PCC Extension Course Website

Course dESCRIPTION

Astronomy is the study of astrophysical objects beyond our atmosphere, from the Sun and planets in our solar system, to the billions of stars in our Milky Way galaxy, to the black holes beyond its borders and the origin of the universe itself. In this introduction to astronomy, students will learn the basics of stars, planets, galaxies, and the universe, as well as the technology behind telescopes we use to study them. Through interactive lectures, students will be introduced to the electromagnetic spectrum of light and how different objects in the night sky produce light at different wavelengths. Finally, we will discuss ways for students to continue exploring astronomy on their own using hobbyist binoculars and telescopes, publicly accessible data from NASA and NRAO telescopes, and a basic knowledge of constellations and major stars to orient oneself on a starry night. A major goal will be for students to feel empowered to continue expanding their interest in science and astronomy by introducing opportunities for hobbyist astronomy around Pasadena.  This is a short 4-session course during the PCC Spring Session (February 18th – March 11th, 2026)

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

…identify major stars and constellations in the night sky, recount the life-cycle of a star form the Main Sequence to supernova, and distinguish between White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars, and Black Holes.

…describe the basic components of an optical telescope,explain the major differences between optical, infrared, and UV astronomy, describe why X-ray and gamma ray telescopes operate differently from OIR and UV telescopes.

…describe the basic components of a radio antenna, explain how radio interferometers work, and list the astrophysical sources of radio waves.

…describe the components of a galaxy (disk, bulge, ISM, halo, CGM), define cosmology, how it is studied (redshift, CMB, 21 cm cosmology, simulations, FRBs), explain how distance, redshift, and time are related within general relativity, and understand how the presence of dark matter and dark energy affect our picture of the Universe.

…list some of the major questions in astronomy today and refer to resources to continue exploring astronomy within and around Pasadena.

SYLLABUS

Lecture SLIDES

GUided notes

PROBLEM SETS

Astronomy opportunities around pasadena

Upcoming Caltech Astro Events: https://www.astro.caltech.edu/outreach
LA Astronomical Society: https://www.laas.org/
Palomar Observatory Community: https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/community/
Planetary Society: https://www.planetary.org/
Griffith Observatory Career/Volunteer Opportunities: https://griffithobservatory.org/about/employment/

ADDITIONAL READING AND RESOURCES

Below are a few of the textbooks used to make lectures for this course; you can access an online folder with exerpts relevant to the course here: https://caltech.box.com/s/tvvt31y3o71rsa9vk8kdzqafrlk7svdi

Binney, James, and Michael Merrifield. “Galactic astronomy.” (2021): 1-816.

Carroll, Bradley W., and Dale A. Ostlie. An introduction to modern astrophysics. Cambridge University Press, 2017. 

Condon, James J., and Scott M. Ransom. Essential radio astronomy. Princeton University Press, 2016.

Griffiths, David J. Introduction to electrodynamics. Cambridge University Press, 2023.

Haykin, Simon, and Barry Van Veen. Signals and systems. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

Kraus, John D., Ronald J. Marhefka, and Ahmad S. Khan. “Antennas and Wave Propagation.”

Lorimer, Duncan Ross, and Michael Kramer. Handbook of pulsar astronomy. Vol. 4. Cambridge university press, 2005.

Rybicki, George B., and Alan P. Lightman. Radiative processes in astrophysics. John Wiley & Sons, 2024.

Thornton, Stephen T., and Jerry Marion. Classical dynamics of particles and systems. MTM, 2019.

Young, Hugh D., et al. University physics. Vol. 9. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1996.

Below are peer-reviewed scientific articles, review articles, and pre-prints for further reading!

Lecture 1:

Prodanović, Tijana, Gary Steigman, and Brian D. Fields. “The deuterium abundance in the local interstellar medium.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 406.2 (2010): 1108-1115.

Ivanov, M. A., and G. A. Shulman. “Photodissociation of iron nuclei during the collapse of a magnetic star.” Astronomicheskii Zhurnal 67 (1990): 326-333.

Moe, Maxwell, and Rosanne Di Stefano. “Mind your Ps and Qs: the interrelation between period (P) and mass-ratio (Q) distributions of binary stars.” The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 230.2 (2017): 15.

Lecture 2:

Rossi, A., et al. “GRB 180728A and SN 2018fip: the nearest high-energy cosmological gamma-ray burst with an associated supernova.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.04179 (2026).

Kuiper, Lucien, and Wim Hermsen. “The soft γ-ray pulsar population: a high-energy overview.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 449.4 (2015): 3827-3866.

