Title:
Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics
Speaker:
Professor Bailyn
Subject:
Astronomy
Area:
Astronomy
Type of school:
university
School name:
yale university
Country:
United States
Course language:
English
Course media:
Video
Course duration:
Contributor:
pbp
Comments:
ASTR 160: Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics (Spring, 2007)Lecture 1 - Introduction next session >>
Overview:
Professor Bailyn introduces the course and discusses the course material and requirements. The three major topics that the course will cover are (1) exoplanets--planets around stars other than the Sun, (2) black holes--stars whose gravitational pull is so strong that even their own light rays cannot escape, and (3) cosmology--the study of the Universe as a whole. Class proper begins with a discussion on planetary orbits. A brief history of astronomy is also given and its major contributors over the centuries are introduced: Ptolemy, Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton.