| No. | Topics | Pset | Due | Solutions |
| Zero | Start-of-course survey | Pset | Jan 23 | |
| Draft CV/Resume -- RUBRIC HERE | Jan 28 | |||
| 01 | Forces, Introductory Concepts, and Estimates | Pset | Feb 2 | Solutions |
| 3 Possible Research Paper Topics | Feb 4 | |||
| Class Visit to Silent Sky (at Free State High Theatre) | 6:40pm, Feb 5 | |||
| 02 | Parallax, angular scales, stars. | Pset | Feb 9 | Solutions |
| Final CV/Resume | Feb 11 | |||
| 03 | Binaries, stars, and planets. | Pset | Feb 16 | Solutions | 04 | Nuclear reactions and Stellar Evolution | Pset | Feb 27 |
| Research Paper: Outline | Mar 11 | |||
| 05 | Stellar Interiors | |||
| 06 | Radiation | Pset | ||
| 07 | Galaxies | Pset | ||
| 08 | AGN and the Universe | Pset | ||
| Final research paper due. Everything else due. All late/regrades due. |
May 6 |
| No. | Date | Topic and/or Reading Selections | Lecture Notes |
| 1 - W1L1 | 2026/01/21 | Introduction to astronomy. Orders of magnitude; magnitudes. Types of objects and observations. | Lecture Notes (PDF), lecture slides. |
| 2 - W1L2 | 2026/01/23 | CVs and Resumes (guest lecture) | |
| 3 - W2L1 | 2026/01/26 | Intro to astrophysics. Common quantities, forces, and particles. | Lecture Notes (PDF) |
| 4 - W2L2 | 2026/01/28 | Common quantities and concepts. | Ibid. |
| 5 - W2L3 | 2026/01/30 | Parallax, distance and size scales. | Lecture Notes (PDF) |
| 6 - W3L1 | 2026/02/02 | Spectroscopy and Photometry. | |
| 7 - W3L2 | 2026/02/04 | Basic properties of stars. Mass, temperature, luminosity. Energy. | Lecture Notes (PDF) |
| 8 - W3L3 | 2026/02/06 | Classification, spectral types. Gray book, Chp. 1-2 -- see below. | Lecture Notes (PDF) |
| 9 - W4L2 | 2026/02/11-13 | Binary star systems. Two-body Keplerian problem. Kepler's Laws. | Lecture Notes 1, Lecture Notes 2 |
| 10 - W5L1 | 2026/02/16 | Binaries and Exoplanets. | |
| 11 - W5L2 | 2026/02/18 | Observational stellar evolution. "Road Map" and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. | |
| 12 - W5L3 | 2026/02/20 | Observational stellar evolution: the end states of stars. | |
| 13 - W6L1 | 2026/02/23 | Introduction to nuclear reactions | Reading:
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| 14 - W6L2 | 2026/02/25 | Main nuclear reactions in stars | Reading:
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| 15 - W6L3 | 2026/02/27 | Stellar evolution: Timescales, overview & final stages | Reading:
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| 16 - W7L1 | 2026/03/02 | Compact objects: White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars, and Black Holes | Reading:
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| 17 - W7L2 | 2026/03/04 | Exam review. | |
| W7L3 | 2026/03/06 | Midterm 1 | |
| W8L1 | 2026/03/09 | Stellar structure: ideal gas law, mass conservation | Lecture Notes 1, Lecture Notes 2 |
| W8L2 | 2026/03/11 | Stellar structure: and hydrostatic equilibrium, walkthrough, application, and practice. | |
| Spring Break | |||
| W9L1 | 2026/09/23 | Radiation: luminosity, flux, flux density. | Lecture Notes (PDF), and Lecture Slides (PDF) |
| W9L2 | 2026/03/25 | More Radiation: surface brightness. Rad'n practice. | Lecture Notes (PDF) |
| W9L3 | 2026/03/27 | Radiation practice | Lecture Notes (PDF) |
| W10L1 | 2026/03/30 | Kirchhoff's Laws, Optical Depth, Absorption and emission. | Lecture Notes (Chp. 11) |
| W10L2 | 2026/04/01 | The Interstellar Medium | Reading:
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| W10L3 | 2026/04/03 | 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 |
| W11L1 | 2026/04/06 | Other Galaxies: Classification, distance, and size | Chapter 23 of Freedman et al. Choudhuri, Secs. 9.1, 9.2 A few slides from lecture |
| W11L2 | 2026/04/08 | Exam review. | |
| W11L3 | 2026/04/10 | Midterm #2 | |
| W12L1 | 2026/04/13 | Rotation Curves of Galaxies |
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| W12L2 | 2026/04/15 | Galactic Center, Sagittarius A*, Supermassive Black Holes |
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| W12L2 | 2026/04/15 | Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) |
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| W12L3 | 2026/04/17 | Galaxy Clusters |
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| W13L1 | 2026/04/20 | Large-Scale Structure |
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| W13L2 | 2026/04/22 | The Expanding Universe and the Big Bang |
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| W13L3 | 2026/04/24 | A Brief History of Time |
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| W14L1 | 2026/04/27 | Cosmology |
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| W15L2 | 2026/05/06 | Review. All assignments due. | |
| FINAL | 2026/05/14 | 0730am-10:00am: FINAL EXAM @ MAL 2076 |