The topics Dr. George Roush will explore in 16 classes are

1. Geocentrism, Kepler’s laws, and the Kepler-Newton Law

2. Eclipses, tides, solar system formation, planet tilts, and planet densities

3. The rocky and giant planets, the moon, escape velocity, the electromagnetic spectrum, and planet atmospheres.

4. How old is the solar system? Comets, asteroids, Newton’s laws, gravitational and centripetal acceleration, and distances via parallax.

5. Distances via Cepheid Variable stars, the discovery of other galaxies, the sun, fusion, and the HR diagram.

6. Star birth, Wien’s law, star temperatures, and star luminosity.

7. Star mass, star lifetimes, the creation of neutron stars and black holes, and the creation of elements from star explosions.

8. Pulsars, telescopes, adaptive optics, space telescopes, and telescope arrays.

9. Enjoying the night sky, galaxy classification, star clusters, active galactic nuclei, and synchrotron radiation

10. The expanding universe, the Hubble-Lemaitre law, the Cosmological Principle, and dark matter.

11. Special and general relativity, tests of general relativity, gravitational red shift, black holes, and the cosmic microwave background.

12. Does the universe have an edge? How do we know there was a Big Bang? The universe’s age and the universe’s fate.

13. Inflation, the 4 forces of nature, string theory, the Anthropic Principle, and women astronomers.

14. Are there extraterrestrial civilizations in the universe? Habitable exoplanets, astrobiology, and K-type star lifetimes.

15. Are there extraterrestrial civilizations on Earth? What is the evidence? Are the witnesses reputable?

16. Review and course highlights.

    All classes are recorded for those who miss classes and for those who wish to review information and concepts.

Topics in Detail

All fees and donations are used to sustain the course.

Adventures in Astronomy is a 501(c)3 organization

About Dr. Roush

For additional information, email astronomy.teacher0@gmail.com