Department of Physics

10ΕΚΑ01 Introduction to Astrophysics

Course webpage:  https://eclass.uoa.gr/courses/PHYS280

Course outline

Course content

• Introduction:  Radiation, flux, luminosity, brightness, magnitudes, distance ladder in the Universe.
• Stars: Radiation transfer, black body, stellar temperature, spectral classification, ΗR diagram, stellar interiors, stellar evolution of solar-type stars.
• Interstellar space and star formation: Jeans criterion, homologous collapse, protostars, protoplanetary disks.
• Sun: Solar activity, solar system.
• Galaxies: Types, kinematics, formation, evolution, active galaxies.
• Cosmology: Distance ladder expansion of the Universe, Newtonian Cosmology, cosmic microwave background radiation, dark matter.
• Laboratory exercises: Solar radiation. Calculating basic physical parameters of stars - stellar evolution. Star clusters. Age determination - estimating distances. The expansion of the Universe and the Hubble constant.