| Week | Monday's Date | Topic |
| 1 | Jan. 4 | First class on Jan. 6: Introduction to the course. |
| 2 | Jan. 11 | Overview -
Scientific Method, Mathematics Background, and Overview of Astronomomical Objects.
Chapter 1: 1.1, 1.2, Distances to Astronomical ObjectsBox 1-3, Chapter 1.7 and supplemental material on the class website. -includes Powers of Ten, angular measurements and parallax. |
| 3 | Jan. 18 |
Gravity. Chapter 2.7,Newton's Laws, Orbits and Escape velocity Box 2-2, Box 2-3 (Weighing the sun). Chapter 7.6 (Tides) Kepler's Laws Chapter 2.5, 2.8 (Jan. 19: the last day to change courses.) |
| 4 | Jan. 25 | FIRST TEST OF THE TERM: Friday, Jan. 29 Radiation. Chapter 3.1 to 3.4. and "More Precisely" Box 3-2. |
| 5 | Jan. 29 |
Spectra Chapter 4, emphasizing 4.1 and 4.2. Also Chapt 18.4
21 cm radiation. Doppler Shift. Chapter 3.5 and 4.4. |
| 6 | Feb. 1 |
Telescopes and Spectra (continued). Chapter 5.
Our Solar System Chapter 6. |
| 7 | Feb. 8 |
Planets. Focus on material presented in class and
summaries of Chapters 8-13. |
| * | Feb. 15 | Reading Week |
| 8 | Feb. 22 | SECOND TEST OF THE TERM: Friday Feb. 26 |
| 8 | Mar. 1 | Planets, with a focus on Mars. Includes
material presented in class. Planetary System Formation. Chapter 6 (some extra details in Chapter 15.) Formation of the Moon. Chapter 8.8. Exoplanets Chapter 15 and material presented in class. Our Sun. Chapter 16. |
| 9 | Mar. 8 | Other Stars. Luminosity, Magnitudes, Hertzsprung Russell Diagram, Masses and
Lifetimes. Chapter 17.
Interstellar Medium and Star Birth. Chapters 18 and 19. |
| 10 | Mar. 15 | Interstellar Medium and Star Birth. Chapters 18 and 19. (Mar. 19: Voluntary Withdrawal Date) |
| 11 | Mar. 22 |
Stellar Evolution of a 1 solar mass star, Red Giants, White Dwarfs. Chapter 20. Black holes. Chapter 22 and Supplemental Material. - the student should review Gravity in preparation. Galaxies: Hubble Classification, Milky Way Structure, and Hubble's Law. portions of Chapters 23 + 24 + 25. |
| 12 | Mar. 29 | Galaxies continued. Supernovae, Pulsars. Chapter 21, 22. (Good Friday April 2. No classes.) |
| 13 | April 5 |
Dark Matter portions of Chapters
23 + 24 + 25. Cosmology. Chapter 26 Examples of sections that should be read: P686-689, section on Hubble Law, P700, P711-712 on Cosmic Microwave Background. Last day of classes is April 9. |