Introduction to Observational Astrophysics

Stanford University PHYS 100, 2017 & 2018

I presented a guest lecture in this course for undergraduate physics majors as well as graduate students at Stanford University covering observational studies of black holes.

Topics covered:

• Black holes in an astrophysical context

• Basics of accretion onto black holes

• Observational characteristics of black holes at radio, optical/UV and X-ray wavelengths

• Black hole mass measurement using optical reverberation mapping

• X-ray observations of the inner accretion disc and black hole spin measurements