Astronomy 871

Physics of the Interstellar Medium
Autumn Quarter 2008

The lecture notes below were composed for this course based on my hand-written notes from previous years. You are welcome to look at these notes even if not enrolled in the class, but please read the Foreword (aka "Notes on the Notes") so that you fully understand their provenance.

If you copy these, please don't hand them out (or put them online) yourself. I update them all the time, and plan on tearing down the page after my class is over this quarter, so send them to me and I'll take care of distribution.

All notes are in Adobe PDF format and will require the Acrobat reader to view.


These are the notes for when Autumn Quarter 2008, currently in progress. I will release notes as they become available, as I usually update/overhaul them each time I teach.

Thanks to everyone who has made comments and suggested corrections.

Lecture Notes:
Foreword [13k PDF] Please read before downloading any notes

Introduction & General ISM Physics [1.4M PDF]

Neutral Hydrogen (HI) Regions [378k PDF]

Ionized Hydrogen (HII) Regions [429k PDF]
Note on Rayleighs [27k PDF]

Interstellar Dust [523k PDF]

Interstellar Molecules [436k PDF]

The Hot ISM [144k PDF]

Updated: 2008 Nov 30 [rwp]