The class will be divided into seven discussion sections, each with about 15 students and one TA. The sections will meet every week. The purpose of these sections is to creatively discuss the section topics, while backing up your arguments with scientific reasoning — feel free to use whatever you've learned in Ph 1, Ch 1, and other courses.
The sections are listed below. You can find topics and section enrollment by clicking the section number. Please sign up for a section soon. If you are not listed in any section, you need to contact Abhilash as soon as possible
| Section | TA Name | Location | Time | Office | Phone | Office Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Mislav Balokovic | Hameetman Auditorium (Cahill) | Friday 2:00-3:00 PM | mislavb@astro | |||
| 02 | Iryna Butsky | Cahill 211 | Friday 2:00-3:00 PM | iryna.butsky@gmail | |||
| 03 | Trevor David | Cahill 312 | Friday 2:00-3:00 PM | tjd@astro | |||
| 04 | Abhilash Mishra | Cahill 219 | Friday 2:00-3:00 PM | abhilash@astro | |||
| 05 | Benjamin Montet | Cahill 273 | Friday 2:00-3:00 PM | btm@astro | |||
| 06 | John Pharo | Cahill 219 | Fridays 4:00-5:00 PM | jpharo@caltech | |||
| 07 | Scott Yantek | Cahill 219 | Thursday 8:00-9:00 PM | syantek@caltech |
TA: Mislav Balokovic
Location: Hameetman Auditorium (Cahill)
Time: Friday 2:00-3:00
Office: 264 Cahill
Contact: mislavb@astro,
Theme:
A Peek into the Cosmos:
Have you even seen a colorful and beautifully detailed image of a galaxy or a nebula on the Internet? Those images were made to impress, fascinate and inspire the public (and often do not correspond to what these objects would really look like)! The real data astronomers work with does not look quite as appealing to the eye because it is focused on performing scientific experiments rather than aesthetics. In this section we will look into how astronomical data is acquired and used for both research and public displays. Although human eyes are limited to just the narrow part of the optical spectrum, we will extend our discussions from the radio to the gamma-rays and touch on the possibilities that are opening up beyond the electromagnetic spectrum-- in cosmic rays, neutrinos and gravitational waves. Students will be asked to develop better visualizations (either more beautiful/spectacular or more scientifically complete) for these data.
Section Roster:
2. Yun Ju Yang
3. Ingrid Fiedler
4. Nima Badizadegan
5. Sarah Asano
6. Cynthia Jiang
7. Daniel Hsu
8. Kirby Sikes
9. Melissa Cronin
10. Lasya Marla
11. Andre Comella
12. John Naruk
13. Nancy Cao
14. Shival Dasu
15. Yichi Zhang
16. Kim Furuya
17. Daniel Guth
18. Thomas Peterson
19. Monique Alkiewicz
20. Joshua Dement
21. Daniel Gomez
TA: Iryna Butsky
Location: Cahill 211
Time: Friday 2:00-3:00
Office:
Contact: iryna.butsky@gmail,
Theme:
Things that Go Bump in the Night
In this section, we will look at the deaths of giant stars and their remnants. We will cover a variety of topics from supernovae and black holes, to their formation and structure, to different theories, including time travel. Along the way, we will consider scenarios such as the consequences of a supernova explosion in our solar system or being captured in the orbit of a black hole.
Section Roster:
2. David Cheng
3. Neil Kumar
4. Alexandru Cioc
5. Grace Park
6. Benjamin Wu
7. David Warrick
8. Stephanie Wong
9. Brian Kubisiak
10. Chris Couste
11. Daniel Chui
12. Jerry Feng
13. Melissa Chang
14. Taylor Strumwasser
15. Vighnesh Leonardo Shiv
16. Kevin Tang
17. Bianca Lepe
18. Naveen Tadepalli
19. Poonim Daya
20. Adam Ball
21. Galen Gao
22. Jing Xu
TA: Trevor David
Location: Cahill 312
Time: Friday 2:00-3:00pm
Office:
Contact: tjd@astro,
Theme:
Music of the Spheres
In our lifetime, the number of planets known around other stars has gone from zero to more than 800 confirmed planets and over 3,600 planet candidates. This section will address current issues in the study of these astoundingly diverse "exoplanets" such as the birth and death of planetary systems, the state-of-the art in exoplanet discovery methods, how we study exoplanet atmospheres, and how we search for life elsewhere in the galaxy. Each class will include a case study of an individual planetary system of significant interest.Students will be aksed to speculate about how it would be to live in these other systems and how the environment might effect evolution.
