HET603 Exploring Stars & the Milky Way
Credit Points:12.5 Duration & Workload:
One semester, equivalent to a 5 contact hour per week lecture course Prerequisites:
Nil. No background knowledge of astronomy or physics will be assumed. Aims:
This Unit is designed to provide an introduction to the birth, life and death of stars and the
structure of our galaxy. The emphasis will be on conceptual astronomy, not mathematical
techniques.
Content:
- The bulk properties & structure of the Sun
- Distance, magnitudes, colours and luminosity of stars
- Spectral lines and spectral types of the stars
- The interstellar medium and the birth of stars
- The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and the ZAMS
- Life on the main sequence, lifetime and mass-luminosity relations
- Evolution of a 1 solar mass star: red giants, planetary nebulae and white dwarfs
- Variable stars
- Supernovae, supernovae remnants and creation of the elements
- End products: neutron stars, pulsars, black holes
- Gamma ray bursts: observations and theory
- Binary star systems, open clusters and globular clusters
- The structure of the Milky Way, the galactic centre, dark matter
This Unit will be presented in online delivery mode, with contact via newsgroup and email. Assessment Method:
Assessable newsgroup contributions, assignments and project. Textbook:
For information about the textbook, follow this link