ASTR 421: Galaxies
Course Outline, Spring 2011
1: Introduction
Stars
The Milky Way
Galaxies in the Universe
2: Mapping the Milky Way
The stars in the Galaxy
Luminosity functions and mass functions
Distances to star clusters
Galactic rotation
Dark matter in the Milky Way
Interstellar gas
3: Orbital dynamics
Orbits of disk stars: epicycles
Two-body relaxation
Integrals of motion
4: The Local Group
Satellites of the Milky Way
Spirals of the Local Group: M31 & M33
Dwarf galaxies in the Local Group
5: Spiral and S0 galaxies
Surface photometry of disk galaxies
Spiral arms and galactic bars
Cool gas in the disk
Bulges
Interlude: the Mass Discrepancy Problem
Rotation curves
The Tully-Fisher relation
Dark matter candidates
Halo and Galaxy Formation Models
Modified Newtonian Dynamics
6: Elliptical galaxies
The shapes of elliptical galaxies
Stellar populations
7: Galaxy Groups and Clusters
Groups: the homes of disk galaxies
Rich clusters: the domain of elliptical galaxies
8: The large-scale distribution of galaxies
Large scale structure
Growth of structure
The Jeans mass
9: Active galactic nuclei
The active galaxy menagerie
Central Engines: Supermassive black holes