(1) I have been part of two formal reviews by the North Central Association. I have not seen them ask for this level of documentation. It could be that closer scrutiny is being done at two-year colleges, but I don't have any evidence of this.
(2a) The Division of Astrophysics is one of the divisions of the American Physical Society.
(2b) The American Astronomical Society is a member society of the American Institute of Physics.
(2c) In England, The Royal Astronomical Society and the Institute of Physics have joint membership privileges, as it is assumed many RAS members will also be IoP members. The RAS, even though the name doesn't say so, is equally astronomy and geophysics.
(3) At some large schools the astronomy department is separate from the physics department (examples: Ohio State University and University of Michigan). At other large schools the astronomy and physics departments are combined departments (examples: Michigan State University and Northwestern University). Look at faculty members in the schools that have separate departments and you'll find the "astronomy professors" often have joint affiliation or might even have their principal appointment in the physics department.
(4) Some schools offer a degree in astronomy whereas others have astronomy as a "concentration" as part of a physics major.
(5) Some schools list their astronomy courses with an astronomy prefix, but other schools list their astronomy courses with a physics prefix.
Bottom line... I think it is pretty easy to show that astronomy/astrophysics are subfields of physics. If there is any doubt, just use a PHYS prefix for your astronomy courses (which is easily justifiable) and that "automatically" makes them physics courses. Then there is no doubt a physicist can teach them.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817