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Prof: Doug Hamilton
Email: Please use the ELMS messaging system
Office: PSC 1153
Office Hours: Drop by Anytime!
Textbook: Planetary Sciences by I. de Pater and J.J. Lissauer
Webpage: http://www.astro.umd.edu/~hamilton/ASTR630
This course will survey our Solar System with an emphasis on physical processes that help us understand its origin and connection to other planetary systems. According to the authors of our award-winning textbook "Planetary Sciences," the amount of material in the book "is difficult to cover in a one-year graduate-level course," so we will choose chapters selectively and cover them in greater depth. Topics to be explored in the first part of the course include orbital dynamics and the physics of planetary atmospheres (chapters 1-4). We will emphasize techniques of problem solving and will focus a number of topics including the three-body problem, dust dynamics, orbital resonances, hydrostatic equilibrium, winds, convection, and the thermal structure of the atmosphere.
During the final part of the course we will discuss three additional chapters from the textbook: Magnetic Fields and Plasmas (Ch. 7), Meteorites (Ch. 8), and Planet Formation (Ch. 13). Since we will be covering a lot of material in a short amount of time, it is especially important to read and think critically about the relevant book sections as we go over them in class. This website include a Reading Log which you should all post to regularly.
We will have one or two quizzes, one in-class midterm, a final exam, and five homework assignments, largely but not exclusively drawn from the text. There will also be a class research project, with an abstract due in the middle of the semester and an oral presentation at the end of the semester. The presentations will be made at the TERPS 2026 Conference, to which other department members may be invited. Giving a talk to a friendly local audience is the best way for you to prepare to give a talk on your own scientific research at a professional meeting.
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