COURSE DESCRIPTION
Galaxies are the basic building blocks of the universe, and we use them to trace the evolution of the universe. Fundamental processes such as star formation, recycling and enrichment of gas, formation of planets etc. all take place in galaxies. The course describes the structure of the galaxies, including dark matter, stars, and gas as well as the large scale structure in which galaxies are embedded. It discusses ongoing surveys of the nearby and distant universe. A special focus will be on the evolution of galaxies. The course builds on the bachelor lecture course “Galaxies and Cosmology” (Sterrenstelsels en Kosmologie), and assumes that the material in this course is known to the student. A very brief summary will be given of the most important material.
Prerequisites:
Textbooks: "Galaxy Formation and Evolution" by Houjun Mo, Frank van den Bosch, and Simon White
"Galactic Dynamics, Princeton Series in Astrophysics" by James Binney and Scott Tremaine
"Galactic Astronomy, Princeton Series in Astrophysics" by James Binney and Michael Merrifield
