| No. | Topics | Pset | Due | Solutions |
| 1 | Radiation and interiors | 01 | Feb 13 | solutions |
| 2 | Transport, Distributions, Eqns of State | 02 | Mar 6 | solutions |
| 3 | Interiors | 03 | Mar 25 | solutions |
| 4 | Atmospheres | 04 | April 10 | |
| 5 | Planetary Temperatures and Albedos | 05 | April 22 |
| No. | Date | Topic | Readings, Slides, and Notes |
| 1 - W01L1 | 2025/01/21 | Introduction to A794. Stellar evolution. Stars. Planets. |
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| 2 - W01L2 | 2025/01/23 | Radiation: Intensity, Flux, Luminosity, Blackbodies | |
| 3 - W02L1 | 2025/01/28 | Stellar Structure Equations |
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| 4 - W02L2 | 2025/01/30 | Energy Transport: Radiation, Conduction, Convection |
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| 5 - W03L1 | 2025/02/04 | Ionization, Boltzmann, Saha |
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| 6 - W03L2 | 2025/02/06 | Equations of State: Maxwellian, Ideal Gas, Radiation |
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| W04L1 | 2025/02/11 | NO CLASS | |
| 7 - W04L2 | 2025/02/13 | Equations of State: Fermi-Dirac, Degeneracy |
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| 2025/02/18 | NO CLASS: Winter Weather | ||
| 2025/02/25 | NO CLASS: Winter Weather | ||
| 8 - W05L1 | 2025/02/25 | Nuclear Fusion |
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| 9 - W05L2 | 2025/02/27 | Polytropes & Modeling Interiors |
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| 10 - W06L1 | 2025/03/04 | Opacity, extinction, cross-sections, & optical depth | |
| 11 - W06L2 | 2025/03/06 | Radiative Transfer Equation: solution; general form | |
| Plane-parallel stellar atmosphere; limb darkening |
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| Gray stellar atmosphere |
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| The Eddington Approximation |
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| Stellar Chromospheres and Coronae |
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| April 1 | No class (no fooling!) | ||
| April 3 | No class (Crossfield still on travel) | ||
| 16 | 2025/04/08 | Planet Interiors and Mass-Radius relations |
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| 17 | 2025/04/10 | Temperatures and Albedos |
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| 18 | 2025/04/15 | Temperature Profiles |
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| 19 | 2025/04/17 | Adiabats, dry and moist |
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| 20 | 2025/04/22 | Convection and convective stability |
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| 21 | 2025/04/24 | Transmission Spectra |
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| 22 | 2025/04/29 | Greenhouse effects | |
| 23 | 2025/05/01 | Atmospheric circulation, global temperatures, and phase curves |
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| 24 | 2025/05/06 | Atmospheric chemistry |
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| 25 | 2025/05/08 | Clouds and Condensation |
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A comprehensive final exam will be taken in class during Finals week. Time and date and topics TBD.
An additional 10% of course grade (i.e., a full letter grade) is available to any student who writes a quality, submittable application for a major multi-year scholarship or fellowship (e.g. NASA FINESST, etc.). The application must be sent to Prof. Crossfield at least one week before the official submission deadline (so he can give you feedback to help improve it). Drafts for fellowships due after the last day of class must be turned in one week before the last lecture of class.
