Instructor's Notes
Complete Notes [pdf]
- Introductory Remarks & Positional Astronomy [pdf]
- The Celestial Sphere and the Horizon Coordinate System2
- The Equatorial Coordinate System4
- The Ecliptic System and Annual Motion of the Sun [pdf]7
- Coordinate Conversions11
- Precession, Aberration, and Refraction [pdf] - revised14
- Parallax and Stellar Distances [pdf]18
- Properties of Electromagnetic Radiation [pdf] - revised
- Light as Waves and as Photons21
- Blackbody Radiation24
- Basic Quantities of Radiation [pdf]28
- Photometry: Measuring Stellar Brightness [pdf]
- Luminosity, Distance, and Flux35
- The Magnitude Scale36
- Absolute Magnitude and Distance Modulus38
- Photometric Bands and Color Indices39
- Bolometric Corrections43
- Effects of the Earth's Atmosphere [pdf]
- Photometric Extinction Corrections45
- The Diffraction Limit and Atmospheric "Seeing" [pdf]49
- Atmospheric Absorption and Transmission52
- Atmospheric Skyglow and Emission [pdf]55
- Observational Tools and Techniques [pdf]
- Ingredients of an Astronomical Observation59
- Instruments and Techniques61
- Astronomical Detectors 64
- Spectroscopy and Stellar Spectra [pdf]
- Types of Spectra: Kirchhoff's Laws67
- Stellar Spectral Types69
- Atomic Energy Levels and the Formation of Spectral Lines [pdf]73
- The Bohr Atom75
- The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram [pdf]
- The Color-Magnitude Diagram77
- Main Sequence Stars and the Mass-Luminosity Relation79
- Luminosity Class, Surface Gravity, and Spectroscopic Parallax [pdf]82
- The Uses of Cluster HR Diagrams84
- Interpreting Stellar Spectra [pdf]
- Excitation Equilibrium: The Boltzmann Equation85
- Ionization Equilibrium: The Saha Equation [pdf]89
- The Uses of High-Resolution Spectroscopy92
- Absorption Line Profiles [pdf]95
- Equivalent Width and the Curve of Growth98
- Element Abundances - revised102
- The Interstellar Medium and Gaseous Nebulae [pdf]
- Properties and Types of Interstellar Matter105
- Physical Parameters of the ISM: Thermal Description107
- Emission Nebulae and their Spectra110
- Stellar Motions and Orbits [pdf]
- Proper Motion and Transverse Velocity113
- Moving Clusters, Solar Motion and Statistical Parallax114
- Kepler's Laws of Orbital Motion [pdf]117
- Stellar Masses from Orbits: Newton's Form of Kepler's Third Law118
- The Elements of Elliptical Orbits120
- Binary Stars [pdf]
- Visual (Astrometric) Binaries122
- Spectroscopic Binaries125
- Eclipsing Binaries [pdf]128
- Recap: Stellar Masses From Binaries130
- Stellar Evolution [pdf]
- Principles and Dichotomies132
- Pre-Main Sequence Evolution [pdf]135
- Brown Dwarfs: Substellar Objects [pdf]138
- Post-Main Sequence Evolution of Low-Mass Stars [pdf]142
- Post-Main Sequence Evolution of High-Mass Stars [pdf]147