Week 1 and 2:
Course introduction; night & day; the seasons; the moon; eclipses; planets in the night sky;
brightness and apparent magnitude.
Week 3 and 4:
The development of gravity: Aristotle to Galileo to Newton; Kepler’s laws of planetary motion; orbital motion and the solar system
Week 4 and 5:
The solid inner planets of the solar system; sustainable life and its quest
The outer gaseous planets of the solar system
Week 6:
Review for midterm exam; midterm exam
Week 7:
Structure of the atom; the atomic table; mass-energy equivalence; nuclear fusion; formation of stars
Week 8 and 9:
Properties of stars; electromagnetic spectrum; atomic spectra; black body radiation; temperature-wavelength relationship
Week 9 and 10:
HR diagram;
Development of stars; Chandrasekhar limit; Schonberg-Oppenheimer limit
Week 11 to 13:
Measuring distances: parallax
Cosmological principle; Newton’s model of universe; Olber’s paradox; the Doppler effect
The expanding universe; the Big Bang; future of universe; dark matter
Week 14:
Course review