UFAF005 Fundamental astronomy and astrophysics

Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Winter 2023
Extent and Intensity
3/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
RNDr. Tomáš Gráf, Ph.D. (lecturer)
RNDr. Tomáš Gráf, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Ondřej Nicolas Karpíšek (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
RNDr. Tomáš Gráf, Ph.D.
Centrum interdisciplinárních studií – Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to introduce a basic set of knowledge, principles and fundamentals of astronomy and astrophysics at the level of more or less high-school math and physics some lectures (History of astronomy and part of Solar system) are introduce only at popular level. Together with the courses of fundamental physics, it provides a sufficient background to study more advanced courses in astronomy and astrophysics.
Syllabus
  • 1) History of Astronomy:
    Aristarchus, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, Aristotle, Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Hubble, Einstein.
    2) Spherical astronomy:
    coordinate systems, precession and nutation Earth's axis, aberration, parallax, refraction, constellations, star maps and catalogs, time, calendar.
    3) Celestial Mechanics:
    Newton's law of gravity, escape velocity, Kepler's laws, orbital elements, Kepler's equation, the relative positions of the planets synodic and sidereal orbital period.
    4) The Solar System:
    formation, planets and their moons, small bodies, moon, eclipses and occultations, tidal, libration, apparent and actual motion of the planets.
    5) Radiation in Astrophysics:
    characteristic radiation of blackbody radiation, temperature, radiation of atoms and molecules, Boltzmann and Saha equation, continuous and line spectrum.
    6) The variable stars:
    magnitude, Pogsonova equation, color index and excesses, interstellar and atmospheric extinction, spectral classification, H - R diagram.
    7) Double stars:
    classification binaries, basic properties, mass function.
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Štefl V., Korčáková D., Krtička J. Úlohy z astrofyziky. Skriptum MU Brno, 2010. info
  • Karttunen H., Kröger P., Oja H., Poutanen M., Donner K. J. Fundamental Astronomy. Springer, 2007. info
  • Šolc M., Švestka J., Vanýsek V. Fyzika hvězd a vesmíru. SPN, Praha, 1991. info
  • Vanýsek V. Základy astronomie a astrofyziky. Academia, Praha, 1980. info
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
Teacher's information
* written test (exercises) - success rate 75%
* written part of exam - success rate 50%
* oral part of exam
The course is also listed under the following terms Winter 2016, Winter 2017, Winter 2018, Winter 2019, Winter 2020, Winter 2021, Winter 2022.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.slu.cz/course/fpf/winter2023/UFAF005