Course shared with Dr. Tanja Petrushevska

Literature/Notes

Book: Peter Schneider, "Extragalactic Astronomy And Cosmology"

Grading:

30% journal club presentation

70% written exam with oral discussion (list of potential questions will be given beforehand)

Topics

Intro 

1. Overview: Section 1.2 of the book

The Milky Way as a Galaxy: 

1.    The Structure of the Galaxy (Section 2.3)
2.    The Galactic Center (Section 2.6)

Tutorial:

• Galactic Coordinates and Determination of Distances Within Our Galaxy (Section 2.1 & 2.2)
• Kinematics of the Galaxy (Section 2.4)

The World of Galaxies

1.     Classification (Section 3.1)
2.     Elliptical Galaxies (Section 3.2)
3.     Spiral Galaxies (Section 3.3)
4.     Scaling relations (Section 3.4)
5.     Normal galaxies (Sections 3.5, 3.7, 2.5.1 (intro to Lensing), 3.8, 3.9)

Active Galactic Nuclei

1.     Introduction (Section 5.1)
2.     AGN Zoology (Section 5.2)
3.     The Central Engine: A Black Hole (Section 5.3)
4.     Family Relations of AGNs (Section 5.5)

Clusters and Groups of Galaxies

1.     The Local Group (Section 6.1)
2.     Galaxies in Clusters and Groups (Section 6.2)
3.     X-Ray Radiation from Clusters of Galaxies (Section 6.3)   
4.     Clusters of Galaxies as Gravitational Lenses (Section 6.5)

Cosmology I: Homogeneous Isotropic World Models

1.     Introduction and Fundamental Observations (Section 4.1)
2.     An Expanding Universe (Section 4.2)
3.     Consequences of the Friedmann Expansion (4.3)
4.     Thermal History of the Universe (4.4)
5.     Achievements and Problems of the Standard Model (4.5)

Exam questions (under construction)