ASTR3220: Cosmology
Contents
ASTR3220: Cosmology#
Lecture notes for ASTR3220 Cosmology at Valdosta State University. This course is designed using An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Carroll & Ostlie (2007), where it will include summaries of the course material and code implementation/exercises. The course is divided into three sections (Introduction; Galaxies; and Universe) that will cover 3-4 chapters for each section from the textbook. In addition to homework assignments and exams, each student will give an in-class presentation using information from an instructor-assigned:
tutorial using astropy
and
a topical scientific (peer-reviewed) paper
where both presentations will be assessed by both the instructor and fellow students. The presentation using the astropy tutorials must explain to the class: how to use the relevant tools and connect to the material in the associated chapters of the textbook (as indicated below).
Astropy#
Extracting and Plotting Position-Velocity Diagrams
Cube Reprojection Tutorial
Make a plot with both redshift and universe age axes using astropy.cosmology
Using Astropy Quantities and Units for astrophysical calculations
Computing Galactic Orbits of Stars with Gala
Viewing and manipulating FITS images
Papers for presentations#
A Geometric Determination of the Distance to the Galactic Center (Eisenhauer et al. 2003)
Extragalactic nebulae (Hubble 1926)
Rotation velocities of 16 SA galaxies and a comparison of Sa, SB and SC rotation properties (Rubin et al. 1985)
On the Ellipticity of the Galactic Disk (Kuijken and Tremaine 1994)
Galactic Bridges and Tails (Toomre & Toomre 1972)
Galaxy morphology in rich clusters: implications for the formation and evolution of galaxies (Dressler 1980)
Other Useful links#
An awesome list of resources for professional astronomers
Astrobetter: Tips and Tricks for Professional Astronomers
Astrobites: astro-ph reader’s digest
Arxiv:astro-ph preprint server
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