Astronomy Physics

You learn to test, explain and develop theories on physical phenomena, to conduct and evaluate experiments and astronomical observations, and to analyse and solve problems using scientific methods. The programme combines a broad understanding of physics and astronomy in general with in-depth knowledge of specific physics areas. The UvA and VU are internationally renowned for their physics and astronomy research.

Among past and present professors are several winners of the Spinoza Prize - often called the Dutch Nobel Prize: Courses are taught at locations of both universities.

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UvA and VU jointly issue a degree certificate to graduates. As a Physics and Astronomy student in Amsterdam you benefit from expertise, networks and research projects at both universities and affiliated research institutes. Within the Master's programme Physics and Astronomy, every student can find an area suited to their individual talents and ambitions. There are several specialisations or 'tracks':. The UvA website uses cookies and similar technologies to ensure the basic functionality of the site and for statistical and optimisation purposes.

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This last category consists of tracking cookies: You consent to this by clicking on Accept. Although astronomy is as ancient as recorded history itself, it was long separated from the study of terrestrial physics. In the Aristotelian worldview, bodies in the sky appeared to be unchanging spheres whose only motion was uniform motion in a circle, while the earthly world was the realm which underwent growth and decay and in which natural motion was in a straight line and ended when the moving object reached its goal. Consequently, it was held that the celestial region was made of a fundamentally different kind of matter from that found in the terrestrial sphere; either Fire as maintained by Plato , or Aether as maintained by Aristotle.

For much of the nineteenth century, astronomical research was focused on the routine work of measuring the positions and computing the motions of astronomical objects. Among those who extended the study of solar and stellar spectra was Norman Lockyer , who in detected bright, as well as dark, lines in solar spectra. Working with the chemist, Edward Frankland , to investigate the spectra of elements at various temperatures and pressures, he could not associate a yellow line in the solar spectrum with any known elements. He thus claimed the line represented a new element, which was called helium , after the Greek Helios , the Sun personified.

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In , Edward C. Pickering undertook an ambitious program of stellar spectral classification at Harvard College Observatory , in which a team of woman computers , notably Williamina Fleming , Antonia Maury , and Annie Jump Cannon , classified the spectra recorded on photographic plates.

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By , a catalog of over 10, stars had been prepared that grouped them into thirteen spectral types. Following Pickering's vision, by Cannon expanded the catalog to nine volumes and over a quarter of a million stars, developing the Harvard Classification Scheme which was accepted for worldwide use in Keeler , along with a group of ten associate editors from Europe and the United States, [20] established The Astrophysical Journal: Around , following the discovery of the Hertsprung-Russell diagram still used as the basis for classifying stars and their evolution, Arthur Eddington anticipated the discovery and mechanism of nuclear fusion processes in stars , in his paper The Internal Constitution of the Stars.

This was a particularly remarkable development since at that time fusion and thermonuclear energy, and even that stars are largely composed of hydrogen see metallicity , had not yet been discovered. In Cecilia Helena Payne later Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin wrote an influential doctoral dissertation at Radcliffe College , in which she applied ionization theory to stellar atmospheres to relate the spectral classes to the temperature of stars.

Despite Eddington's suggestion, this discovery was so unexpected that her dissertation readers convinced her to modify the conclusion before publication. However, later research confirmed her discovery.

Highlights

By the end of the 20th century, studies of astronomical spectra had expanded to cover wavelengths extending from radio waves through optical, x-ray, and gamma wavelengths. Observational astronomy is a division of the astronomical science that is concerned with recording data, in contrast with theoretical astrophysics , which is mainly concerned with finding out the measurable implications of physical models. It is the practice of observing celestial objects by using telescopes and other astronomical apparatus.

The majority of astrophysical observations are made using the electromagnetic spectrum.

Other than electromagnetic radiation, few things may be observed from the Earth that originate from great distances. A few gravitational wave observatories have been constructed, but gravitational waves are extremely difficult to detect. Neutrino observatories have also been built, primarily to study our Sun. Cosmic rays consisting of very high energy particles can be observed hitting the Earth's atmosphere. Observations can also vary in their time scale.

Most optical observations take minutes to hours, so phenomena that change faster than this cannot readily be observed.

Astrophysics - Wikipedia

However, historical data on some objects is available, spanning centuries or millennia. On the other hand, radio observations may look at events on a millisecond timescale millisecond pulsars or combine years of data pulsar deceleration studies. The information obtained from these different timescales is very different. The study of our very own Sun has a special place in observational astrophysics. Due to the tremendous distance of all other stars, the Sun can be observed in a kind of detail unparalleled by any other star.

Our understanding of our own Sun serves as a guide to our understanding of other stars. The topic of how stars change, or stellar evolution, is often modeled by placing the varieties of star types in their respective positions on the Hertzsprung—Russell diagram , which can be viewed as representing the state of a stellar object, from birth to destruction. Theoretical astrophysicists use a wide variety of tools which include analytical models for example, polytropes to approximate the behaviors of a star and computational numerical simulations.

Each has some advantages. Analytical models of a process are generally better for giving insight into the heart of what is going on. Numerical models can reveal the existence of phenomena and effects that would otherwise not be seen. Theorists in astrophysics endeavor to create theoretical models and figure out the observational consequences of those models. This helps allow observers to look for data that can refute a model or help in choosing between several alternate or conflicting models. Theorists also try to generate or modify models to take into account new data.

In the case of an inconsistency, the general tendency is to try to make minimal modifications to the model to fit the data.

Astrophysics

In some cases, a large amount of inconsistent data over time may lead to total abandonment of a model. Topics studied by theoretical astrophysicists include: Astrophysical relativity serves as a tool to gauge the properties of large scale structures for which gravitation plays a significant role in physical phenomena investigated and as the basis for black hole astro physics and the study of gravitational waves. Some widely accepted and studied theories and models in astrophysics, now included in the Lambda-CDM model , are the Big Bang , cosmic inflation , dark matter, dark energy and fundamental theories of physics.