The ARPIT 2020 course on Astronomy and Astrophysics is titled “Stars and stellar systems”. An understanding of this field, which draws upon our knowledge of different branches of physics, is fundamental to our understanding of the universe. The course is made up of 10 modules addressing different aspects of the field: Stars and stellar evolution; Stellar variability; Stars and cosmology; Star clusters and star formation; Compact stars; Astrophysics of neutron stars; Binary stellar systems; The Sun; Helio- and astero-seismology; Extrasolar planets. Besides refreshing oneself on the basics and recent developments in the field, the material would also be helpful for teachers of physics wishing to learn the subject to teach.
Topic Speaker Module 1 Stars and stellar evolution Sarita Vig, IIST Module 2 Stellar variability Sukanta Deb, Cotton University Module 3 Stars and cosmology Sivarani Thirupathi, IIA Module 4 Star clusters and star formation Ram Sagar, IIA
Manoj Puravankara, TIFR Module 5 Compact stars Dipankar Bhattacharya, IUCAA Module 6 Astrophysics of neutron stars Sushan Konar, IUCAA Module 7 Binary stellar systems Sudip Bhattacharyya, TIFR Module 8 The Sun Dibyendu Nandi, IISER Kolkata
Durgesh Tripathi, IUCAA
Divya Oberoi, NCRA-TIFR Module 9 Helio- and astero-seismology Shravan Hanasoge, TIFR Module 10 Extrasolar planets Anwesh Majumdar, HBCSE, TIFR
Video editing: Aniket Kadu, Shivraj S Kshatriya
Video recording: Science Media Centre, IISER Pune
Course logo: ASTROSAT image of a star cluster (Courtesy Sarita Vig and ISRO)