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 18 Introduction    
Fri Jan 20 History of Cosmology § 1.1, 1.2  
Mon Jan 23 Heliocentric and Geocentric Cosmologies § 1.2, 1.3  
Wed Jan 25 Kepler and Planetary Orbits § 2.1 Discussion Question 1
Fri Jan 27 Newton's Laws of Motion   HW 1
Mon Jan 30 Newton's Law of Gravity    
Wed Feb 1 Light and Stars   Discussion Question 2
Fri Feb 3 Stars and our Galaxy   HW 2
Mon Feb 6 Dark Matter in our Galaxy    
Wed Feb 8 Galaxies   Discussion Question 3
Fri Feb 10 Light and Atoms   HW 3
Mon Feb 13 Life Cycles of Stars    
Wed Feb 15 Hot Gas as Dark Matter   Discussion Question 4
Fri Feb 17 Star Birth and Evolution   HW 4
Mon Feb 20 The Sun's Interior and Solar Neutrinos    
Wed Feb 22 Life Cycles of Stars    
Fri Feb 24 Midterm Exam
Mon Feb 27 Supernovae    
Wed Mar 1 Special Relativity: Theory   Discussion Question 5
Fri Mar 3 Special Relativity: Tests and Evidence   HW 5
Mon Mar 6 The Equivalence Principle    
Wed Mar 8 General Relativity: Tests and Evidence   Discussion Question 6
Fri Mar 10 Gravitational Lensing and Dark Matter   Paper Topic and Outline Due
Mar 13-17 No class meeting--Spring Break
Mon Mar 20 Black Holes: Theory    
Wed Mar 22 Black Holes Observed   Discussion Question 7
Fri Mar 24 Gravitational Radiation   HW 6
Mon Mar 27 No Class Meeting    
Wed Mar 29 Cosmic Expansion   Discussion Question 8
Fri Mar 31 Cosmodynamics   HW 7
Mon Apr 3 Cosmic Acceleration    
Wed Apr 5 The Meaning of Acceleration   Discussion Question 9
Fri Apr 7 Dark Energy   HW 8
Mon Apr 10 Cosmic Microwave Background    
Wed Apr 12 The Cosmic Microwave Background   Discussion Question 10
Fri Apr 14 CMB: Cosmic Geometry and the Seeds of Structure   HW 9
Mon Apr 17 Primordial Nucleosynthesis    
Wed Apr 19 Primordial Nucleosynthesis   Discussion Question 11
Fri Apr 21 Antimatter and Particle Dark Matter    
Mon Apr 24 Student Presentations   Presentation Due
Wed Apr 26 Student Presentations   Presentation Due
Fri Apr 28 Student Presentations   Presentation Due
Mon May 1 Student Presentations   Presentation Due
Wed May 3 Finale    
1:30-4:30 p.m., Friday, May 12 FINAL EXAM
Last modified: Mon Oct 29 09:58:23 CDT 2012