Astro 105

             The Stars and Galaxies

             Spring 2024 -- IUI

                    Brian Woodahl (2023)

                    Brian Woodahl (2022)

                    Brian Woodahl (2021)

                    Brian Woodahl (2019)

                    Brian Woodahl (2007)

                    bwoodahl@iu.edu

                    (Don't Use Canvas to contact me, use email link)

                    Office: LD 156-S, 278-9244

                    Class: LE 101, Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30 - 11:45 am

                    http://woodahl.physics.iupui.edu/Astro105

                    Is the University open/closed today?

Gentle Reminder: Final Exam (Exam 3) Date

• Final Exam on Thursday, May 2nd from 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM

• Final Exam is NOT comprehensive, hence let's call it "Exam 3"

• Our last lecture is Thursday April 25th.

End-Of-Semester Bonus Points

• Please remember: 5 Bonus Points are available to all students if the following condition is met: 80% class participation in filling out the official IUPUI Online Course Evaluation.

Exam 3 Study Guide

• Exam 3 Study Guide

Week 15 Images

• Dark Energy

• The 3 Possible Global Geometries of the Universe

• Vacuum Energy Due to Virtual Pairs

• Lawrence Krauss (with S. Hawking): Quintessence, The Variable Vacuum Energy

• Small Scale Structure of Our Universe

Reminder: Final Exam (Exam 3) Date

• Final Exam on Thursday, May 2nd from 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM

• Final Exam is NOT comprehensive, hence let's call it "Exam 3"

• Our last lecture is Thursday April 25th.

Week 14 Images

• The Four Forces (Again)

• Gravity: Binds Objects with Mass (Motorcycle's Front Wheel Overcomes Gravity)

• Electromagnetic: Binds Electrons to Protons to Form Atoms (Beryllium Atom)

• Weak: Quarks Change Into Other Quarks (Neutron Decay)

• Strong: Binds Quarks to Form Protons, Neutrons, and Nuclei (Helium Nucleus)

• Weinberg: Co-Developed the Electroweak Theory

• Feynman: A Genius Among Physicists

• Feynman Diagrams

• Feynman's Feynman Diagrams on Feynman's Van

• Radiation-Dominated Then Matter-Dominated

• Big Crunch

Reminder: Take-Home Project is due this THURSDAY, April 11 before 5 PM

• Take-Home Project is due April 11 before 5 PM

Week 13 Images

• Age Of Universe

• Big Bang Theory

• Stages of Expansion of Universe During Big Bang

• Evidence for the Big Bang Theory: Penzias and Wilson and their Microwave Antenna

• Spectrum of Microwave Radiation Closely Matches Big Bang Theory

• "High-Tech" Big Bang Detector in Your Home: Snowy Channel on an Antenna-Fed TV (1% is CMBR)

• Matter Types During the Expansion of Universe

• The Horizon Problem

• The Effects of Inflation on the Cosmic Horizon

• Inflation Theory Solves Horizon Problem

Reminder: Take-Home Project is due April 11 before 5 PM

• Take-Home Project is due April 11 before 5 PM

Week 12 Images

• The Jets of Cygnus A (color enhanced, microwave frequencies)

• Looking for Quasars and Radio Galaxies: Australia's Telescope Compact Array (ATCA)

• Einstein During the Development of Special Relativity

• Supermassive Black Holes (SBHs) Power Quasars

• Blazars, Quasars, and Radio Galaxies

• Massive Star Collapses Forming Black Hole: Jets Along Rotation Axis Produce Gamma-Ray Long-Burst

• Gamma-Ray Short-Burst: Collision Involving Neutron Stars & Black Holes

• Einstein's Lambda: The Cosmological Constant

• Cosmological Constant Changes the Expansion of Universe

• Cosmological Redshift Due to Expansion of Space

Week 11 Images

• The Local Group, Big Players: Milky Way and Andromeda

• Galactic Rotation Curves of Nearby Galaxies

• Hubble's Plot: The Expansion of the Universe

• Hubble's Law

• A Globular Cluster in Milky Way: Omega Centauri (NGC5139), Visible by Unaided Eye

• LSS of Universe: Clusters & Superclusters that Neighbor the Milky Way (Near-Infrared Frequencies)

Exam 2 (Tuesday, March 26)

• 65 questions, multiple choice, use the study guide and review your notes

• Rememberize to bring a #2 pencil

• ''.. I brought my pencil, gimme something to write on, man ..'' Scantron sheets will be provided, pick one up when you enter

Exam 2 Study Guide

• Exam 2 Study Guide

Reminder: Take-Home Project is due April 11 before 5 PM

• Take-Home Project is due April 11 before 5 PM

Week 10 Images (week of March 18 - March 22)

• Supermassive Black Hole

• Synchrotron Radiation

• Solid Body Rotation

• Keplerian Rotation

• Differential Rotation (Typical Galaxy)

• Dark Matter (Imagine that the green/yellow/orange strands are dark and you cannot see them.)

