Image at left: Composite X-ray / optical image of the Crab Nebula from the HST archive

The aim of this course, in brief, is to provide a broad introduction to the astrophysics of stars and the interstellar medium. Topics will include radiation processes from interstellar gas; the formation, structure and evolution of stars; and the physics of stellar remnants - white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.

Lectures will be at 2:00pm Monday / Wednesday / Friday in room DUANE G131. My office is A909 (in the JILA tower) - feel free to stop by anytime with queries / problems / suggestions. Policies and further info about the course are set out in the course syllabus (pdf format). Problem sets will be posted here.

These notes are from a previous version of the course. I will not follow this ordering of topics in detail, but you may still find them useful.
Lecture 1: Introduction
Lecture 2: Overview of Galactic astronomy
Lecture 3: Radiation processes: fluxes and magnitudes
Lecture 4: Radiation processes: equation of radiative transfer
Lecture 5: Radiation processes: optical depth
Lecture 6: Radiation processes: blackbody radiation (see also the non-examinable derivation if interested)
Lecture 7: Radiation processes: radiation from atoms
Lecture 8: Radiation processes: spectral lines
Lecture 9: Radiation processes: bremsstrahlung
Lecture 10: Radiation processes: synchrotron radiation
Lecture 11: Stars: basic assumptions (textbook chapter 1)
Lecture 12: Stars: basic observations (textbook chapter 1)
Lecture 13: Stars: measuring masses (Carroll chapter 7)
Lecture 14: Stars: hydrostatic equilibrium / virial theorem (textbook chapter 2)
Lecture 15: Stars: characteristic timescales (textbook chapter 2.8)
Lecture 16: Stars: gas and radiation pressure (textbook chapter 3)
Lecture 17: Stars: degeneracy pressure (textbook chapter 3)
Lecture 18: Stars: Eddington limit - Orion nebula movie
Lecture 19: Stars: energy transport by radiation (textbook 3.7)
Lecture 20: Stars: nuclear reactions (textbook chapter 4)
Lecture 21: Stars: Solar neutrinos - see John Bahcall's website for more details
Lecture 22: Stars: neutrino oscillations
Lecture 23: Stars: convection - see also some of today's movies
Lecture 24: Stellar evolution: star formation
Lecture 25: Stellar evolution: Young Stellar Objects: HST disk images
Lecture 26: Stellar evolution: binary formation
Lecture 27: Stellar evolution: detecting extrasolar planets
Lecture 28: Stellar evolution: extrasolar planet population
Lecture 29: Stellar evolution: implications of extrasolar planets
Lecture 30: Stellar evolution: low mass stars
Lecture 31: Stellar evolution: white dwarfs (textbook 5.3 / 5.4)
Lecture 32: Stellar evolution: mass transfer binaries
Lecture 33: Stellar evolution: Type II supernovae (textbook 9.1 / 9.2)
Lecture 34: Stellar evolution: neutron stars and pulsars (textbook 9.4)
Lecture 35: Stellar evolution: pulsars
Lecture 36: Stellar evolution: black holes (textbook 9.5): neutron star movie
Lecture 37: Stellar evolution: black holes in X-ray binaries
Lecture 38: Stellar evolution: more about black holes in X-ray binaries
Review material

Problem set #1: Solutions
Problem set #2
Problem set #3
Problem set #4
Problem set #5
Problem set #6

Solutions for some problems can be found in the following files (from a prior version of the course): PS#3, PS#4, PS#5.

APS colloquium schedule
Astrophysical calculator - useful online list of physical and astronomical constants.
Astronomy Picture of the Day

I recommend you complement the lectures and problems by studying one of the following books:
Astrophysics in a Nutshell
Advanced Astrophysics (available in the bookstore)
Introduction to Modern Astrophysics