Confronting The Big Questions: Highlights of Modern Astronomy

This course provides students with a short overview of structure and content of the Universe. Each week will cover one question. In week one we address the issue of extra-solar planets - planets orbiting other stars and ask what do we know about these alien worlds touching on issues of life in the Universe as well. In the second week we explore the life of stars. The third week looks at galaxies their history and their distribution across space. The last two lectures explore cosmology - the history of the Universe as a whole. Each lecture will use online interactives developed for the textbook that will help students gain an understanding of the dynamic nature of the topic. By the end of the class students will have gained an overview of the Universe they inhabit and an understanding of its biggest unresolved questions.