Image at left: M81 imaged in the infrared by the Spitzer Space Telescope

The aim of this course, in brief, is to provide a broad introduction to extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology. Topics will include the Milky Way and normal galaxies, supermassive black holes, active galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and cosmology and the origin of structure in the Universe.

My office is A909 (in the JILA tower) - feel free to stop by anytime with queries / problems / suggestions. Policies and further information for the course are as set out in the course syllabus (pdf format). Problem sets (and solutions) will be posted here in due course. Also available is a set of lecture notes from a previous version of this course - my treatment this semester will be somewhat different so I suggest that you regard these as background material rather than a replacement for your own notes.

Lecture 1: Overview
Lecture 2: Gamma ray bursts: observations
Lecture 3: Gamma ray bursts: models
Lecture 4: Milky Way - basic structure (textbook 1.2)
Lecture 5: Milky Way - the IMF (textbook 2.1)
Lecture 6: Milky Way - Salpeter IMF (textbook 2.1)
Lecture 7: Milky Way - dark matter in the halo (textbook 2.3.4)
Lecture 8: Milky Way - gravitational lensing regimes
Lecture 9: Milky Way - lensing results
Lecture 10: Normal galaxies - classification
Lecture 11: Normal galaxies - surface brightness (textbook 1.3.1)
Lecture 12: Normal galaxies - luminosity function (textbook 1.3.1)
Lecture 13: Normal galaxies - stellar dynamics 1 (textbook 3.2)
Lecture 14: Normal galaxies - stellar dynamics 2 (textbook 3.2)
Lecture 15: Normal galaxies - photometry
Lecture 16: Normal galaxies - rotation curves (textbook 5.2)
Lecture 17: Normal galaxies - Tully-Fisher relation (textbook 5.3)
Lecture 18: Normal galaxies - spiral arms (textbook 5.4)
Lecture 19: Normal galaxies - orbits in ellipticals (textbook 6.1-6.2)
Lecture 20: Normal galaxies - chemical evolution (textbook 4.3)
Lecture 21: Normal galaxies - dynamical friction (textbook 5.6.2)
Lecture 22: Active galaxies - introduction (textbook 8.1)
Lecture 23: Active galaxies - evidence for supermassive black holes
Lecture 24: Active galaxies - recap of black hole properties
Lecture 25: Active galaxies - Eddington limit (+discuss fuelling)
Lecture 26: Active galaxies - gas disks / origin of UV radiation
Lecture 27: Active galaxies - the Unified Model (textbook 8.1)
Lecture 28: Active galaxies - iron lines and black hole spin
Lecture 29: Active galaxies - superluminal motion (textbook 8.1.5)
Lecture 30: Galaxy clusters (textbook 6.5)
Lecture 31: Galaxy clusters - gas and X-ray observations
Lecture 32: Cosmology - basic ideas (see also textbook 1.4 & 1.5)
Lecture 33: Cosmology - Friedmann model (textbook 7.2)
Lecture 34: Cosmology - matter dominated universes (textbook 7.2)
Lecture 35: Cosmology - evidence for a cosmological constant
Lecture 36: Cosmology - nucleosynthesis
Lecture 37: Cosmology - structure formation (textbook 7.3)
Lecture 38: Cosmology - microwave background
Lecture 39: Cosmology - microwave background 2
Lecture 40: Cosmology - some unsolved problems...

APS colloquium schedule
Galaxies and the Universe - notes from a course by Bill Keel
Ned Wright's cosmology tutorial
Swift gamma-ray burst mission homepage
JPL's Mars Rover site

Problem set 1 (due in class, Friday Feb 2nd)
Problem set 2 (due in class, Friday Feb 9th)
Problem set 3 (due in class, Wednesday Feb 21st)
Problem set 4 (due in class, Friday March 2nd)
Problem set 5 (due in class, Monday March 12th)
Problem set 6 (due in class, Wednesday March 21th)
Problem set 7 (due in class, Wednesday April 11th)
Problem set 8 (due in class, Monday April 23rd)

The recommended textbook is Advanced Astrophysics by Neb Duric. I recommend that you read the appropriate sections of this book as we go along to complement the lectures.