Harvard University

Astronomy 201a. Stellar and Planetary Astrophysics

Catalog Number: 4303
Dimitar D. Sasselov
Half course (fall term)
2006, hours (Tu., Th. 2:00-3:30)
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 (2004) for this course is available as a PostScript file or PDF.
Course COMPUTER CODES for Stellar Physics.

Journal Club Schedule

Final Exam:

Final Exam (PS), & (PDF).

Problem Sets:

Homework 1, Homework 2, Homework 3.

Scanned Lecture Notes & PowerPoint Lectures:

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:

Stellar Interiors, by C.J. Hansen, S.D. Kawaler & V. Trimble, 2004, Springer-Verlag (Price: 84.00)
Planetary Sciences, by I. dePater & J. Lissauer, 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).
Some of the prices quoted above are from the online bookstore Barnes&Noble where you can get all or any of these books. They could also be available from used booksellers online for less, like abebooks.com. The first two books contain the basic material.

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 09/19/06.