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PROFESSOR
Gregory Shields
Office: R.L. Moore 15.224
Phone: 471-1402
Office Hours (subject to change): MF 1:30-3, or by appointment.
shields@astro.as.utexas.edu
Homepage
TEACHING ASSISTANT
TBA
Office:
Phone:
E-mail:
Office Hours (subject to change):
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is an introduction to stellar
astrophysics and some other topics of modern astrophysics. The
core subject is the structure and evolution of stars, including
the relevant physics. This includes absorption and emission of
radiation by atoms, radiative transfer, hydrostatic equilibrium,
and nuclear energy production. Other topics may include black
holes, active galactic nuclei, and other high energy phenomena,
to be determined by available time and class preferences. This
course is intended for astronomy majors and other science and
engineering majors with some background in undergraduate math
and physics, including mechanics, electricity and magnetism,
differential and integral calculus, and vector calculus.
Prerequisite
Physics 316 and 116L (Electricity and Magnetism)
TEXTBOOK
An Introduction to Modern Stellar Astrophysics
by Dale Ostlie & Bradley Carroll, Addison Wesley (1996),
ISBN 0-201-59880-9. We will omit some chapters that are less
relevant.
GRADING
Course grade will be based on two exams in class, project, and homework. Exams will be closed book involving numerical problems and essay questions. Exams will cover lectures, assigned reading, and homework. Exam weights and tentative dates are:
| First exam |
Date TBA |
20% |
| Second Exam |
Date TBA |
30% |
| Individual or group project |
nature of projects to be discussed in class |
20% |
| Homework |
based on grading of one or more selected problems from each homework set. |
30% |
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Astronomy Department Policies
See "Memo
to Undergraduate Astronomy Students Regarding Astronomy Courses".
Star Parties
The Department has observing sessions Wednesday
evenings on the roof of RLM and Friday and Saturday at Painter
Hall (http://outreach.as.utexas.edu/public).
You can use the 9-inch yourself if you are checked out on it.
McDonald Observatory in west Texas also has public programs (http://www.stardate.org/;
phone 471-5285).
About the Instructor
Professor Shields was born in Los
Angeles, California and grew up in Nebraska and Kansas. He earned
a B.S. in Physics from Stanford University in 1968 and a Ph.D.
in Astronomy at Caltech in 1973. Following a postdoctoral fellowship
at Harvard, he joined the UT faculty in 1974. He now holds the
title of The Jane and Roland Blumberg Centennial Professor in
Astronomy, and served as Chairman of the Department of Astronomy
from 1990 to 1994. He has taught both graduate and undergraduate
courses throughout his career at UT. His research interests include
theoretical studies of ionized nebulae in galaxies and the nature
of quasars. He has published numerous research papers and several
popular articles in various areas of astronomy. Prof. Shields
is currently serving as Assistant Chairman of the Department
of Astronomy.
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