Whitehead, Lorne, John Huizinga, and Michele Mossman. “Why do stars twinkle, and do they twinkle on Mars?.” American Journal of Physics 80.11 (2012): 980-984.

Tielens, Alexander GGM, and Louis J. Allamandola. “Composition, structure, and chemistry of interstellar dust.” Interstellar Processes: Proceedings of the Symposium on Interstellar Processes, Held in Grand Teton National Park, July 1986. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 1987.

Lecture 3:

Hutschenreuter, Sebastian, et al. “Disentangling the Faraday rotation sky.” Astronomy & Astrophysics 690 (2024): A314.

Doeleman, Shep, and EHT Collaboration. “Focus on the first Event Horizon Telescope results.” Astrophys J Lett. April (2019).

Ravi, Vikram, et al. “Deep synoptic array science: discovery of the host galaxy of FRB 20220912A.” The Astrophysical Journal Letters 949.1 (2023): L3.

Cotton, W. D., et al. “MeerKAT 1.3 GHz Observations toward the Milky Way Bulge.” The Astrophysical Journal 985.1 (2025): 94.

Cotton, W. D., et al. “MeerKAT 1.3 GHz Observations of Supernova Remnants.” The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 270.2 (2024): 21.

Penzias, A. A., and R. W. Wilson. “A measurement of the background temperature at 1415 MHz.” Astronomical Journal, Vol. 72, p. 315 72 (1967): 315.

Oei, Martijn SSL, et al. “Black hole jets on the scale of the cosmic web.” Nature 633.8030 (2024): 537-541.

Müller, C., et al. “TANAMI monitoring of Centaurus A: The complex dynamics in the inner parsec of an extragalactic jet.” Astronomy & Astrophysics 569 (2014): A115.

Smolčić, Vernesa, et al. “The VLA-COSMOS 3 GHz Large Project: Cosmic evolution of radio AGN and implications for radio-mode feedback since z~ 5.” Astronomy & astrophysics602 (2017): A6.

Kaviraj, Sugata, et al. “Radio AGN in spiral galaxies.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 454.2 (2015): 1595-1604.

Peterson, Jeffrey B., et al. “21 cm intensity mapping.” arXiv preprint arXiv:0902.3091 (2009).

Bowman, Judd D., et al. “An absorption profile centred at 78 megahertz in the sky-averaged spectrum.” Nature 555.7694 (2018): 67-70.

Amiri, Mandana, et al. “Detection of the Cosmological 21 cm Signal in Auto-correlation at z~ 1 with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.19620 (2025).

Geng, Jin-Jun, Bing Zhang, and Yong-Feng Huang. “A model of white dwarf pulsar AR Scorpii.” The Astrophysical Journal Letters 831.1 (2016): L10.

Stanway, Elizabeth R., et al. “VLA radio observations of AR Scorpii.” Astronomy & Astrophysics 611 (2018): A66.

de Ruiter, I., et al. “Sporadic radio pulses from a white dwarf binary at the orbital period.” Nature Astronomy (2025): 1-13.

Keane, E. F., et al. “The survey for pulsars and extragalactic radio bursts–I. Survey description and overview.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 473.1 (2018): 116-135.

Jacoby, B. A., et al. “A large-area survey for radio pulsars at high galactic latitudes.” The Astrophysical Journal 699.2 (2009).

Lorimer, Duncan R. “Binary and millisecond pulsars.” Living reviews in relativity 11.1 (2008): 8.

Bhattacharya, Dipankar, and Edeard Peter Jacobus van den Heuvel. “Formation and evolution of binary and millisecond radio pulsars.” Physics Reports 203.1-2 (1991): 1-124.

Lecture 4:

Tempel, E., et al. “Galaxy morphology, luminosity, and environment in the SDSS DR7.” Astronomy & Astrophysics529 (2011): A53.

Rubin, Vera C. “The rotation of spiral galaxies.” Science220.4604 (1983): 1339-1344.

Lian, Jianhui, et al. “The Milky Way Is a Less Massive Galaxy—New Estimates of the Milky Way’s Local and Global Stellar Masses.” The Astrophysical Journal Letters 990.2 (2025): L37.

Vermeulen, R. C., and M. H. Cohen. “Superluminal motion statistics and cosmology.” The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 430, no. 2, pt. 1, p. 467-494 430 (1994): 467-494.

McConnachie, Alan W. “The observed properties of dwarf galaxies in and around the Local Group.” The Astronomical Journal 144.1 (2012): 4.

Koller, Dávid, and Sándor Frey. “Superluminal Motion and Jet Parameters in the High-Redshift Blazar J1429+ 5406.” Universe 11.5 (2025): 157.