• Grand Design Spiral Galaxy (M101)

• Flocculent Spiral Galaxy (NGC4414)

• Grand Design Spiral Galaxy (M81)

• Spiral Structure of Milky Way Galaxy -- possibly a "Barred-Spiral"

• Barred Spiral Galaxy (NGC1300)

• Elliptical Galaxy (M87)

• Lenticular Galaxy (NGC3115)

• Irregular Galaxy (NGC1068)

Take-Home Project (Due: April 11 at 5 PM)

• Mark your Calendar now, so that you do not forget the due date of 5 pm on Thursday, April 11.

• Take-Home Project.pdf

• Any submittal after 5 pm will be ignored. Do not wait until 4:50 pm to submit

Week 9 Images

• Superstring Theory

• Stephen Hawking: Primordial (Micro) Black Holes

• Schwarzschild: Discovered Event Horizon of Black Hole (Schwarzschild Radius)

• "No Hair" Theorem of a Black Hole

• Kerr Black Hole is a Spinning Black Hole

• Falling Into a Black Hole: OUCH

• Hawking Radiation: Black Holes Eventually Evaporate

• General Relativity Allows for Wormhole Solutions for Faster than Light Travel

• "Back To The Past": General Relativity Allows for Wormhole Solutions for Time Travel

• Edwin Hubble: Determined M31 Was a Galaxy 2 Million Light-Years Away

• Milky Way Galaxy (Edge View)

Quiz 6 (Tuesday, February 27)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from the last three lectures

10 Bonus Points Opportunity

• In no less than 1000 words, TYPED, submitted as a PDF (not Word or txt, etc.) to bwoodahl@iu.edu, explain in your own words the "Unruh Effect" and its connection to black holes. Make sure you include your full name, the due date is Friday March 29th at 5:00 PM.

Week 8 Images

• The Multiple Layers of a High-Mass SuperGiant

• Death of a High-Mass Star: Supernova (Crab Nebula Produced in 1054 AD)

• Visible Remnants of Supernova: Nebula (Eskimo Nebula)

• Neutron Star

• Pulsar

• The Geometry of a Black Hole

• Einstein: General Relativity

• Postulate of General Relativity: Equivalence Principle

• Matter Warps Space and Time

• Gravitational Redshift of Light Leaving Neutron Star

• Perihelion (and Aphelion) of Planet

• Shift of the Perihelion of Mercury

Quiz 5 (Tuesday, February 20)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from the last lecture

Week 7 Images

• On The Road to Giantdom

• It's Better To Burn Out, Than Fade Away...

• Main-Sequence Versus Giant

• The Helium Flash Turning Point

• Hydrogen-Shell Burning Star

• Recombination Photons During Helium Shell Flashes: Double-Shell Red Giant

• Nova

Week 6 Images

• An Interstellar Medium Containing Carbon Monoxide (Radio Frequencies)

• Cold, Molecular, Star-Forming Cloud (Infrared Frequencies)

• Interstellar Dust Grain: Easily Scatters Blue Light

• Pink Floyd DSOM: Scattering of Light: Violet and Blue Scatter More (Bending Angle Greater) Than Red and Orange

• Blue Sky and Red Dawn on Earth

• Atmospheric Scattering of Light: Blue Daytime Skies and Red Dawn

• Gravitational Forces Generate Lumpy Protostar

• Birth Process of Star

• Artistic Rendition of Star Birth

• Main-Sequence Lifetimes

• Red Dwarfs

Exam 1 (Tuesday, February 13)

• 65 questions, all are multiple choice

• Rememberize to bring a #2 pencil (or HB lead if mechanical pencil)

• ''.. I brought my pencil, gimme something to write on, man ..'' OpScan sheets will be provided, pick one up when you enter

