Knowledge and understanding: the student will acquire knowledge of astrophysics, from planets to cosmology, at a level such to successfully face a master degree in astrophysics, or to make the connections between astrophysics and other topics like theoretical physics or geophysics.

Applying knowledge and understanding: the student will gain confidence in the physics of stars, galaxies and cosmology (yet without knowing general relativity), and in the ability to obtain the numerical values of physical quantities, at least at the order-of-magnitude level.

Making judgements: the student will be guided through the interpretation of astrophysical data, so as to be able to solve problems in a competent and creative way. The very nature of astrophysics will force the student to merge knowledge from various fields of physics to get a wide view of the Universe nature.

Communication skills: the student will be required to describe in an accurate way and with proper language the topics of astrophysics. An important part of the final exam will be dedicated to the presentation, in the form of a brief talk, of a specific topic.

Learning skills: the student will learn to combine information coming from different sources, and to synthesize knowledge coming form several fields of physics.

Good knowledge of the basic notions of quantum mechanics

The course will cover the following topics:
- measures in astronomy,
- stars,
- galaxies,
- planets,
- cosmology,
- the birth of structures in the Universe.

Introduzione all'Astrofisica, Pierluigi Monaco, Aracne

Astronomical measures:
- Celestial coordinates
- Magnitudes
- Spectra, spectral lines
- Measures of temperature, velocity, mass and radius of a star
- The measure of distances in astronomy
- Telescopes and astronomies

Stars
- Classification, Hertzsprung-Russell's diagram
- The equations of stellar structure
- Nuclear processes and stellar nucleosynthesis
- Solar neutrinos and helioseismology
- Degenerate electrons pressure and radiation pressure
- Stellar evolution
- The final stages of a star
- Star formation
- Gamma-ray bursts

Planets
- Exoplanets
- The solar system and life in the Universe

Galaxies
- The interstellar medium
- The Milky Way
- Hubbles' morphological classification
- Structural properties and dark matter
- Active galactic nuclei

Cosmology
- The cosmic distance ladder and Hubble-Lemaitre expansion
- Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models
- Distant supernovae and dark energy
- Cosmic microwave background
- The early Universe
- Baryogenesis and primordial nucleosynthesis

Cosmogony
- The large-scale structure of the Universe
- The cold dark matter model
- Galaxy evolution
- Galaxy formation
- Observing the dark sky

Most lectures will be at the blackboard, aided by the projection of images and videos. Some exercises will be proposed during the lectures, mostly consisting in the calculation of specific quantities starting from known data (e.g. the mass of the sun). Other exercises will be proposed, that are given in the textbook.

All the material will be available in the personal web page of Prof. Monaco, http://adlibitum.oats.inaf.it/monaco/teaching.html.

The exam will consist in an oral discussion of ~30 minutes, that will start with a 15 minutes talk on a topic chosen by the student, to then pass to some brief questions on other topics.
We will evaluate the ability of the student to express concepts in a deep, linear, correct and coherent way.