Course Outline:
This course builds up on the NASSP Honours course "Galaxies" taught by Prof. A.P. Fairall, and concentrates on the properties of normal elliptical and spiral galaxies to active galaxies. Tutorials consist in exercises (similar level as final exam), some real data reduction and/or simulations, next to the assignment of two term papers (including an oral slideshow presentation), one on multi-wavelength observations of galaxies and the other on current hot and/or controversial topics in Extragalactic Astronomy.
Syllabus:
- Introduction:
Brief history of Galactic Astronomy from Kant to the Shapley-Curtis debate to the current view on the size, shape of and the motions in our galaxy - Morphology of Galaxies:
Hubble Sequence, de Vaucouleurs, luminosity classes, Yerkes, and automated classifications - Properties of Galaxies:
Biases, environmental effects, morphological segregation, galaxy groups and clusters, luminosity functions in the field and in clusters - Elliptical Galaxies:
Photometry and properties (mass), 3-dimensional shapes, motions of stars, models, fundamental plane, populations, dark matter and black holes - Spiral Galaxies:
Photometry and properties (mass), gas motions and rotation curves, dark matter, Tully Fisher relation - Active Galactic Nuclei: Overview
Characteristic properties of AGN, taxonomy and history; Seyfert galaxies: emission from nuclei, broad and narrow line regions (BLR, NLR), the torus, and the unified theory of AGN - Extragalactic Radio Sources:
Physical processes, types of radio sources (compact/extended), radio jets, superluminal motion, non-cosmological redshifts - Quasars and Quasar Absorption Line Systems:
Quasar spectrum, systematic searches, spatial distribution and luminosity function, evolution; absorption lines sytems: information in line profiles, narrow-line systems, broad lines systems, Lyα forest, damped Lyα systems
References:
- Galactic Astronomy, J Binney & M. Merrifield, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-691-02565-7
- Galaxies and Cosmology, F Combes, P. Boissé, A. Mazure & A. Blanchard, Berlin, Springer, 2002. ISBN 3-540-41927-6
- Galaxies in the Universe, L.S. Sparke & J.S. Gallagher, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-521-59740-4
- Galaxies and Galactic Structure, D. Elmegreen, Prentice Hall, 1997. ISBN 0-137-79232-8 (undergraduate level, but very good)