This course covers the theory of stellar structure and atmospheres. This is a core course for astronomy/astrophysics graduate students at Rice University. Graduate students enroll in Astr 451 and there are no specific course pre-requisites for graduate enrollment in Astr 451. This couse is taken by nearly all of our undergraduate astrophysics majors at Rice, and many in the BA Astronomy track as well. For undergraduates enrolling in Astr 451, you must already have taken Astr 350 or Astr 360, and you must have taken Phys 301 and Phys 302.

Students should be aware that there is substantial computer programming required in this course. You will be required to program in one of the following languages: IDL, FORTRAN, or some version of C. There is no specific pre-requisite computer science class for Astr 451, but if the idea of programming frightens you, you might consider taking a computer science course or other intrduction to programming type course before taking Astr 451.