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Astrophysics (Richmond)

Last updated

Feb 18, 2025
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- Cosmology
- 1: A Review of Coordinates

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1: A Review of Coordinates
This is God's coordinate system
2: The distance to asteroid 2002 NY40 via parallax
3: Heliocentric Parallax
The simplest way to measure the distance to an object via parallax is to make simultaneous measurements from two locations on Earth. However, as we saw last time, this method only works for objects which are relatively nearby.
4: Bias in Parallax Measurements
5: The Magnitude Scale
One of the most fundamental properties of a star is its brightness. Astronomers measure stellar brightness in units called magnitudes, which seem at first counterintuitive and confusing.
6: Blackbody Radiation
At the turn of the twentieth century, German physicist Max Planck figured out a mathematical expression for the spectrum of radiation emitted from a blackbody, a (fictional) object which absorbs all incident radiation.
7: Astronomical Spectra, Filters and Magnitudes
8: Astronomical "Color"
9: Measuring Stellar Sizes
10: Elliptical Orbits
11: Kepler's Third Law
12: The "Reduced Mass" Approach
13: The Equivalence of Real and Reduced Mass Systems
14: Integrals of Motion and Kepler's Third Law (Again)
15: The Effect of a Tilt of the Orbital Plane
16: Removing the Tilt from a Visual Binary's Orbit
17: Using the Virial Theorem - Mass of a Globular Cluster
18: Using the Virial Theorem - Mass of a Cluster of Galaxies
19: Digression - the Lagrange Points in the 3-Body Problem
20: Introduction to Stellar Spectra
We are about to start down a long road as we search for the chemical composition of the stars. The journey won't be short, or easy, but along the way you'll meet a number of old friends and visit some familiar places.
21: Spectral Classification
22: The Boltzmann Equation
23: The Saha Equation
24: Digression - The Expanding Photosphere Method
25: Luminosity Class and the HR Diagram
26: Properties of the Radiation Field
27: (Local) Thermodynamic Equilibrium
28: Optical Depth
29: The Causes of Opacity
- A record-setting example of the Lyman dropout technique
30: Breaking News - A Star is Born!
31: Vermin of the Sky
32: Random Walks
33: Limb Darkening
34: The Shape of Spectral Lines
35: The Curve of Growth

Thumbnail: Public Domain; Image was created, authored, and/or prepared for NASA under Contract NAS5-26555.

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