Course

Unit 1

Historical introduction: Old Indian and western – astronomy – Aryabhatta, Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, Galileo – Olbers paradox – solar system – satellites, planets, comets, meteorites, asteroids.

Practical astronomy – telescopes and observations & techniques – constellations, celestial coordinates, ephemeris. Celestial mechanics – Kepler’s laws – and derivations from Newton’s laws.

Sun: Structure and various layers, sunspots, flares, faculae, granules, limb darkening, solar wind and climate.

Unit 2

Stellar astronomy: H-R diagram, color-magnitude diagram – main sequence – stellar evolution – red giants, white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes – accretion disc – Schwartzchild radius – stellar masses Saha–Boltzman equation -derivation and interpretation.

Variable stars: Cepheid, RR Lyrae and Mira type variables – Novae and Super novae. Binary and multiple star system

• measurement of relative masses and Interstellar clouds – Nebulae.

Unit 3

Galactic astronomy: Distance measurement – red shifts and Hubble’s law – age of the universe, galaxies – morphology

• Hubble’s classification – gravitational lens, active galactic nuclei (AGNs), pulsars,

Relativity: Special theory of relativity – super-luminal velocity – Minkowski space – introduction to general theory of relativity – space – time metric, geodesics, space-time curvature. Advance of perihelion of Mercury, gravitational lens.

Cosmology: Comic principles, big bang and big crunch – cosmic background radiation – Nucleo-synthesis – planklength and time, different cosmic models – inflationary, steady state. Variation of G. anthropic principle.

Course Outcomes:

After completion of the course students should be able to

CO1:                 Get a broad knowledge of scientific and technical methods in astronomy and astrophysics. CO2:           Apply mathematical methods to solve problems in astrophysics.

CO3:                 Develop critical/logical thinking, scientific reasoning and skills in the area of modern astrophysics.

CO-PO Mapping:

Evaluation Pattern

*CA – Can be Quizzes, Assignment, Projects, and Reports.

REFERENCES:

1. “Textbook of Astronomy and Astrophysics with elements of Cosmology”, B. Bhatia, Narosa publishing 2001.
2. William Marshall Smart, Robin Michael Green “On Spherical Astronomy“, (Editor) Carroll, Bradley W Cambridge University Press ,1977
3. Bradley Carroll and Dale A. Ostlie. “Introduction to modern Astrophysics” Addison-Wesley, 1996.
4. Bradley Carroll and Dale A. Ostlie, “An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics” Addison-Wesley Publishing Company,1996

5. ‘Stellar Astronomy’ by D Abhayankar.
6. ‘Solar Physics’ by D Abhayankar.