ASTR 400A: Theoretical Astrophysics, Fall 2025, University of Arizona, Steward Observatory

ASTR 400A: Theoretical Astrophysics, Fall 2025, University of Arizona, Steward Observatory#

Online course website for ASTR 400A: Theoretical Astrophysics - Fall 2025 taught by @carlnotsagan at University of Arizona, Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory.

This website will serve as a homepage for course materials including lectures, schedules, additional learning materials, assignments, and various examples.

Learning Objectives#

ASTR 400 - The theory of stellar structure and evolution, star formation, and planet formation.

  • Understand the physical scales associated with a wide variety of astronomical objects and phenomena.

  • Apply a physically motivated theoretical framework to stellar structure to derive stellar properties and compare to observations.

  • Use mathematical and computational skills to solve astrophysical problems related to stars and more generally astrophysics.

  • Communicating, translating, and interpreting fundamental astronomical concepts and research results.

  • Distinguish observationally confirmed elements of stellar physics from numerical results.

Getting Started#

Below are some details about getting started with some of the tools and resources we will be using throughout the semester.

Conda programming environment#

Throughout this course we will be using various python tools and packages. conda is a package manager that allows you to create environments for downloading all the packages you need without disrupting (usually) the existing computing env you are using.

Please download the appropriate conda environment for your machine, create an environment for this class, and install a few starting packages including:

conda install anaconda::jupyter

Slack#

There is a slack workspace for this course, let me know if you did not receive an invite!

Jupyter Notebooks#

In this course, we will use Jupyter Notebooks for various in-class activities. Please visit here to learn about installing a Jupyter Notebook Interface. You can use conda if you already have it installed! Also, if you have not worked with Jupyter Notebooks before, visit this tutorial on launching and running Jupyter Notebooks.

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