Section Roster:
2. Grant Carlson
3. Aaron Feldman
4. Constance Betsy Fu
5. Joseph Greef
6. Elaine Arbaugh
7. Bhavana Jonnalagadda
8. Allika Walvekar
9. Cynthia sung
10. Kyle Tejada
11. Soumya Kannan
12. Sean Dolan
13. Alice Michel
14. Heather Gold
15. Neera Shah
16. Nehaly Shah
17. ben razon
18. Lance Le Febvrier
19. Elizabeth Beaver
20. Keegan Ryan
21. Vaishnavi Giridaran
TA: Abhilash Mishra
Location: Cahill 219
Time: Friday 2:00-3:00pm
Office: Cahill 355
Contact: abhilash@astro,
Theme:
How the Universe Got its Spots
Recent measurements have revealed the composition,evolution and geometry of the universe in exquisite detail. What are the principles involved in making such measurements? How do we determine the rate of expansion of the universe? How do we measure the matter content in the universe? What determines the size of galaxies? What mysteries remain unresolved in cosmology? In this section we will try to answer these questions using simple physical ideas and order-of-magnitude estimates.
Section Roster:
2. Tara Sowrirajan
3. William Hoza
4. Calli Meyer
5. Binjih Lin
6. Chongxuan (Kevin) An
7. Tatiana Roy
8. Graham Schmidt
9. leo Zornberg
10. Connor Rosen
11. Sean Kanne
12. Emily Jensen
13. Ana Glidden
14. Walker Mills
15. Jonathan Tammer Eweis LaBolle
16. Zhaorong Jin
17. Riley Pinkerton
18. Aakash Indurkhya
19. Winnie Wang
20. Rithwik Vedati
21. Irina Ene
TA: Benjamin Montet
Location: Cahill 273
Time: Friday 2:00-3:00pm
Office:
Contact: btm@astro,
Theme:
Astronomy's Great Debates
How fast is the universe really expanding? Are those canals on Mars real? In this section, we will look at the scientific debates that have shaped the face of astronomy past and present. Following the scientific method, we'll discuss the observations that motivated the thinking of scientists on each side of the debate and use order of magnitude physics calculations to determine how each theory could be tested. We'll then discuss how these theories were tested (or plans to test them) and observe how astronomers separate science fact from science fiction. Oh, and we'll look at pretty pictures too.
Section Roster:
2. Arun Chandra
3. Margaret Lee
4. Hong Joon Park
5. Torin Thosath
6. Yubo Su
7. Joanne Li
8. Ajay Mandlekar
9. Kevin Shengyang Yu
10. Sreenivas Appasani
11. Kristin Eliason
12. Carla Watson
13. Cassidy Yang
14. Michael Klionsky
15. Eli Sorey
16. Alex Lew
17. Meera Reghunathan
18. Jack Wang
19. Dennis Liao
20. Tracey Chan
21. Temesgen Gebrekristos
22. Paul Zhang
TA: John Pharo
Location: Cahill 219
Time: Friday 4:00-5:00pm
Office:
Contact: jpharo@caltech,
Theme:
Dead Stars and Death Stars
What happens when a star dies? Some fade into white dwarfs, while other, more massive stars result in objects more energetic and terrifying than Darth Vader ever dreamed. This section will look at some of these objects, focusing on neutron stars and their varieties. We may also discuss some related high-energy processes, such as supernovae or gamma ray bursts.Students will evaluate the effects on terrestrial life and conditions on earth if one of these events occurred nearby.
Section Roster:
2. Nicholas Schiefer
3. Sylvia Hurlimann
4. Albert Gural
5. Matthew Morgan
6. Andrew Zhao
7. Jerry Zhang
8. Chengyi Lee
9. Kevin Li
10. Michael Wheeler
11. Hannah Walsh
12. William Reichard
13. Kevin Yuh
14. Timothy Maxwell
15. Vy-Luan Huynh
16. Ariel O'Neill
17. Kevin Yang
18. Dhiraj Holden
19. Alexander Anemogiannis
20. Taokun Zheng
21. Bert Thuggin Yang
22. Udaya Ghai
TA: Scott Yantek
Location: Cahill 219
Time: Thursday 8:00-9:00pm
Office:
Contact: syantek@caltech,
Theme:
Life, the Universe and Everything
Where did life come from? Where can it survive? What happens when we launch it into space? The focus of this section is on transporting living things through space and the consequences of doing so. Many astrophysical processes must be considered to safely and effectively move through space, and we will investigate their effects on everything from panspermia to human space colonization.
Section Roster:
2. Oliver Chen
3. William Rieger
4. Oliver Chen
5. edward garza
6. Kristin Anderson
7. Alec Sands
8. Daniel Chou
9. Mark Lorden
10. Tai Min Yoon
11. Sandia Akhtar
12. Alf Mikula
13. Patric Eck
14. Eugene Bulkin
15. Daniel Chou
16. Ann Chen
17. Esther Du
18. Jean- Alexandre Turban
19. Kimberly Law
20. Ryan Langman
21. Meghana Pagadala
22. Harinee Maiyuran