Astronomy 465 Galactic Structure
Fall 2026

Lecture Date

Topic

Reading

Observational facts

Sept. 1 Astronomical observations Sec. 2.1
Sept. 3 Stars Sec. 2.2
Sept. 8 Galaxies Sec. 2.3
Sept. 10 Statistical properties of the galaxy population & Galaxy clusters and groups Sec. 2.4-2.5
Sept. 15 High-redshift galaxies & the Large-scale structure Sec. 2.6-2.7

Star formation and chemical evolution in galaxies

Sept. 17 Giant molecular clouds Sec. 9.1-9.2
Sept. 22 SFE and the formation of individual stars Sec. 9.3-9.4
Sept. 24 Empirical star formation laws & the IMF Sec. 9.5-9.6
Sept. 29 Pop III stars & Stellar evolution Sec. 9.7-10.2
Oct. 1 Stellar population synthesis Sec. 10.3
Oct. 6 Chemical evolution of galaxies & stellar feedback Sec. 10.4-10.5

Spiral galaxies

Oct. 8 Mass components, angular momentum, and the formation of spiral galaxies Sec. 11.1-11.2.4
Oct. 13 No class - Fall break!
Oct. 15 Origin of disk scaling relations, Exponential disks, & Disk instabilities Sec. 11.3-11.5.1
Oct. 20 Local and global disk instabilities Sec. 11.5.2-11.5.3
Oct. 22 Formation of spiral arms & Stellar population properties Sec. 11.6-11.7

Galaxy interactions and transformations

Oct. 27 Chemical evolution, High speed encounters, tidal stripping, and dynamical friction Sec. 11.8.2, 12.1-12.3
Oct. 29 Galaxy merging & harrassment Sec. 12.4-12.5.1

Elliptical galaxies

Nov. 3 Transformation of cluster galaxies, and the structure and dynamics of elliptical galaxies Sec. 12.5.2-13.1
Nov. 5 The formation of elliptical galaxies, the Fundamental Plane, Stellar population, & Dwarfs Sec. 13.2, 13.4-13.6

AGN

Nov. 10 The AGN population & BH basics Sec. 14.1-14.2.1
Nov. 12 The SMBH paradigm Sec. 14.2.2-14.2.7
Nov. 17 AGN formation, evolution, and connection to galaxy formation Sec. 14.3-14.4

Statistical properties of the galaxy population

Nov. 19 Galaxy luminosities and stellar masses Sec. 15.1-15.2
Nov. 24 No class
Nov. 26 No class - Thanksgiving!
Dec. 1 Linking halo mass to luminosity and SFH Sec. 15.3-15.4
Dec. 3 Environmental dependence, spatial clustering, and galaxy bias Sec. 15.5-15.7
Dec. 8 In-class presentations
Dec. 10 In-class presentations