3151 Astrophysics II deals with galactic and cosmological scale astrophysics. Topics include: galaxies including Hubble classification, dark matter, and structure of the Milky Way Galaxy; globular and open star clusters; compact objects including compact binary systems, novas and supernovas, pulsars, and magnetars, X-ray binaries; black holes, active galactic nuclei, quasars, the Lyman forest, and the Gunn-Peterson trough; and cosmology including the cosmic microwave background, the FLRW metric, the Friedmann equations, cosmological expansion, and dark energy.

PR: PHYS 3150 and 3220
CR: 3160

Physics 3151 Astrophysics II covers astrophysics at galactic and cosmological scales and discusses some of the more important topics in objects larger than stars – star clusters, galaxies – which are largely governed by gravity. It deals with many topics of active and current interest including dark matter and galactic structure, compact objects like pulsars, magnetars and X-ray binaries, black holes and active galactic nuclei, the cosmic microwave background, and dark energy. This course continues to evolve as new cosmological phenomena are discovered and understood.