Astrophysical Objects

Catalog description

Astronomy has led to the discovery of a plethora of fascinating objects in the universe, such as star clusters, extrasolar planets, protoplanetary disks, nebulae, neutron stars, black holes, numerous types of galaxies and galaxy clusters, quasars, blazars, voids, and explosive events such as novae, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts and tidal disruption events. Astrophysics is the application of fundamental physics to understand observations of the universe, and the usage of astronomical phenomena to study physics. Various phenomena are studied, focusing on a subset of important physical systems and concepts that have wide applicability to studying the universe as well as other areas of physics. Topics that will be touched on include two-body and multi-body dynamics, stellar structure and evolution, nuclear fusion interactions, stellar atmospheres, extrasolar planetary systems, winds, shocks and ionization, accretion, magnetohydrodynamic systems, condensed matter and the consequences of strong gravity, gravitational wave emission, high energy particle acceleration, and dark matter and large scale structure dynamics, and consequences of general relativity to understand warped spacetime and the description of an expanding Universe. The physical processes include mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum and statistical mechanics, nuclear physics, particle physics, plasma physics, hydrodynamics, and both special and general relativity.