Advanced Astronomy

In this twelve week course, learners will broaden and deepen their understanding of astronomy and the space sciences. We will explore advanced topics such as gravitational wave detection, the application of spectroscopy, origins of gamma ray bursts, and how our understanding of celestial phenomena have changed with new discoveries.

We will investigate questions such as:

How does spectroscopy work?
What are gamma ray bursts?
What roles to the fundamental forces play in the Universe?
What methods are there for studying the cosmos that don’t use light?
How do we detect gravitational waves?
What are neutrino telescopes?
How has the field of astronomy evolved in the 21st century?

In this course we will focus heavily on not only recent discoveries within astronomy, but also on how discoveries are made. We will investigate key fields such as radio astronomy and spectroscopy, looking at not only how they work, but also what discoveries have been made with them. 

This is a highly interactive course. Students will learn through an image and video filled presentation and discussion. Students’ participation and questions are regularly encouraged. Classes are designed to encourage student engagement and follow their curiosity.

Optional videos and additional material will be posted in the classroom between live meetings.  

Week 1 - Introduction
Week 2 - Radio Astronomy Part I
Week 3 - Radio Astronomy Part II
Week 4 - Spectroscopy Part I
Week 5 - Spectroscopy Part II
Week 6 - Gravitational Waves
Week 7 - Neutrino Astronomy
Week 8 - Exoplanets, Brown Dwarfs, and Necroplanetology 
Week 9 - Gamma Ray Bursts and Other High Energy Phenomena 
Week 10 - Quasi Stars, Blue Dwarfs, and Other Hypothetical Stellar Objects
Week 11 - New and Corrected Understandings in Astronomy 
Week 12 - Current Frontiers and Review

There is no textbook for this class. All necessary learning materials will be provided in the classroom. While we will discuss some of the mathematics used in astronomy, learners will not need to use math in this course, unless they would like to for “extra credit”.

Learners do not need to experts in astronomy, but it is assumed that they have some background knowledge in the areas of: stellar life cycles, light years and cosmic distances, galaxies, and optical telescopes.