ASTR 102
Our Solar System and Others Spring 2025
Division III
This is not the current course catalog

What makes Earth different from all the other planets? What have NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance on Mars found about that planet’s past running water and suitability for life? How has knowledge about Pluto and the outer solar system been transformed by NASA’s flybys? Will asteroids or comets collide with the Earth again? What is the new James Webb Space Telescope revealing about exoplanets and their atmospheres? Astronomy 102, a non-major, general introduction to the part of contemporary astronomy that comprises the study of the solar system (and the systems of planets around other stars), will provide answers to these questions and more. We will cover the historical development of humanity’s understanding of planetary systems, examining contributions by Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Einstein, and others and the more recent discoveries of over 4000 exoplanets around stars other than the Sun. The course gives special attention to exciting discoveries of the past few years by space probes and space telescopes such as the Hubble, James Webb, and Kepler/K2/TESS missions. 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 (stars and stellar evolution) and 104 (galaxies and cosmology), and students who have taken those courses are welcome.