Have you ever wondered how stars form? Or why the planets don’t just fly off into space?

In this interactive, one-time class we will discuss what gravity is, watch and reflect on demonstrations of its influence on planetary bodies, discuss orbits, and gravity’s role in stellar formation. 

Gravity is a key concept in astronomy, cosmology, and planetary science. This course is designed to give students a solid understanding of this foundational concept and how it applies to the space sciences.

Learners will be introduced to the ideas of Kepler and Newton, but will not need to use any math in this class. 


We will investigate questions such as:

How did Newton contribute to our understanding of gravity?
What are Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion?
What is a black hole?
Why doesn’t the moon crash into Earth?
What is a barycenter?


The class is lecture and discussion based. Learners will participate in a presentation full of images and some videos. They will have the opportunity to ask questions and think critically about gravity!