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Undergraduate Astronomy Courses available at UMBC
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The following astronomy and astrophysics
courses are offered by the Physics Department at UMBC, and are open to
students with a major in any discipline (with the necessary prerequistes).
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Note:
A Minor in astronomy is offered to students who are preparing for a career in astronomy or
astrophysics, or to those who are interested in an in-depth survey of modern astronomy.
[More
details on the Minor ...]
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Course Descriptions
PHYS105
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Ideas in Astronomy
(3 credits)
Prerequisite: None
(but High-School Math).
A general-interest course that covers observations, models and theories of the solar system, the stars and the galaxies. Students also
will become acquainted with the history of astronomy.
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PHYS305
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Stellar Astrophysics
(3 credits)
Prerequisite: PHYS 122.
A survey of the life and death of stars. Topics include star formation, stellar structure and evolution, stellar death (white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes), supernovae, binary star systems and accretion onto compact objects, and x-ray sources.
[More Info...]
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PHYS315
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Galaxies and the Interstellar Medium
(3 credits)
Prerequisite: PHYS 122.
The formation, structure, and dynamics of normal galaxies, dark matter, the evolution of elliptical and spiral galaxies, quasars, radio galaxies, and active galaxies. Theoretical models will be compared to observations in radio, IR,
optical, X-ray, and gamma-rays.
[More Info...]
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PHYS316
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Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology
(3 credits)
Prerequisite: PHYS 122.
An introduction to modern cosmology including evidence the big bang and the expanding universe, the formation of
light elements in the early universe, the effect of dark matter on the formation of large-scale structure in the universe
and galaxy motions, gravitational lenses, observations of quasars, the intergalactic medium, measurement of cosmological parameters.
[More Info...]
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PHYS415
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Observational Astronomy
(4 credits)
Prerequisite: PHYS 122, PHYS 305, PHYS 315, PHYS 316.
Detection of radiation and data analysis techniques covering spatial, spectral, and timing data. Hands on, practical experience will be combined with a knowledge of the fundamentals of astrophysics gained from previous astronomy courses. Students will complete a research project using the UMBC 32"
telescope and data obtained from the High Energy Astrophysics Archive (HEASARC). Experience using state of the art astronomical software to analyze data will be gained.
[More Info...]
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History of Previous runs of these
courses
Last Update: 2005 July 31 [IMG]
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