Required Texts:
Blind Watchers of the Sky (BWS) by Rocky Kolb
Gravity's Fatal Attraction (GFA) by Mitchell Begelman &
Martin Rees
Afterglow of Creation (AC) by Marcus Chown
Little Book of the Big Bang (LBBB) by Craig Hogan
Astronomy
Notes -an online Astronomy book by Nick Strobel (accessed for free
online). It may be best to read Strobel's notes after we've covered the
material in class.
Books may also be ordered from http://www.amazon.com/
Physics 171 Syllabus
Math
Review (Borrowed from Nick Strobel's web page)
January
18 Jan Tue - Scientific Method
20 Jan Thu - Introduction & Brahe
-
View Total Lunar Eclipse tonight: 10:01pm - 1:25am
-
BWS pp.1-42 (Chap1-2)
- Diagrams shown in class taken from
Strobel's History Pages (There are 3 pages there.)
25 Jan Tue - video on history of cosmology
-
BWS pp. 43-112 (Chap 3-4) on Kepler & Galileo
-
practice QUIZ
due (hopefully)
27 Jan Thu - video "Cosmic Voyage" (originally from IMAX)
February
01 Feb Tue - Galileo, cont. & Newton
-
BWS pp.113-135 (Chap 5)
-
QUIZ
due
03 Feb Thu - Cosmic Distances
-
BWS pp.139-168 (Chap 6)
-
Strobel on Stellar
Distances
-
A little of the material on Strobel's magnitude
system page may be used, but ignore the stuff on the magnitude
system itself.
08 Feb Tue - Electromagnetic Radiation
10 Feb Thu - Island Universes & Cosmic Expansion
15 Feb Tue -
Einstein's Theory of Gravity
17 Feb Thu - The Fates of Stars
22 Feb Tue - video on supernovae
24 Feb Thu - video on black holes
29 Feb Tue - Black Holes
March
02 Mar Thu - Expansion of the Universe
07 Mar Tue - The Big Bang Theory
09 Mar Thu - midterm
Spring Break
21 Mar Tue - Big Bang Theory II
- online class notes
-
LBBB pp. 25-46, 95-108 (Chap 3 and part of Chap 6)
-
AC pp. 35-50 (Chap 3)
23 Mar Thu - Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
28 Mar Tue - Cosmic Background Radiation II
30 Mar Thu - COBE & Cosmic Ripples
April
04 Apr Tue - COBE with video
- Astronomer's series video
-
AC pp. 165-184 (Chap 12-13)
-
QUIZ
due
06 Apr Thu - Cosmic Structure Formation
11 Apr Tue - Galaxies and Dark Matter
13 Apr Thu - MACHOs
18 Apr Tue - Dark Matter Theory
20 Apr Thu - Repulsive Gravity and the Cosmological Constant
25 Apr Tue - Cosmic Inflation and Beyond
- online class notes
-
AC pp. 193-200 (last part of Chap 14)
-
BWS pp. 261-282 (Chap 10)
-
LLLB pp. 157-168 (Chap 9)
27 Apr Thu - Catch up or review
May
02 May Tue - Term Papers Due!! -
12 May 1999 - Final Exam 10:30-12:30 - NSH 202
Back to
Phys 171 homepage
David Bennett (bennett@nd.edu)
updated 15 January 2000
