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Astronomy 162: Introduction to Stars, Galaxies, & the Universe Prof. Richard Pogge, MTWThF 9:30 |
[Credit: Two Micron All
Sky Survey Project]
We will begin our discussion with an historical overview of our discovery of the nature of the Milky Way, and the discovery that the other "spiral nebulae" were in fact other "milky ways"; vast galaxies of stars like our own. This requires that we address and then attempt to solve (with varying degrees of success) the problem of measuring distances beyond the reach of trigonometric parallaxes.
We will then move on to a discussion of the modern view of the structure of galaxies, beginning with an examination of our Galaxy and its nearby cousin, the Andromeda Galaxy. From there we will treat galaxies in general, and end with a discussion of groups and clusters of galaxies, look at what happens when pairs of galaxies collide, and examine the active galaxies & quasars which will prove to be beacons lighting our way across much of the observable Universe.
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Lecture Audio Podcasts |
Associated Readings in Universe are listed at the top of each of the lectures.