Astronomy 626: Galaxies

Galaxies: Introduction, morphology and classification, elliptical galaxies, disk galaxies, Milky Way, chemical evolution, photometric evolutio.n
The history of galaxy formation: Observations of galaxies at earlier times. Theoretical models of galaxy evolution.
Mechanics: Gravitational potentials, orbits, stellar dynamical systems, collisionless N-Body methods.
Spheroids: Jeans theorem, dispersion, mass profiles, rotation and velocity anisotropies, axisymmetric and triaxial models.
Disks: Kinematics of solar neighborhood, local stability, spiral structure, bar instability, warped disks.
Halos: Giant galaxies, dwarf galaxies.
Transformations: Tidal interactions, orbit decay, violent relaxation.
Dense Stellar Systems: Globular clusters, galactic nuclei.

This outline is representative only, and is likely to change from instructor to instructor and from year to year.