ASTROPHYSICS

24 NQF credits at HEQSF level 6

Course outline:  This course presents an introduction to the theoretical aspects of modern astrophysics. The key objective is to illustrate the application of physical laws in an astronomical context and to explain how we know what we do about the universe and its constituents. Subject matter broached includes Celestial mechanics, radiation laws, blackbody radiation, Planck function and approximations, magnitudes, the hydrogen atom, stellar spectroscopy, stellar evolution and remnants, special relativity, the Earth-Moon system, the Solar system, extrasolar planets, stellar motions, the Milky Way and other galaxies, the extragalactic distance scale, large scale structure, galaxy evolution and Newtonian cosmology.

Course convener and lecturer: Dr Lucia Marchetti - senior lecturer in Astronomy and Director of the IDIA Visualisation Lab (IVL, https://vislab.idia.ac.za/). 

Lecturer Office: Room 5.35, R.W. James Building, UCT Upper Campus

Entrance requirements (pre-requisites):

Course schedule:

  • AST2002H will alternate with AST2003H, therefore AST2002H will run in term 2 and term 4.
  • The final exam will be at the end of term 4

Lectures (in-person):
This course will start in the second term of the first semester. There will be in-class lectures every day of the week (Monday to Friday) at 9h:00.
All the lectures' slides and notes will be available on Amathuba in the form of annotated slides and extra videos (when needed).
The course is organised into 22 modules and at the end of each module (unless stated), there will be a quiz to take (please note that 1 module can last for more than 1 hr or 1 lecture/day). 

Course textbook:

  • Students should refer to the lecture slides as the course's main content.
  • A good reference (but not mandatory) for extra content is: 
    • Fundamental astronomy", Editors: Karttunen, H., Kröger, P., Oja, H., Poutanen, M., Donner, K.J., Springer, Sixth Edition.

Tutorials (in-person):
Every Wednesday, 14h00 - 16h00 during the course terms. The tutorials are practical sessions where the students and tutors will work together on the course material and assignments. The students will also have the opportunity to chat and ask questions to course tutors and the lecturer through the Amthuba forum/via email/ or in person at class/tutorials.

Assessment and mark distribution:
NOTE: this might differ from what is written in the handbook, please refer to what is reported here as the official requirements of the course.

  • ​​​​​​​4 Assignments/Worksheets (including an oral component): 15%
  • 16 end-of-module quizzes: 5%
  • 3 2hrs-long in-person tests: 30% (1 in Term 2, 1 in the mid-year exam period, 1 in Term 4)
  • Final 2-hour-long in-person exam: 50% (at the end of Term 4 during the final exam period).

DP requirement:
NOTE: this might differ from what is written in the handbook, please refer to what is reported here as the official requirements of the course.
To be eligible to write the exam you will have to have completed the following:

  • 80% of the continuous assessment (end-of-module quizzes) completed (note: the incomplete quizzes will still count towards the final mark as 0).  Make sure you keep up with the work and deadlines.
  • 2 out of 3 written assignments completed (note: the not completed assignment will still count towards the final mark as 0)
  • 1 oral assignment in the form of a short student interview.
  • 2 out of 3 tests written before the final exam (note: only the 2 highest marked tests will count towards the final mark). All the tests are compulsory as they are good exercise towards the exam. If you get sick and cannot write one of the tests, you will still qualify for DP as long as you complete at least 2 tests and produce a medical certificate for the absence you made.
  • Minimum class mark of 35%

Subminimum: The final exam has a subminimum of 40%.