The Radio Sky

IUCAA - NCRA Graduate School

13 October - 12 December 2025

• Lectures: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 12:00-13:00.
• Mid-term Examination:10 November (Monday) 10:00-12:00 (tentative).
• Final Examination: 8 December (Monday) 10:00-12:00.

Things to remember:

• To contact me, remember that my office number in NCRA is F229; the phone number is (020) 25719270. In case you want to contact me and do not find me in office, send me an email to tirth at ncra.tifr.res.in.
• Any information/updates/news about the course will be put up at this webpage. Make sure you check the webpage periodically.
• The course will consist of approximately 24 lectures (of 1 hour each) at the rate of 3-4 lectures per week. The lectures will be over by 3 December. In case we lose too many lectures because of holidays etc, we will hold extra lectures so that we can still finish by the same date.
• Attendance in the lectures is not compulsory. However, if you attend the lectures, please try to be punctual.
• There will be one Mid-term Examination and one Final Examination which will be used for evaluating the course.
• You will be allowed to consult your class notes during the Examinations.
• The evaluation procedure for the course is as follows: your final average score will be computed giving 70% weight to the Final Examination and 30% to the Mid-term Examination.
• To prepare for the Examinations, sample problem sheets would be shared during the course. Although there is no guarantee that the problems in the Examinations would be taken only from those in the sample sheets, they will be a useful resource for your preparation.

Reading List:

• George B. Rybicki & Alan P. Lightman, Radiative Processes in Astrophysics
• T. Padmanabhan, Theoretical Astrophysics (Volume I: Astrophysical Processes)
• Frank H. Shu, The Physics of Astrophysics (Volume I: Radiation)
• James J. Condon & Scott M. Ransom, Essential Radio Astronomy

Slides of selected lectures

• Introduction (Lecture 1)

Problem Sheets

• Problem Sheet 0
• Problem Sheet 1