Welcome to PHYS 454 at CCNY

This will be the course page for City College Course PHYS 454 in the Spring of 2023.


The course syllabus is here: Syllabus


Books:

This course is listed as a zero-textbook course, which means no text book purchase is necessary. That doesn't mean you don't have to read anything. The class notes, and provided readings, will largely cover the material, however, you can supplement them with a number of other books if you feel like you need more information. Some useful ones:

  1. An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, Bradley W. Carroll, Dale A. Ostlie,

    Otherwise known as the Big Orange Book, this book covers just about everything that a full year course in intro astrophysics would cover. This is not a full year course, so there are obviously many sections we won't cover.

  2. Foundations of Astrophysics, Barbara Sue Ryden, Bradley M. Peterson

    This is a more modern, and smaller introductory book. It covers less material and is somewhat more accessible.

  3. Fundamental Astronomy , Karttunen et al. Another textbook. This one is free to access from CUNY internet (via. SpringerLink)

Porjects

The page about the projects/presentations can be found here: About the Projects

Tutorials

  • Software/Coding
    1. First steps for Python/Colab →
    2. Plot the Sun's position: Sun's Position via JPL Horizons →
    3. What are lists in Python? Basics of Lists →
    4. Simple Shapes Notebook →
    5. Dealing with Time in Python: It's about Time →
    6. Loading In Data
    7. Basic importing of Data into a Colab Notebook Import Data →
    8. Plot and analyze the Earth's orbit Earth's Orbit →
    9. Images as Arrays (New) Colab Notebook →
    10. Calibrating a Spectrum (New) Colab Notebook →

    Other Pages:


    Course Content

    Course Content will be available here. Exact Dates are subject to change, but this represents the most likely dates.

    >
    Date Subject (& pdf) Slides In class HW Extras
    Jan 29 Intro (pdf) Slides Get Colab running!
    Jan 31 Origins (pdf) Slides Sun Position Code HW 1
    Feb 5 Time mostly Time Codes Spring Break 2024
    Feb 7 Celestial Mechanics (pdf) Slides
    Feb 12
    Feb 14 Celestial Mechanics (pdf) Slides HW 1 Due
    Feb 19
    Feb 21 Celestial Mechanics
    Feb 22 Lagrange Points (pdf) Slides HW 2
    Feb 26 Planetarium
    Feb 28 Light (pdf) Slides Reading Quiz (paper, sols )
    Mar 4 Light (pdf) Slides
    Mar 6 Light and Matter (pdf) Slides HW 3 (HW2 Due)
    Mar 11 Instruments(pdf) Slides
    Mar 13 Star Classes(pdf) Slides
    Mar 18 Stellar Structure(pdf) Slides
    Mar 20 (HW3 Due)
    Mar 25 Reading Quiz (paper)
    Mar 27 Stellar Evolution(pdf) Slides HW 4
    Apr 1
    Apr 3
    Apr 8
    Apr 10 HW 4 Due
    Apr 15
    Apr 17
    Apr 22
    Apr 24
    Apr 29
    May 1
    May 6
    May 8
    May 13 Project Present
    May 15 Project Present

    Communication

    For email communication, please include in the subject: PHYS454. (This is to make sure I see it.)

    To comply with FERPA guidelines, please use your ccny email to correspond with me. Include your name and section number, and EMPLID if you need administrative actions done. If you will be missing class or other activities due to illness, state that and that only. It's inappropriate and unprofessional to share details about vomiting, migraines, etc. Keep that between you and your medical provider or family, not your physics teacher.


    Some student resources you might want to use can be found here: CCNY Campus Resources