• Offered by Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • ANU College ANU Joint Colleges of Science
  • Course subject Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Areas of interest Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mathematics, Physics
  • Academic career UGRD
  • Course convener
    • AsPr Christian Wolf
  • Mode of delivery In Person
  • Co-taught Course
  • Offered in Second Semester 2020
    See Future Offerings

All activities that form part of this course will be delivered remotely in Sem 2 2020.

The goal of this course is to provide students with an overview of extragalactic astronomy and the astrophysics that describes galaxies and the universe. We will study the properties of galaxies and galactic nuclei, stellar and gas dynamics, clusters of galaxies, the large scale distribution of galaxies and galaxy clusters and their use as cosmological tools. The students will further get an overview of cosmology with emphasis on the cosmic microwave background, galaxies and related phenomena at high redshift, and cosmic structure formation. Additional topics include nucleosynthesis, quasar absorption lines, and gammaray bursts.
This course can be taken as an HPO, please discuss with course convener.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. Apply physical principles to the analysis of observations of galaxies and of the Universe as a whole;
  2. Use a range of mathematical and computational techniques in this analysis, including order of magnitude, estimation and numerical modeling;
  3. Communicate the results of this analysis;
  4. Work effectively as part of a group.

Other Information

This course can be taken as an HPO, please discuss with course convener.

Indicative Assessment

  1. 8 problem sets (60) [LO 1,2,3,4]
  2. Final exam (40) [LO 1,2,3]
  3. HPO option: written report on research project (20% weight of problem sets reduced to 40%) (null) [LO 1,2,3,4]

In response to COVID-19: Please note that Semester 2 Class Summary information (available under the classes tab) is as up to date as possible. Changes to Class Summaries not captured by this publication will be available to enrolled students via Wattle. 

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester including:

  • Face-to face component which may consist of 3 hours of lectures (1x2 hour lecture plus 1x1 hour lecture) and 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week
  • Approximately 82 hours of self-study which will include preparation for lectures, presentations and other assessment tasks (average 5 hours per week of problem sets ).

Inherent Requirements

To be determined

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course you must have completed PHYS2013 and MATH2305 or MATH2405. Incompatible with MATH3329 and ASTR6002.

Prescribed Texts

Galaxies in the Universe, An Introduction, by L. S. Sparke and J. S. Gallagher III Introduction to Cosmology, by B. Ryden

Assumed Knowledge

Recommended: ASTR3007, PHYS2016, PHYS2021

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Student Contribution Band:
2
Unit value:
6 units

If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.  Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2020 $4050
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2020 $5760
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

Second Semester

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
8634 27 Jul 2020 03 Aug 2020 31 Aug 2020 30 Oct 2020 In Person View

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