Astronomy. Reach for the stars.

Join us for this five-week course where an astronomer and a geologist team up to explore the origins of galaxies, planets and life. Beginning with the Big Bang, we explore the origins of matter and energy, and how matter assembled itself into galaxies. We follow the formation of stars and their planets, illustrated with the extraordinary images flowing from the Hubble Space Telescope and the planetary missions. We also discuss the formation of the Earth, the initiation of plate tectonics, the origins of life itself, and how the evolution of our planet is intrinsically linked to deeply intertwined biological and geological processes.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• describe the different ways that elements were formed, and how matter on Earth is linked to the Universe
• appreciate the scale of the universe and cosmic time, and our place in it
• describe how Earth’s geology and biology are intertwined
• appreciate the long chain of events that has led to our existence on Earth.

Content

The Universe

• How the Universe formed in the Big Bang.
• The formation of elements and why the Universe is made of matter instead of anti-matter.
• How galaxies and clusters of galaxies assembled themselves out of the primordial plasma.

Stars

• How stars form out of the interstellar gas, and how their lives and violent deaths create the elements which lead to new generations of stars and p