Exam 1 Study Guide

• Exam 1 Study Guide

Quiz 4 (Tuesday, February 6)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from the last four lectures

Week 5 Images

• Absolute Brightness or Luminosity Versus Apparent Brightness

• Light From Stars Obeys an "Inverse Square Law"

• The Hertzsprung-Russell or H-R Diagram

• H-R Diagram with the Instability Strip

• Traditional H-R Diagram with the Absolute Magnitude Scale (on right-hand side)

• Example: Altair

• Our Sun as Red Giant

• The Red SuperGiant Betelgeuse (Hubble): Diameter is Larger than Jupiter's Orbit Around the Sun

• Comparing Sizes: SuperGiants to White Dwarfs

Quiz 3 (Tuesday, January 30)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from the last FOUR lectures

Week 4 Images

• Our Visible Universe is Home to 10²² Stars

• Proxima Centauri

• Stellar Parallax: Determines Distance to Nearby Stars

• Stars with Higher Surface Temperatures Emit Mostly Shorter Wavelengths

• Spectral Types: O, B, A, F, G, K, M

• Binary Star Systems

• Mass Information from Doppler Shift of Spectra from a Binary Star System

Quiz 2 (Tuesday, January 23)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from the past two weeks

• In particular, look over proton-proton chain and the four forces -- notably gravity (binds mass) and electromagnetic (binds electric charges)

Week 3 Images

• Einstein (in 1904): Speed Of Light is the "Speed Limit of Our Universe"

• Light Waves Possess Wavelength and Frequency

• Visible Light is a Small Part of the Entire Electromagnetic Spectrum

• Isaac Newton (in 1670): White Light Contains All the Visible Colors (Visible Frequencies)

• Duality of Light: Light Is Both a Wave and a Particle

• Wave Aspect of Light: Young's Interference Patterns

• Particle Aspect of Light: Einstein's Photoelectric Effect

• James Maxwell (in 1860): Father of the Famous Maxwell Equations Governing the Behavior of Light

• Blackbody Radiators Produce Signature Intensity Profiles

• Wilhelm Wien (in 1893): Developed Theory (Wien's Law) for the Brightest Color of a Blackbody Radiator

• Spectra of Helium, Sodium, and Neon

• Absorption Spectra

• Niels Bohr (sitting with Einstein): Architect of Modern Theory of Atomic Physics

• Photon (wavy line) Being Absorbed by Atom -> Electron (solid blue line) Jumps Up into Higher Orbit

• Atom Emitting a Photon (wavy line) -> Electron (solid blue line) Jumps Down into Lower Orbit

• Sound Produced by Stationary Source

• Sound Produced by Moving Source: Doppler Effect

• Doppler Effect on Spectra: Redshifting and Blueshifting

Quiz 1 (Tuesday, January 16)

• 4 questions, multiple choice, review your notes from last week's two lectures

• Know: temperature scales: Kelvin (absolute), Fahrenheit, Celsius; Galileo (first to watch sunspots -- rotation rate); multiplying large numbers; and temperature of the Sun at various locations

Week 2 Images

• Atoms: The Building Blocks of Nature

• Water Molecule: Two Hydrogen Atoms and One Oxygen Atom

• The 4 Fundamental Interactions (Forces)

• The 4 Fundamental Forces Occur Only at Moderately Low Temperatures

• Nuclear Reactions: Fission and Fusion

• Sun's Proton-Proton Chain Fusion Reaction (4 Protons Produce Helium + Energy)

• Details of the Proton-Proton Chain

• Movie of the Proton-Proton Chain

• Sun In Hydrostatic Equilibrium

• Sun's Inner Structure (Layers Not Necessarily To Scale)

• Neutrino (Artistic Rendition)

• Homestake Neutrino Detector in South Dakota

• Ray Davis, 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics for the Detection of Cosmic Neutrinos During 1960's

• Quarks Fundamental Particles, Three Quarks in Every Proton and Neutron

End-Of-Semester Bonus Points Reminder

• I post this early, just to keep it on everybody's radar screen: 5 Bonus Points are available to all students if the following condition is met: 80% class participation in filling out the official IUI Online Course Evaluation (near the end of semester).

Week 1 Images

• The Big Picture (actually it's a somewhat small picture)

• Examples of Some Big Numbers

• Astronomy, the Oldest of the Sciences, 5000 Years Old: Stonehenge

• Approaching Modernity: Galileo Galilei's 1610 AD Notebook Page (Who Needs Computers?)

