Contents

• Contents
• Introduction to the course
  • Preamble
  • To business ...
  • Notes
  • Key points
• Angles, Telescopes and Brightness
  • Summary
  • Angles
    • Rule-of-thumb for estimating angles
    • Small Angle Approximations
  • Trigonometric Parallax
  • Telescopes
    • Cameras
    • Telescopes you can look through
  • Resolution & the Diffraction Limit
  • Light Buckets
  • Brightness
  • Magnitudes
    • Zeropoint of the magnitude scale
    • Absolute and Apparent Magnitude
  • Key points and further reading
    • Angles
    • Telescopes
    • Brightness & Magnitudes
• Spectra, Colours & Velocities
  • Spectra & Velocities
    • Astronomical spectra
    • The Doppler effect
    • Relativistic Doppler effect
  • Black-Body Radiation
    • Thermal emission
    • versus
    • Properties of the Planck spectrum
    • Wien's Law
    • The power emitted by a black-body
    • Effective Temperature
  • Colours & Extinction
    • Colours
    • Temperatures from colours
  • Interstellar Dust
  • Key points and further reading
    • Spectra
  • Black-body radiation
  • Colours & Extinction
• Observations from Space
  • Introduction
  • The electromagnetic spectrum
  • The advantages of observing from space
  • Absorption by the atmosphere
    • Blurring
    • No refraction
    • No sunlit sky or weather
    • Low background
  • Disadvantages of Space
  • Key points and further reading
• The Distance Ladder
  • Introduction
  • Typical distances
  • Spectroscopic Parallax
  • Cepheid Variables
  • Type Ia Supernovae
  • Distance Ladder
  • Key points and further reading
• Stellar Masses
  • Introduction
  • Newton's Law of Gravity
  • The Mass of Earth
  • Circular Orbits
    • Motion of an object around another of much larger mass
    • General motion of two masses
  • The mass of the Sun
  • Stellar masses
    • Visual Binary Stars
    • Spectroscopic Binary Stars
    • Eclipsing Binaries
  • Key points and further reading
    • Newton's law, circular orbits
    • Stellar masses
• H-R diagrams and Star Clusters
  • Introduction
  • Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams
    • Interpretation of the H-R diagram
    • Representation in the H-R diagram
  • Star clusters
    • Basic properties of star clusters
    • Cluster H-R diagrams
    • Summary of key features
  • Key points and further reading
    • Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams
    • Star clusters
• Stellar Physics
  • Introduction
  • The Mass-Luminosity relation of main-sequence stars
  • Mass-radius and mass-temperature relations
  • Main-sequence and stellar lifetimes
  • The key status of mass
  • Physical Conditions in Stars
    • Hydrostatic equilibrium
    • The Equation of State of Stars
  • Stellar Timescales
    • Thermal energy
    • Gravitational energy
    • Chemical power
    • Nuclear fusion
  • Nuclear Fusion in Stars
    • The Coulomb Barrier
    • Quantum tunnelling
    • Fusion in practice
    • Temperature dependence of fusion reactions
    • Neutrinos
  • Key points and further reading
    • Mass-luminosity relation
    • Conditions inside stars
    • Stellar Timescales
  • Fusion in stars
• Stellar Structure and Evolution
  • Introduction
  • Heat transport in stars
    • Radiative diffusion
    • Convection
  • Stellar structure
  • Stellar evolution
    • Hertzsprung Gap
    • The helium flash
    • Model Sun
    • The speed of evolution
  • Core-collapse Supernovae
    • Supernova energetics
    • SN1987A
  • White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars & Black-Holes
    • The crucial role of initial mass
    • White Dwarfs
    • Neutron stars
    • Black-holes
    • Detecting Black-holes through accretion
    • Telling neutron stars and black-holes apart
  • Keypoints and Further Reading
    • Stellar Structure and Evolution and Supernovae
    • White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars and Black-Holes
• Galaxies
  • Introduction
  • Galaxy types
    • Elliptical Galaxies
    • Spiral Galaxies
    • Irregular Galaxies
    • Environmental effects
  • The Milky Way
    • Modern picture
  • Active Galaxies
    • Active Galaxy Zoo
    • The Central Engine
  • Keypoints and Further Reading
    • Galaxies
    • The Milky Way
    • Active Galaxies
• The Universe
  • Introduction
  • Olbers' Paradox - why is the sky dark?
  • The Discovery of the Expansion of the Universe
  • Hubble's Law implies a finite age
  • Hubble's Law is the basis of all distances in the far Universe
  • The Hot Big Bang Model
    • Very early phase
    • Formation of the light elements
    • The Cosmic Microwave Background
    • From the formation of the CMB until now
  • Dark Matter and the future of the Universe
    • Dark Matter in Galaxies
    • Dark matter in Clusters of Galaxies
    • Dark Matter from Cosmology
  • An Accelerating Universe?
  • Keypoints and further reading
    • The Universe
    • The Hot Big Bang Theory
    • Dark Matter and the Future of the Universe
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