ASTR 104
The Milky Way Galaxy and the Universe Beyond Spring 2017
Division III
This is not the current course catalog

It has been less than a century since the Sun was discovered not to be at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Milky Way Galaxy was determined to be only one of countless “island universes” in space. A host of technological advances is enabling us to understand even more clearly our place in the universe and how the universe began. For example, the recently discovered “chirp” from gravitational radiation (reported in 2016) resulting from two giant black holes merging has opened a whole different way of observing the Universe from the traditional use of light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. Further, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory bring exceptionally clear images over a wider range of the spectrum; their images are aiding astronomers to better understand the past and future of the Universe. Observations with those and other new telescopes on the ground and in space help to confirm and enlarge our understanding of the Big Bang. In addition, study of the early Universe (most recently from the Planck spacecraft) and large-scale mapping programs such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are giving clues into how the Universe’s currently observed structure arose. Astronomy 104, a non-major, general introduction to part of contemporary astronomy comprising the study of galaxies and the Universe, explores the answers to questions like: What is the Milky Way?; Why are quasars so luminous?; Is the Universe made largely of “dark matter” and “dark energy”?; What determines the ultimate fate of the Universe? How have studies of Cepheid variables and distant supernovae with the Hubble Space Telescope determine that the Universe is 13.8 billion years old and indicated that the Universe’s expansion is accelerating? We regularly discuss the latest news briefs and developments in astronomy and relate them to the topics covered in the course. This course is independent of, and on the same level as Astronomy 101 and 102, and students who have taken those courses are welcome. Observing sessions will include use of the 24-inch telescope and other telescopes for nighttime observations of stars, star clusters, planets and their moons, nebulae, and galaxies, as well as daytime observations of the Sun. Observing sessions will include use of the 24-inch telescope and other telescopes for observations of stars, star clusters, planets and their moons, nebulae, and galaxies, as well as daytime observations of the Sun.