ASTR 342/576:: Summer 2003

University of Virginia:: Astronomy
Information
Class Notes
Book (Life Beyond the Earth)
Announcements
Problem Sets & Exams
Links

CLASS NOTES
06/10/2003 A Quick Tour of the Galaxy
06/11/2003
The Drake Equation
The Structure and Evolution of the Sun
important dimensional parameters
Examples of planet formation
06/12/2003
Brightness, Luminosity, and Distance
Stellar masses, lifetimes, and supernovae
Basic QM and more on Dimensions
Evolution of sun, massive star, and nuclear binding energies
06/13/2003
Stars -- conclusions
Solar System Basic Facts & The Nebular Hypothesis
Computer Simulations of Planetary Evolution
Planetary Migration theory
Mass-Radii relation of planets
06/16/2003
Detecting Extra-Solar-System Planets
Conclusions -- Planets
Other more direct proposed planet detection methods
06/17/2003
Atmospheres and Climates -- Basics
Continuously Habitable Zones
The evolution of carbon dioxide and molecular oxygen in the atmosphere; CHZ's around planets
06/18/2003
Basics & Terrestrial Life
06/19/2003
Life on Mars & Summary
Evidence of water and life(?) on Mars (warning, this is a PowerPoint slide!)
The handedness (left or right-handed) of amino acids
Go to Prof. Rood's website to get more evidence of water on Mars and Europa
06/20/2003
TEST; no class discussions
6/23/2003
The Evolution of Intelligence
The Human Brain
Lifetime of Technological Civilizations
6/24/2003
Fundamentals of electromagnetics and information in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
6/25/2003
Radio SETI basics -- why is it done?
The Cosmic Haystack -- multidimensional parameter space that SETI astronomers must search through
A schematic diagram of the radio SETI cosmic haystack
6/26/2003
SETI radio projects and expected emissions.
Some of the main SETI radio experiments.
6/27/2003
Optical SETI -- an overview and comparison with radio SETI.
Energy I -- First and second laws of thermodynamics.
Costs of SETI broadcasts.
06/30/2003
TEST; no class discussions
7/01/2003
The Fermi-Hart paradox; various energy requirements of space habitats and civilizations.
This website has an introduction to these O'Neill colonies, as well as some lovely pictures of them. Look in the sections on O'Neill cylinders, Bernal spheres, and Stanford Toruses.
7/02/2003
Discussion of energy limits for Matrioshka brains.
Paper elaborating on physical limits of superintelligent brains. Only pages 1-9 are required reading.
A heuristic argument for the Bekenstein bound on information density and information processing rate. This is included solely for completeness. Here are located page #1 and page #2.
07/03/2003
Evolution of life into the far future.
Is Life Analog or Digital? By F. Dyson
Fate of Life, by Krauss and Starkman. Scientific American article.
10/27/2015
A dying universe: the long-term fate and evolution of astrophysical objects, by F. Adams and G. Laughlin
Time without end: Physics and biology in an open universe