| No. | Topics | Pset | Due | Solutions | |
| Zero | Start-of-course survey | Pset | Aug 22 | ||
| 01 | Forces, Introductory Concepts, and Estimates | Pset | Sep 03 | ||
| 02 | Parallax, angular scales, stars. | Pset | Sep 10 | ||
| 03 | Binaries, stars, and planets. | Pset | Sep 19 | 04 | Nuclear reactions and Stellar Evolution | Pset | Sep 26 |
| Research Paper Outline | Sep 29 | ||||
| Draft CV/Resume -- RUBRIC HERE | Oct 6 | ||||
| 05 | Stellar Interiors | Pset | Oct 24 | ||
| Final CV/Resume | Oct 27 | ||||
| Draft research paper! -- RUBRIC HERE | Oct 29 | ||||
| 06 | Radiation | Pset | Oct 31 | ||
| 07 | Galaxies | Pset | Nov 12 | ||
| 08 | AGN and the Universe | Pset | Nov 24 | ||
| Final research paper due. All late/regrades due. |
Dec 3 |
| No. | Date | Topic and/or Reading Selections | Lecture Notes |
| 0 - W1L1 | 2025/08/18 | Planetarium Show @ Slawson G174H | Syllabus (PDF) |
| 1 - W1L2 | 2025/08/20 | Introduction to astronomy. Orders of magnitude; magnitudes. Types of objects and observations. | Lecture Notes (PDF), lecture slides. |
| 2 - W1L3 | 2025/08/22 | Intro to astrophysics. Common quantities, forces, and particles. | Ibid |
| 3 - W2L1 | 2025/08/25 | Common quantities and concepts. | Ibid. |
| 4 - W2L2 | 2025/08/27 | Parallax, distance and size scales. | Lecture Notes (PDF) |
| 5 - W2L3 | 2025/08/29 | Spectroscopy and Photometry. | |
| 2025/09/01 | Labor Day! No class. | ||
| 6 - W3L2 | 2025/09/03 | Basic properties of stars. Mass, temperature, luminosity. Energy. | Lecture Notes (PDF) |
| 7 - W3L3 | 2025/09/05 | Classification, spectral types. Gray book, Chp. 1-2 -- see below. | Lecture Notes (PDF) |
| 8 - W4L1 | 2025/09/08 | CVs and Resumes (guest talk) | |
| 9 - W4L2 | 2025/09/10 | Binary star systems. Two-body Keplerian problem. Kepler's Laws. | Lecture Notes 1, Lecture Notes 2 |
| 10 - W4L3 | 2025/09/12 | Binaries and Exoplanets. | |
| 11 - W5L1 | 2025/09/15 | Observational stellar evolution. "Road Map" and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. | |
| 12 - W5L2 | 2025/09/17 | Observational stellar evolution: the end states of stars. | |
| 13 - W5L3 | 2025/09/19 | Introduction to nuclear reactions | Reading:
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| 14 - W6L1 | 2025/09/22 | Main nuclear reactions in stars | Reading:
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| 15 - W6L2 | 2025/09/24 | Stellar evolution: Timescales, overview & final stages | Reading:
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| 16 - W6L3 | 2025/09/26 | Compact objects: White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars, and Black Holes | Reading:
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| 17 - W71L | 2025/09/29 | How to write CVs/Resumes | |
| 18 - W7L2 | 2025/10/01 | Stellar structure: ideal gas law, mass conservation | Lecture Notes 1, Lecture Notes 2 |
| 19 - W7L3 | 2025/10/03 | Exam review. | |
| 20 - W8L1 | 2025/10/06 | How to apply for jobs/positions (guest talk) | |
| 21 - W8L2 | 2025/10/08 | Midterm 1 | |
| 22 - W8L3 | 2025/10/10 | Stellar structure: and hydrostatic equilibrium, walkthrough, application, and practice. | |
| 23 - W9L3 | 2025/10/17 | Radiation: luminosity, flux, flux density. | Lecture Notes (PDF), and Lecture Slides (PDF) |
| 24 - W10L1 | 2025/10/20 | More Radiation: surface brightness. Rad'n practice. | Lecture Notes (PDF) |
| 25 - W10L2 | 2025/10/22 | Kirchhoff's Laws, Optical Depth, Absorption and emission. | Lecture Notes (Chp. 11) |
| 25 - W10L3 | 2025/10/24 | Radiation Practice Choudhuri, Secs. 2.1-2.2 | Lecture Notes (PDF) |
| 26 - W11L1 | 2025/10/27 | The Interstellar Medium | Reading:
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| 27 - W11L2 | 2025/10/29 | Our Galaxy, the Milky Way | Chapter 22 of Freedman et al. Choudhuri, Secs. 6.1, 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6.4, 6.6.6, Fig. 6.15 |
| 28 - W11L3 | 2025/10/31 | Other Galaxies: Classification, distance, and size | Chapter 23 of Freedman et al. Choudhuri, Secs. 9.1, 9.2 A few slides from lecture |
| 29 - W12L1 | 2025/11/03 | Exam review. | |
| 30 - W12L2 | 2025/11/05 | Midterm #2 | |
| 31 - W12L3 2 | 2025/11/07 | Rotation Curves of Galaxies |
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| 32 - W13L1 | 2025/11/10 | Galactic Center, Sagittarius A*, Supermassive Black Holes |
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| 33 - W13L2 | 2025/11/12 | Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) |
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| 34 - W13L3 | 2025/11/14 | Galaxy Clusters |
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| 35 - W14L1 | 2025/11/17 | Large-Scale Structure |
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| 36 - W14L2 | 2025/11/19 | The Expanding Universe and the Big Bang |
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| 37 - W14L3 | 2025/11/21 | A Brief History of Time |
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| 38 - W15L1 | 2025/11/24 | Cosmology |
|
| 2025/11/26 | Thanksgiving Break | ||
| 2025/11/28 | Thanksgiving Break | ||
| 39 - W16L1 | 2025/12/01 | Planetarium Show? Or schedule margin. | |
| 40 - W16L2 | 2025/12/03 | Review. All assignments due. | |
| FINAL | 2025/12/12 | 10:30am-1:30pm: FINAL EXAM @ MAL 2055 |