
Fri Apr 22 Antimatter and Particle Dark Matter    
Mon Apr 25 Student Presentations   Presentation Due
Wed Apr 27 Student Presentations   Presentation Due
Fri Apr 30 Student Presentations   Presentation Due
Mon May 2 Student Presentations   Presentation Due
Wed May 4 Finale    
1:30-4:30 p.m., Monday, May 9 FINAL EXAM
Brian D. Fields
Last modified: Mon Oct 29 09:58:23 CDT 2012