Left: The Large Magellenic Cloud.
Middle: The Outer Milky Way.
Right: The site of star formation near Lynds 1551.
Class Logistics ...... Policies ...... Syllabus ...... Resources ...... Assignments
Graduate Teaching Assistant:
Yuhan Yao (yyao@astro)
office hour: 2-3pm sundays / cahill 256
Purpose:
Ay102 is the advanced undergraduate "ISM" class at Caltech,
complementing Ay101 on "stars".
Our other junior/senior level course is the optional Ay104 on "high energy" astrophysics.
Armed with the knowledge from Ay101 and Ay102,
plus additional background from the junior level physics curriculum for Ay or Ph majors,
undergraduates are equipped for the Ay graduate classes during senior year.
Meeting Times:
MWF 11am-12
Assignments:
There will be roughly weekly problem sets.
You will be asked to do analytic work
and/or plot and analyze relevant formulae
and/or data, using your favorite coding language.
In addition, there will be a class project analyzing
the spectrum of a planetary nebula using concepts from class.
Exams: The mid-term assessment will
be an evaluation of conceptual understanding rather than problem solving ability.
The final exam will be open note (your own notes only), closed book, and held during finals period.
It will test both problem solving and conceptual understanding.
Problem sets are a critical means of learning the material,
not just "busy work."
Collaboration on problem sets is permitted
in the conceptual phases of completing an assigment.
However, all students are expected
to work out the final solutions themselves.
Several of the problem sets will
require use of computers for calculations and plotting of results.
The term project is intended to bring the theoretical concepts
from lecture into practice.
It requires some background reading and then writing original code
to work with and analyze spectroscopic data.
Note that use of materials from previous versions of this class is not allowed.
Exams are not collaborative, but your individually handwritten notes such as class notes may be permitted.
Grading will be based on the weekly assignments (50%), the mid-term assessment (5%), the term project (10%), the final exam (35%).
If you have either constructive feedback or complaints about this course,
please come see me (or send an email).
I am always eager to know what is
working vs not working for you.
Beyond your course reading/studying and class attendance,
a quick (daily) visit to the
Astronomy Picture of the Day
might broaden your astronomical horizons.
Texts that are appropriate for this course are the following.
Reading assignments are given on the syllabus page.
My baseline is
A standard text in ISM/IGM at the graduate level, which should be digestible by Caltech undergrads, is
These next two books both start out well, but then both get a little heavy
on the atomic, molecular, and dust spectroscopy/chemistry,
which we will not cover in the full detail they are written about.
They are good where they are good, though.
The above are on reserve under the
Ay102
listing.
In the past, the reserve location has been the (Cahill)
astrophysics library but if not the location would be SFL.
Other good references can be found in the Cahill library. Listed in order of decreasing order of relevance, digestibility, and breadth, some resources are:
The term project assignment is posted here.
Problem sets are posted below.
I will aim to post them on Tuesdays for the due date of the following Monday.
Please please please get your sets in on time.
It is easiest on
everyone (the professor, the TA, and - especially - your fellow students)
if all homeworks are turned in on time, so that they can be graded together,
and turned back to you with solutions in a timely manner.
Please write next to your name on submitted work how long it took *you* to do the set.
-- the
midterm assessment due 19 February in class