| # | Title | OpenStax Astronomy 2e Reading | Paired Lab/PS |
|---|
| 01 | Describing Radiation: Flux, Intensity, and the Electromagnetic Spectrum | Ch. 5.1–5.2, 18.1 | Lab 01 / PS 01 |
| 02 | The Blackbody Radiation Law: From Planck's Function to Stefan-Boltzmann and Wien | Ch. 5.4 |
| 03 | Radiative Transfer: Optical Depth and the Equation of Transfer | Ch. 5.5 (extends beyond OpenStax) | Lab 02 / PS 02 |
| 04 | Why Spectral Lines Look the Way They Do: The Boltzmann and Saha Equations | Ch. 5.5, 17.3 |
| 05 | Hydrostatic Equilibrium: What Holds a Star Up | Ch. 15.4–15.5 (extends beyond OpenStax) | Lab 03 / PS 03 |
| 06 | The Virial Theorem: Gravity, Kinetic Energy, and Self-Gravitating Systems | Not in OpenStax; derived from Newtonian mechanics |
| 07 | Gravitational Potentials: The Shell Theorem, Potential Energy, and Escape Velocity | Ch. 3.3–3.5 | Lab 04 / PS 04 |
| 08 | The Two-Body Problem: Deriving Kepler's Laws from Newtonian Gravity | Ch. 3.1–3.2 |
| 09 | Weighing Binary Stars: Visual, Spectroscopic, and Eclipsing Methods | Ch. 18.4–18.5 | Lab 05 / PS 05 |
| 10 | Tidal Forces and the Roche Limit | Ch. 3.6 (extends beyond OpenStax) |
| 11 | Orbital Energy, the Vis-Viva Equation, and Orbital Transfers | Ch. 3.4–3.5 | Lab 06 / PS 06 |
| 12 | Beyond Two Bodies: Lagrange Points and Hierarchical Multiple Systems | Ch. 3.6 |
| 13 | Radiation Pressure and the Eddington Luminosity | Not in OpenStax; derived from radiation-pressure/gravity balance | Lab 07 / PS 07 |
| 14 | Synthesis: Triangulating a Real Star System from Independent Physical Laws | Ch. 18, Ch. 3 (read together) |