Introduction to Modern Astrophysics

This course discusses topics of current interest in astronomy, including the formation of the planets and the solar system, properties and evolution of stars, peculiar stars such as black holes and neutron stars, characteristics of the Milky Way Galaxy, active and normal galaxies, distance determinations to galaxies, cosmological principles, the size and age of the Universe, and the large telescope and satellite observatories. A basic high school algebra and trigonometry background is recommended to fully appreciate the subject. No prerequisites. Every year. (4 credits)

Fall 2006 semester

Observatory Open Nights and Tutoring

The Observatory will be open on CLEAR Thursday nights from 8-10pm. Make sure you sign in to receive credit for visiting the Observatory! The public night coodinator is Aradan Thompson athompson@macalester.edu.

Some helpful webtools for visualization:

Part I: Solar System

• Examine Retrograde Motion
• Visualize Kepler's Laws
• Animations to help show Mars retrograde motion, phases of the Moon, comet tail orientation, and more

Part II: Light and Stars

• Doppler detection method for finding extra-solar planets
• Hubble Space Telescope Animations
• Eclipsing binary stars and their light curves
• Take a trip (MPEG movie) to a black hole
• Watch a supernova light curve in Centaurus A (a distant galaxy)

Part III: Galaxies & Cosmology

• MPEG movies of
  colliding galaxies - part 1
  colliding galaxies - part 2
  colliding with a dark matter galaxy
  a few other cool movies
• Learn more about the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
• And also about this new stuff, ripples and dark energy