course-details-portlet

FY2450

Astrophysics

Choose study year
Credits 7.5
Level Intermediate course, level II
Course start Spring 2025
Duration 1 semester
Language of instruction English
Location Trondheim
Examination arrangement Aggregate score

About

About the course

Course content

Newton's laws and inertial frames. Rotating coordinate systems and Coriolis forces. Newton's law of gravitation and Kepler's laws. Mass distributions, gravitational potential, and potential energy. Virial theorem, gravitational collapse, and formation of stars. Special relativity. Doppler shift. General relativity and black holes. Relative and absolute magnitude of stars. Binary stars. Planck's law of radiation and Wien's displacement law. Stellar spectra. Nuclear processes in the core of stars. White dwarfs and neutron stars. Cosmology and the Big Bang.

Learning outcome

The student will get an overview of the formation of stars, the nuclear processes in the core of stars, and their death. Likewise, the student will acquire an overview of extragalactic astrophysics, cosmology, and the Big Bang.

Learning methods and activities

Lectures and problem sessions. Expected work load in the course is 225 hours.

Further on evaluation

Written school exam (67%) and written project assignment with oral presentation (33%). The re-sit exam may be changed from written to oral.

Course materials

Dan Maoz, Astrophysics in a Nutshell: Second Edition (Princeton University Press).

Credit reductions

Course code Reduction From
MNFFY250 7.5 sp
This course has academic overlap with the course in the table above. If you take overlapping courses, you will receive a credit reduction in the course where you have the lowest grade. If the grades are the same, the reduction will be applied to the course completed most recently.

Other pages about the course

Subject areas

  • Astrophysics
  • Astronomy
  • Physics

Contact information

Course coordinator

Department with academic responsibility

Department of Physics