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Descriptive overview of the universe. Earth impacts and extinctions by comets and asteroids. Solar system origins. The big bang and cosmology. Stellar birth and death. Life in the universe. Search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) programmes.
Tour the Universe! This course is aimed at students without a background in physics and mathematics, taking you to the cutting edge of our understanding of the Cosmos - from the Big Bang to life on other planets. The course focuses on ‘how we know’ and teaches a physical understanding of our Universe without requiring mathematics. Windows to the Universe: How do we observe the heavens? How has our understanding of the Solar System progressed and what techniques do modern astronomers use to study the Universe?The lives and deaths of stars: The Sun as a star. How stars shine. How stars are born and their life cycles. How hot are the stars? How far away are the stars? The fate of stars: supernovae, white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. Re-birth: seeding the next generation of stars.Island Universes: Our Milky Way galaxy and the Monster Within. What is Dark Matter and how do we know it is there? How do we measure distances to other galaxies and how to use a telescope as a time machine.The Big Questions: Where did we come from and where are we going? Evidence for a Big Bang Beginning, Dark Energy and runaway expanding Universes.Are we alone? Forming planets, and observing planets around other stars. How likely is it that there is life elsewhere in the universe?
On successful completion of the course, students should be able todemonstrate an understanding of the basic principles of physics necessary to understand the size, structure & evolution of objects in the universe;appreciate how astronomers ‘know’ the things they read in the media and in popular textbooks and understand the process of question followed by observation and testing which governs the scientific method.communicate scientific material to a non-scientific audience in a way which is exciting, inspiring and comprehensible.
(1) PHYS109. (2) Students who have been credited with ASTR112 cannot subsequently be credited with ASTR109.
PHYS109
Karen Pollard
Loretta Dunne
Jeffrey O. Bennett, Megan Donahue,Nicholas Schneider,Mark Voit,; The Cosmic Perspective ; 7th; Addison-Wesley, 2009 (Library reference: QB43.2. C834 or MasteringAstronomy with ebook 9780321696823 or MasteringAstronomy without ebook 9780321682529).
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All students must demonstrate that they can communicate clearly in written and verbal English. This can be demonstrated with a satisfactory performance in the University's Academic Writing Assessment & Teaching (AWAT) Programme test.100-level physics and astronomy course information http://www.phys.canterbury.ac.nz/courses/100level.shtml
Please consult the document General Information for Physics and Astronomy Students on the Physics and Astronomy Web Page.http://www.phys.canterbury.ac.nz/courses/General.pdf
Domestic fee $777.00
International fee $3,563.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Physics and Astronomy .