AY 124:   Structure and Dynamics of Galaxies              Winter Term 2016

                       Chuck Steidel 
                       252 Cahill                       Grades: Homeworks  40%
                       ph. 395-4168                             Final Exam 30%
                       ccs@astro                                Talk+paper 30%
                     office hrs by appt (e-mail)                        

  TA:   Denise Schmitz (357 Cahill, ds@astro.caltech.edu; X4519) 

                                                                        

Class WWW URL:  http://astro.caltech.edu/~ccs/ay124/ay124.html

Class hours:  Weds. and Fri., 1-2:30, 219 Cahill  

                            Part I:  The Milky Way
     L#          Topic                                               (Reading)            


  1. (1/06) Overview, Distance Determinations, solar nbhd.  (BM Ch. 1; BM2.1-2.3)
  2. (1/08) Stellar Populations I                           (BM 3)        

  3. (1/13) Stellar Lum Fn., IMF                            (BM 6,7)
  4. (1/15) The Galactic disk; structure and kinematics     (BM 9.4, 10; notes)

  5. (1/20) Stellar Populations II-- ages,chem. abundances, (BM 5,10)
                  MW formation scenarios
  6. (1/22) Galactic halo, bulge, bar, and center           (BM 10; BM 6)

  7. (1/27) Stellar Dynamics I                              (BT 2,3; MVW 5.4-5.5)
  8. (1/29) Stellar Dynamics II                             (BT 3,4) 

  9. (2/03) Dynamics of star clusters, core collapse        (BM 6; BT 8)
 10. (2/05) Intro galaxies--classification, stat. prop.     (BM 4, MVW 2.3, 15; notes)

 11. (2/10) Disk Galaxies I                                 (BM 4,7; MVW 2.3, 11 )
 12. (2/12) Disk Galaxies II                                (BT 6, MVW 11.4-11.6)

 13. (2/17) Galaxy interactions, mergers, transformations   (MVW 12, BT 7, notes)
 14. (2/19) Elliptical Galaxies I                           (BM 11.2, MVW 13.1, notes) 

 15. (2/24) Elliptical Galaxies II, galaxy clusters         (notes)
 16. (2/26) Galaxy spectra, SEDs, non-stellar emission      (BM 5)

 17. (3/02)  Galaxy evolution I                             (MVW 10; notes)
 18. (3/04)  Galaxy evolution II                            (notes)

        ****** literature projects due Sunday, March 6 by midnight ****

 19. (3/9 and 3/11)  In-class presentations of literature project (10min+5 for each student)  

      ******** final exam--available March 14 at 9am, due by 5:00pm March 16, 2016. ********

Useful Texts (on reserve in Cahill library):

BM: Binney & Merrifield, Galactic Astronomy (Princeton, 1998- becoming a bit dated) 
BT: Binney & Tremaine, Galactic Dynamics (Princeton, second edition, 2008) 
MVW: Mo, van den Bosch, and White 2011 (Cambridge)-- note this book will also be useful for
Ay127!