Ay 124:  Small Research Projects
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This is another way to earn the course credit, while at the same time 
learning the research skills, and learning about and around the topic 
in question.  People who do a research project will be freed from 
writing a suitable number of reading reports (the number depending 
on the project, performance, etc.)  These projects can be done 
individually or in teams of two people, with some guidance from, 
and interaction with SGD.  Hopefully, the work may even lead to 
a publishable paper.

Here are some ideas, but the list will grow.  Try to think of some
of your own.


1. Is there really a bar in the center of our Galaxy?

   The idea is to use the IRAS source counts and check for an
   asymmetry in the longitude.  If there is a bar at an oblique
   angle to us, the sources on one side would be on the average
   brighter.  This may be testable by comparing the apparent
   luminosity functions.


2. How high above the Galactic plane is the Sun?

   There is an observed asymmetry in the IRAS source counts
   which suggests that the Sun is above the physical disk 
   plane.  (This was already known from the optical data.)
   The z-height value is maybe 10 - 20 pc.  Here one would 
   model the IRAS source counts and try to determine the 
   z-height from them.


3. Numerical stellar dynamics.

   Write an N-body code; for example, use the one from
   Appendix 4.B in Binney & Tremaine.  Test it, and use it
   to study the evolution of small-N systems.  There are 
   many different possibilities regarding specific problems.


Please see me if you want to discuss any of these, or any
other ideas of your own.