Instructor's Notes
- Introductory Remarks & Positional Astronomy [pdf]
- The Celestial Sphere and the Horizon Coordinate System
- The Equatorial Coordinate System
- The Ecliptic System and Annual Motion of the Sun [pdf]
- Conversion of Coordinates
- Precession, Aberration, and Refraction [pdf]
- Parallax and Stellar Distances
- Properties of Electromagnetic Radiation [pdf]
- Light as Waves and as Photons
- Basic Quantities of Radiation [pdf]
- Blackbody Radiation [pdf]
- Photometry: Measuring Stellar Brightness [pdf]
- Luminosity, Distance, and Flux
- The Magnitude Scale
- Absolute Magnitude and the Distance Modulus Law
- Photometric Bands and Colors [pdf]
- Bolometric Corrections
- Effects of the Earth's Atmosphere
- Photometric Extinction Corrections [pdf]
- The Diffraction Limit and Atmospheric "Seeing" [pdf]
- Atmospheric Absorption and Transmission [pdf]
- Atmospheric Skyglow and Emission
- Observational Tools and Techniques [pdf]
- Ingredients of an Astronomical Observation
- Instruments and Techniques
- Astronomical Detectors
- Spectroscopy and Stellar Spectra [pdf]
- Types of Spectra: Kirchhoff's Laws
- Stellar Spectral Types
- Atomic Energy Levels and the Formation of Spectral Lines [pdf]
- The Bohr Atom
- Interpreting Stellar Spectra [pdf]
- Excitation and Ionization Equilibrium: Boltzman and Saha Equations
- The Uses of High-Resolution Spectroscopy [pdf]
- Line Profiles [pdf]
- Equivalent Width and the Curve of Growth [pdf]
- Element Abundances [pdf]
- The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram [pdf] (preliminary)
- The Color-Magnitude Diagram
- Main Sequence Stars and the Mass-Luminosity Relation
- Luminosity Class, Surface Gravity, and Spectroscopic Parallax [pdf] (preliminary)
- The Uses of Cluster HR Diagrams
- Stellar Motions and Orbits
- Proper Motion and Transverse Velocity [pdf]
- Moving Clusters, Solar Motion and Statistical Parallax
- Kepler's Laws of Orbital Motion [pdf]
- Newton's Form of Kepler's Third Law
- The Elements of Elliptical Orbits
- Binary Stars [pdf]
- Visual (Astrometric) Binaries
- Spectroscopic Binaries
- Eclipsing Binaries [pdf]
- Recap: Stellar Masses from Binaries
- Stellar Evolution [pdf]
- Principles and Dichotomies
- Pre-Main Sequence Evolution [pdf]
- Brown Dwarfs: Substellar Objects [pdf]