• Our Sun (oh was it angry when we took its picture)

• Temperature: Simply a Measurement of Particle Velocity

• Authors of the ill-fated "chemical reactions due to gravitational collapse" theory of Sun: Kelvin and Helmholtz

• Sunspot Formations

• Magnetic Field Lines "Trap" Moving Charged Particles (Thus They Spiral)

• Solar Prominences (Filaments)

• Solar Flare

• Coronal Mass Ejection (Orange Disc is Photosphere, Red Disc is Chromosphere, X-Ray Photography)

Course Information (Not Posted until Jan 8th or 9th)

• Syllabus (PDF).   Please print and keep with your notes.

• Master Schedule (PDF).   Please print and keep with your notes.

• These documents will likely change/update throughout the semester.  Please check that you have the latest versions.

Amazon.com Links for Optional Textbooks (New and Used)

• The Cosmic Perspective: Stars and Galaxies (7th Edition)

• The Cosmic Perspective, Both Volumes (7th Edition)

• The Cosmic Perspective, Both Volumes (6th Edition)

• Amazon.com Textbook Rentals

NOTICE: WEATHER CONDITIONS

• Check here ( http://woodahl.physics.iupui.edu/Astro105MW/ ) for the latest information regarding our particular class cancellation(s)

• Weather related cancellations will be announced on this page -- Please do not email me asking if class has/will be cancelled

Imagining the Tenth Dimension

• Many thanks to Ryan Bertram (Astro A100 student), who introduced me to this neat YouTube video (courtesy of Rob Bryanton, Canadian author) that discusses the ten possible dimensions of our universe.

• Imagining the Tenth Dimension

Gravity Simulator

• Many thanks to Tim McCormick (Astro A100 student), who introduced me to this fantistic webpage that models early solar system formation.

• Nowy Kurier's Gravity Simulator

Sizes (Orders of Magnitude)

• Many thanks to Elizabeth Potter (Astro A105 MW student), who showed me this neat webpage highlighting the relative sizes from the Local Group down to Quarks (and the corresponding orders of magnitude, or powers of ten)

• Secret Worlds: The Universe Within

Excellent Beginner's Telescope for General Astronomy

• Orion SpaceProbe 130ST Equatorial Reflector

• Other Telescopes Available in the Astro 100 Store

• Texts Also Available in the Astro 100/105 Store

FYI (and Just For Fun)

• Big Stig

• That's A Nice One, I Made That

• Top Gear

• Hans Stuck Around Nurburgring

• Is Newton's Second Law Correct at Small Accelerations?

• Top Gear's Review of GTI W12

• Rossi And a Yard of Bricks

• Mustangs and Corvettes Pray That They Do Not See This Dub At The Track (Warning: Contains Expletives)

• MESSENGER's Color-Enhanced Imagery of Mercury

• Our Solar System Might Be Rare

• Make Room For MakeMake

• String Theory: The Myth Of Time

• Video Images from 2008 Indy MotoGP

• The Official MotoGP.com

• Latest "Crash.net" News

• MotoGPod

• RideOnTwo.com

• Latest Yamaha Racing News

• MotoGP at Indy

• The Old, Old Server

• Thanks for the new Hummer! (I need to get in there and get those windows washed.)

• F1 and MotoGP Technology Available Today in the Showroom

• DeLorean (in street mode) Side Profile

• Mobile Proton Accelerator Pack

• Time-Elapsed Solar Prominence

• Plage Cloud

• Rhubarb Pie

• Mr. Weinberg (pic 1)

• Mr. Weinberg (pic 2)

• Mr. Weinberg (pic 3)

• Mr. Weinberg (pic 4)

• Mr. Weinberg (pic 5)

• Mr. Weinberg (pic 6)

• Prominences, Filaments, Plages

• Wave

• Electromagnetic (EM) Spectrum

• EM Spectrum and relative sizes

• EM Doppler Shift

• White Light is All the Colors

• Photon Absorption and Emission

• Hydrogen Spectra

• Blackbody Spectral Profiles

Physics At Noblesville High

• Physics Demo at Noblesville High School

University Policy Regarding Sexual Harassment

• Syllabus/Course Webpage Addendum

Department of Physics, IUI - Updated on April 18, 2024 at 1:35 PM EDT