Spring 2027

Stellar Interiors and Evolution

Covers physical principles of stellar interiors including equilibrium, energy transport, nucleosynthesis, and evolution of main sequence, red giant, and degenerate stars, plus advanced topics like supernovae and binary evolution.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Richard Townsend

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2019: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=14 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.36 GPA, 63.6% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.69 GPA, 93.8% A/AB (n=16 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Apply basic physical principles and mathematical techniques to understand the structure, evolution and ultimate fates of stars.

  • Think like a scientist, applying heuristics such as dimensional analysis and order-of-magnitude estimation to obtain quick insights into unfamiliar systems.

  • Manipulate, analyze and present data from numerical simulations using Python / Jupyter Lab.

  • Communicate scientific concepts and results clearly to your peers.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Graduate/professional standing

  • Graduate/professional standing
ASTRON 715

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Graduate/professional standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2011: 3.39 GPA, 57.1% A/AB (n=14 letter grades); Spring 2019: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=14 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.69 GPA, 93.8% A/AB (n=16 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

RICHARD TOWNSEND is recorded teaching in Spring 2011, Spring 2019, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 200

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2019: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=14 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.36 GPA, 63.6% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.69 GPA, 93.8% A/AB (n=16 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Equilibrium of gaseous spheres, energy transport, generation, and nucleosynthesis
  • Stellar variability, binary evolution, star formation, supernovae, and mass loss

Skills

  • Applying physical principles and mathematical techniques to stellar structure and evolution
  • Using dimensional analysis and order-of-magnitude estimation for scientific insight
  • Manipulating, analyzing, and presenting numerical simulation data with Python and Jupyter Lab
  • Communicating scientific concepts and results clearly to peers

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ASTRON 715 · Spring 2027

Stellar Interiors and Evolution

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:188:001571",
    "course_id": "ASTRON 715",
    "course_uid": "course_163fa143cdee7286a63ec6e3",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "001571",
    "source_subject_id": "188",
    "title": "Stellar Interiors and Evolution",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  }
]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "7be3d6c2af4ac41f3e27c74f891dd940316ded3af62e358ca5e7d30cfedb8b53",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}