Welcome to THE UNIVERSE!
Ever wonder what the universe is, what it's full of, why the sky is blue, why the night sky is dark and full of stars, and how it all got to be this way? Well, this is the course for you. We'll cover stars, exotic stellar objects (white dwarfs, red giants, neutron stars and black holes), supernova explosions, the origin of atomic elements, galaxies, giant radio sources, quasars, clusters of galaxies, the fabric of space and time, and Big Bang cosmology. The universe is a big place (perhaps the biggest), so it's impossible to cover everything in a single semester, but the goal is for you to understand the cosmos and your relationship to it.
All course requirements are given in the syllabus, which should be referenced for all expectations and policies of the class. The primary resource for the course is the textbook Understanding Our Universe, 2nd edition, by Stacey Palen, Laura Kay, Bradford Smith, and George Blumenthal.
This website hosts useful information for the course, including lecture slides and related material and homework assignments, for your convenience. Announcements will be posted on this page, which can be reached from any page by clicking on the course name banner at the top. All other pages are linked to via the navigation bar below the banner.
