Description
Ch 1. Tools of the trade 1. New Section – Telescope Basics a. Basic formulae to explain magnification, resolution, field-of-view, light-grasp, etc.. b. Use of internet for star-maps, planetariums, etc.. 2. Distances a. The Nearest Stars To Us 3. Brightness and Luminosity 4. Magnitudes a. The Brightest Stars 5. Colour a. Coloured Stars 6. Size and Mass a. The Biggest Stars 7. Star Constituents 8. Spectra and Spectroscopy 9. Stellar Classification a. The Spectral Sequence 10. The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram 11. The H-R diagram and Stellar Radius 12. The H-R diagram and Stellar Luminosity 13. The H-R diagram and Stellar Mass Ch 2. The Solar System 1 The Scientific Method 2 Early History i. The Ancient Greeks ii. Copernicus iii. Tycho iv. Kepler v. Galileo vi. Newton 3 The Motions of the Planets b. Kepler’s Three Laws c. Newton & Gravity d. Newton’s Laws of Motion e. Newton’s Law Of Gravitational Attraction f. The Tides 2. New Section – The Greenhouse Effect 3. Observing the Planets Ch 3. The Interstellar Medium 1. Introduction 2. Nebul 3. Emission Nebul a. Brightest Emission Nebul 4. Dark Nebul a. Famous Dark Nebul 5. Reflection Nebul a. Brightest Reflection Nebulae 6. Molecular Clouds 7. Protostars 8. The Jeans Criterion Ch 4. Star Birth 1. The Birth of a Star 2. Pre-Main Sequence Evolution and the Effect of Mass 3. Mass Loss and Mass Gain a. T Tauri Stars b. Discs and Winds 4. Clusters and Groups of Stars a. Galactic Star Clusters i. Bright Star Clusters 5. Stellar Associations and Streams a. Bright Stellar Associations and Streams 6. Star Formation Triggers Ch 5. The Sun and Stars 1. The Sun – The Nearest Star a. From the Core to the Surface b. The Proton-Proton Chain c. Energy Transport from the Core to the Surface d. New Section – Sunspots e. New Section – The Solar Cycle 2. Binary Stars and Stellar Mass 3. Binary Stars a. Visual Binary Stars 4. The Masses of Orbiting Stars 5. Lifetimes of Main-Sequence Stars 6. Red Giant Stars a. Bright Red Giant Stars 7. Helium Burning and the Helium Flash a. Helium Burning b. The Helium Flash 8. Star Clusters, Red Giants and the H-R Diagram 9. Post Main-Sequence Star clusters: The Globular Clusters. a. Bright Globular Clusters b. New Section – Are Globulars galaxy corpses? 10. Pulsating Stars a. Why do Stars Pulsate? b. Cepheid Variables and the Period-Luminosity Relation c. Cepheid’s: Temperature and Mass d. RR Lyrae and Long-Period Variable Stars e. Bright Cepheid Variables f. Bright RR Lyrae Variables Ch 6. The Death of Stars 1. The Asymptotic Giant Branch 2. Dredge-Ups 3. Mass Loss and Stellar Winds 4. Infrared Stars 5. The End Of An AGB Star’s Life a. Bright Carbon Stars 6. Planetary Nebulae a. Bright Planetary Nebulae 7. White Dwarf Stars a. Electron Degeneracy b. The Chandrasekhar Limit c. New Section – Is the Chandrasekhar Limit correct? d. White Dwarf Evolution e. White Dwarf Origins f. Bright White Dwarfs 8. High Mass Stars and Nuclear Burning a. Bright Supergiant Stars 9. Iron, Supernov and the Formation of the Elements a. Supernov Remnants b. Supernov Types c. New Section – Hypernovae 10. The End Result of High Mass Star Evolution: Neutron Stars, Pulsars, and Black Holes a. Neutron Stars b. Pulsars NEW Chapter – Special Relativity a. The Speed of Light b. The Lorentz Equations. c. Paradox’s. NEW Chapter – General Relativity a. Warped Space and Time b. Why is Gravity so weak? c. General relativity in the solar system. d. Gravitational Waves e. 2018 – First contact NEW Chapter – Black Holes a. The Singularity b. Time Travel c. Kerr Black Holes d. Rotating and non-symmetrical Black Holes e. Imaging the Event Horizon Ch 7. Exoplanets 2. A new science a. Methods of Detection b. Bright Exoplanets c. New Section – Exo-moons, exo-comets, exo-asteroids Ch 8. Galaxies 1. Introduction 2. Galaxy Types 3. Galaxy Structure 4. Stellar Populations 5. Hubble Classification of Galaxies 6. New section – Other types of galaxy classification 7. Observing Galaxies a. Spiral Galaxies b. Barred Spiral Galaxies c. Elliptical Galaxies d. Lenticular Galaxies e. Irregular Galaxies Ch 9. Active Galaxies 1. The Active Galactic Zoo 2. The structure and evolution of AGN’s a. Brightest Active Galaxies Ch 10. Cosmology 1 Gravitational Lensing 2 Redshift, Distance and the Hubble Law 3 Quasar Redshift Problem 4 Clusters of Galaxies a. Groups and Clusters of Galaxies 5 The Beginning of the Universe 6 The End of the Universe 7 Other Cosmologies 8 Amateur Observational Cosmology? New Chapter – the Speculative Universe a. Beyond the Multiverse b. Infinite Universe c. Inflation, then the Big Bang. d. Filamentary nature of Dark Matter. e. MOND – The elephant in the room f. Endnote
