LECTURE NOTES
Astro 201: Cosmology
Fall 2009
Prof. Bechtold
last update:  Nov. 20, 2009

Before Sept. 13, some of the PDF files had opaque rectangles instead of text.
They should all be fixed now.


Aug. 25:  Course Preliminaries;  Our Cosmic Address  PDF
Aug. 27:  More on the Kuiper Belt;  Finish our cosmic address; 
               Ancient Cosmologies and the celestial sphere   PDF
               Link to Youtube video of Carl Sagan talking about Hindu cosmology

Sept. 1:  Aristotle & Aristarchus; Ptolemy v. Copernicus;  
             Retrograde Motion; parallax;
             The scientific method            PDF
             Animation of eclipses
             Animation of lunar phases
             Retrograde motion of Jupiter and Mars
             Ptolemy's explanation of retrograde motion
             Copernicus' explanation of retrograde motion
             Animation of parallax.  Another animation of parallax.
Sept. 3:  Astronomical Basis for Calendars
             Tycho, Kepler, Newton
             Fundamental Forces of Nature
             String Theory                                 PDF

Sept. 8:  Chaos, Determinism and Fractals   
              Introduction to Light                       PDF
Sept. 10:  Light, Telescopes   PDF

Sept. 15: IR Camera demonstration.  Telescopes.  PDF
********** MIDTERM #1 covers material through here *****************
Sept. 17: Stars  PDF

Sept. 22:  MIDTERM #1
Sept. 24:  Stars  PDF

Sept. 29:  Star Formation  PDF, 1 page per slide
                PDF, 2 pages per slide
Oct. 1:  Evolution of the Sun
            Evolution of 20 solar mass star     PDF

Oct. 6:  The Nobel Prize in Physics
            Supernovae
            Radioactive Dating and the age of the Earth
            White Dwarfs
            Neutron Stars and Pulsars          PDF
Oct. 8:  Black Holes  PDF
           
*********** MIDTERM #2 covers material since Midterm #1, up to here ***************

Oct. 13:  Black Holes, Gravity Waves
              The Milky Way:  Spiral Density Waves   PPT  PPTX  PDF
Oct. 15:  MIDTERM #2

Oct. 20:  The Milky Way:  Interstellar Gas and Dust, Dark Matter.   PPTX PDF
Oct. 22:  Stellar Populations, the Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way,
              The Satellite Galaxies of the Milky Way   PPT PPTX PDF

Oct. 27:  The Local Group. 
              Galaxies.
              The Galaxy Zoo Project.  PPTX  PDF
Oct. 29:  The Expansion of the Universe  PPTX PDF

Nov. 3:  Clusters of Galaxies, Gravitational Lensing  PPT PPTX PDF
Nov. 5:  Dark Energy;  Curvature of Space;  Olber's Paradox PPT PPTX PDF

**********MIDTERM # 3 covers material up to here, since Midterm #2 **********

Nov. 10:  MIDTERM #3
Nov. 12:  Starburst Galaxies.  Galaxy Formation and Evolution.   PPT PPTX PDF

Nov. 17:  Quasars PPT PPTX PDF
Nov. 19:  Quasars;  Cosmic Microwave Background;  Inflation. PPT PPTX PDF

Nov. 24.  Inflation.  Primordial Nucleosynthesis.  Future of the Universe. 
               Galaxy Zoo Project Due
Nov. 26:  THANKSGIVING

Dec. 1:   Extra-terrestrial Life in the Universe
Dec. 3:  

Dec. 8:  Telescope Observing Project Due
             Review for the Final Exam

FINAL EXAM:  December 17, 2009.  8-10am, Steward Observatory N210