8.901
Astrophysics I
Size and time scales. Historical astronomy. Astronomical instrumentation. Stars: spectra and classification. Stellar structure equations and survey of stellar evolution. Stellar oscillations. Degenerate and collapsed stars; radio pulsars. Interacting binary systems; accretion disks, x-ray sources. Gravitational lenses; dark matter. Interstellar medium: HII regions, supernova remnants, molecular clouds, dust; radiative transfer; Jeans' mass; star formation. High-energy astrophysics: Compton scattering, bremsstrahlung, synchrotron radiation, cosmic rays. Galactic stellar distributions and populations; Oort constants; Oort limit; and globular clusters.
Spring 2006
Topics
- Introduction
- Kepler Problem
- Stellar Distances
- Color-color Diagrams
- Saha Equation
- Radiation
- Equations of Stellar Structure
- Convection (cont.)
- Nuclear Reaction Rates
- H/He Burning
- Stellar Evolution: Lower Main Sequence
- S-C Limit
- Degenerate Matter
- White Dwarf Cooling
- Upper Main Sequence: Evolution of Massive Stars
- Supernovae
- Neutron Stars
- Sun as a Star (Guest Lecturer: Justin Kasper)
- Gravitational Radiation (Guest Lecturer: Ryan Lang)
- Close Binaries
- Cepheid Variables
- Black Holes
- Star Formation
- Gas in the Interstellar Medium
- Shocks
Readings
- Hansen, Carl J., Steven D. Kawaler, and Virginia Trimble. Stellar Interiors: Physical Principles, Structure and Evolution . New York, NY: Springer, 2004. ISBN: 9780387200897.
- Carroll, Bradley W., and Dale A. Ostlie. An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics . Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Pub., 1995. ISBN: 9780201547306.
- Kippenhahn, Rudolf, and Alfred Weigert. Stellar Structure and Evolution . New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, 1990. ISBN: 9780387502113.
- Shapiro, Stuart L., and Saul A. Teukolsky. Black Holes, White Dwarfs, and Neutron Stars . New York, NY: Wiley, 1983. ISBN: 9780471873167.
- SES #: 1 · TOPICS: Introduction · READINGS: Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 1. You may also find Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 7 useful for background on stellar binaries.
- Binaries Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 1.
- Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 7.
- Magnitudes Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 1.
- Spectral/Luminosity Classes Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 3, especially section 3.4. You may also find it useful to read chapter 8 in Carroll and Ostlie. Introduction to Modern Astrophysics . If you are interested in additional reading about the Saha Equation, you may also consult chapter 14 of Stellar Structure and Evolution by R. Kippenhahn and A. Weigert (1990, Springer).
- SES #: 5 · TOPICS: Saha Equation · READINGS: Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 3.
- Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 8.
- Kippenhahn and Weigert, chapter 14.
- Radiative Diffusion Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 3.
- Convection Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 4 (including section 4.8). You should also at least look through chapter 5 on Convection.
- Energy Sources Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapters 4 and 5.
- Hydrogen Burning: pp, CNO Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 6, chapter 7 (sections 7.1-7.2). (I encourage you to at least skim through the rest of chapter 7 as well.) We will also start covering the material in chapter 2 (sections 2.1-2.5), although homework problems on this material will be on Problem Set 5. (You should still do this reading prior to the midterm exam, however.)
- Low-M Stars Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapters 2, 6, and 7.
- Cluster H-R Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapters 2, 6, and 7.
- Degenerate Matter Finish reading the first part of chapter 2 (sections 2.1-2.6) on Stellar Evolution in Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, and also read section 9.3 on the Solar Neutrino Problem. You may also find it useful to review sections 3.5-3.6 on Degenerate Equations of State. For a deeper discussion, you can consult chapters 2-3 of Black Holes, White Dwarfs, and Neutron Stars by Shapiro and Teukolsky.
- Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 2 and 3.
- White Dwarfs Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, chapter 2, sections 3.5-3.6 and 9.3.
- Intrinsically Variable Stars Finish reading the rest of chapter 2 (sections 2.7-2.15) on Stellar Evolution in Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble. You can also read more about White Dwarf Properties, Cooling, and Crystallization Physics in chapter 10 of Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, as well as in chapters 3-4 of Black Holes, White Dwarfs, and Neutron Stars by Shapiro and Teukolsky.
- SES #: 16 · TOPICS: Upper Main Sequence: Evolution of Massive Stars · READINGS: Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, sections 2.7-2.15 and chapter 10.
- Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 3 and 4.
- GRBs Read Heger, et al. “How Massive Stars End Their Life.” Astrophys J 591, no. 288 (2003). You will also find it useful to read Sections 2.6-2.8 and 2.11.2 in Hansen, Kawaler, and Trimble, as well as chapters 5, 12, and 18 in Shapiro and Teukolsky.
- Pulsars (Guest Lecturer: David Kaplan) Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 9 and 10.
- SES #: 19 · TOPICS: Sun as a Star (Guest Lecturer: Justin Kasper) · READINGS: Shapiro and Teukolsky, chapters 9 and 10.
- SES #: 20 · TOPICS: Gravitational Radiation (Guest Lecturer: Ryan Lang) · READINGS: Read chapter 13 on Compact X-ray Sources in Shapiro and Teukolsky. (Note that the observational details are very dated, but the theoretical description is good.) You may also find it instructive to skim through chapters 14 (Accretion onto Black Holes), 15 (Accretion onto Neutron Stars and White Dwarfs), and 16 (Gravitational Radiation).
- Accretion Disks Chapter 13 on Compact X-ray Sources in Shapiro and Teukolsky, and skim through chapters 14 (Accretion onto Black Holes), 15 (Accretion onto Neutron Stars and White Dwarfs), and 16 (Gravitational Radiation).
- X-ray Binaries You may find chapter 12 of Carroll and Ostlie ( Introduction to Modern Astrophysics ) helpful for background reading on star formation.
- Dust Extinction Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.
- Brown Dwarfs Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.
- 21 cm and CO Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.
- Supernova Remnants Carroll and Ostlie, chapter 12.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) 3-0-9 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2006
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.