Harvard University

Astronomy 201a. Stellar and Planetary Astrophysics - 2008

Catalog Number: 4303
Dimitar D. Sasselov
Half course (fall term)
2008, hours (Mon, Wed. 11:15-12:40)
in Observatory Classroom (A-101).

Stars are studied as (1) elementary (baryonic) building blocks of the Universe, and (2) main source of the evolution of matter (nucleosynthesis). Planetary systems are studied in terms of the stellar environments for their formation and survival; planets around other stars are compared to Solar system planets.

The NEW Syllabus (2008) for this course is available as a PostScript file or PDF.
Course COMPUTER CODES for Stellar Physics.

Final Exam:

Problem Sets:

Scanned Lecture Notes & PowerPoint Lectures from 2006:

Notes on Convection (PDF) Nonradial Oscillations (PPT) Giant Planet Interiors.II (PPT) Giant Planet Interiors.III (PPT) Terrestrial Planets.I (PPT) Terrestrial Planets.II (PPT) Exoplanets: Atmospheres (PPT).

Reading Material - Main Textbooks:

Stellar Interiors, by C.J. Hansen, S.D. Kawaler & V. Trimble, 2004, Springer-Verlag (Price: 75.00 on amazon.com)
Dynamic Earth, by G. F. Davies, 1999, CUP (Price: 63.00 used)
For exoplanetary atmospheres follow this link (MSWord file) to chapters of Sara Seager's textbook.

You could also find useful the following books, if you have them:
Planetary Sciences, by I. dePater & J. Lissauer, 2001, Cambridge UP
Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis, by D.D. Clayton, 1984, McGraw-Hill (Price: 26.00)
Supernovae and Nucleosynthesis, by D. Arnett, 1996, Princeton (Price: 31.60)
Radiative Processes in Astrophysics, by G.B. Rybicki and A.P. Lightman, 1985, Wiley (Price: 54.95).

Related Links:

Stellar Data: [SIMBAD Database] - [NASA Data Center]
Atomic & Molecular Data: ["Plasma Gate" Tables & Links] - [OSU Tables] - [LLNL Scattering]
Codes: [LOCAL] - [ATLAS]
Opacities: [Los Alamos TOPS] - [Livermore OPAL] - [TOPbase]
Interesting Courses: [Ph136 CIT] - [Ph101 CIT]
Alyssa Goodman's Web Teaching in Astronomy. A useful Astrophysics Handbook on line - great for reference to basic formulae and data. 
Questions or Comments? Click here to send me e-mail at
dsasselov@cfa.harvard.edu. 
This page last updated on 09/12/08.