Open Lectures in Astronomy and Cosmology

What is out there? Are we alone? Did time have a beginning? What is a black hole? Is there another Earth? What are planets made of? How did the solar system form? How hot is the sun? What is a star made of? How did the universe form? How large is the universe? Will the universe last forever? etc etc. We have numerous questions about the world beyond the Earth's atmosphere and the Earth itself, from the very beginning of the universe to the ultimate fate of the universe.

This is a collection of open lectures in astronomy and cosmology discussing the origins, physics, and evolution of celestial objects and the universe as a whole. They can help us better understand the physical nature of the universe and our place in the universe.

Survey of Astronomy (Missouri State Univ.)
What is a star made of? How hot is the sun? What's the difference between a galactic cluster and a globular cluster? How did the Solar System form? Taught by Prof. Becky Baker, this course tries to answer these questions and many more, providing a comprehensive overview of the objects and events beyond the Earth's atmosphere and the Earth itself, as a planetary member of the Solar System.

Introduction to Planetary Science and Astronomy (csuDHTV)
Instructor: Dr. Bruce Bett. This course will be an introductory astronomy survey course with a strong emphasis in planetary science. There will be overviews of all the major bodies in our solar system, as well as stars, galaxies, origins and evolution of the solar system and the universe, and the possibility of life in the universe.

Introduction to General Astronomy (UC Berkeley)
Instructor: Professor Marc Davis. This course provides a description of modern astronomy with emphasis on the structure and evolution of stars, galaxies, and the Universe.

The Planets (UC Berkeley)
What are planets made of? Why do they orbit the sun the way they do? How do planets form, and what are they made of? What makes the Earth hospitable for life? In this course, Prof. Geoffrey Marcy will introduce basic physics, chemistry, and math to understand planets, moons, rings, comets, asteroids, atmospheres, and oceans.

Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics (Yale Univ.)
Instructor: Professor Charles Bailyn. This course focuses on three particularly interesting areas of astronomy that are advancing very rapidly: Extra-Solar Planets, Black Holes, and Dark Energy.

The Early Universe (MIT OCW)
Taught by Professor Alan Guth, this course provides an introduction to modern cosmology. The first part of the course deals with the classical cosmology, and later part with modern particle physics and its recent impact on cosmology.

Cosmology (UC Irvine)
Instructor: Professor James Bullock. Cosmology is the study of the origin and evolution of the Universe itself - the totality of phenomena of time and space. During this course, you'll have the opportunity to study the cosmos from the modern perspective - what we know and what we're not sure about.

Cosmology (Stanford Univ.)
Taught by Professor Leonard Susskind, this course concentrates on cosmology, the science of the origin and development of the universe. Topics covered include the Big Bang, the geometry of space-time, inflationary cosmology, cosmic microwave background, dark matter, dark energy, the anthropic principle, and the string theory landscape.

Cosmology and Black Holes (Stanford Univ.)
Instructor: Professor Leonard Susskind. This course focuses on string theory with regard to important issues in contemporary physics. Topics include: 1) the impact of string theory on the pursuit of black holes; 2) the string theory landscape and the implications for cosmology; and 3) the Holographic Principle and its applications.

Life in the Universe (UC Irvine)
Instructor: Professor James Bullock. This course provides an overview of the scientific quest to discover life elsewhere in the universe. Topics include the origin of life on Earth, Mars, extrasolar planets, interstellar travel, and extraterrestrial intelligence.

Origins: From the Big Bang to the Emergence of Humans (UC Berkeley)
Taught by Prof. Charles Marshall and Prof. Eliot Quataert, this course will cover our modern scientific understanding of origins, from the Big Bang to the formation of planets like Earth, evolution by natural selection, the genetic basis of evolution, and the emergence of humans.

Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life (University of Edinburgh)
Instructor: Professor Charles Cockell. Over two thousand years ago, the ancient Greeks wondered if other worlds were habitable. In the coming years this question will be experimentally tested. This course is an introduction to astrobiology. It explores the origin and evolution of life on the Earth and its potential to exist elsewhere.

Astrobiology and Space Exploration (Stanford Univ.)
Instructors: Professor Lynn Rothschild and other scientists and astronauts. This course discusses evolution in the context of space and time, focusing on the emergence of life in a planetary context on Earth and possibly elsewhere as well as the evolution of intelligence and the search for it elsewhere.

Black Holes and Galaxies: A Love-Hate Relationship

Silvia Bonoli's talk details how the supermassive black holes lurking at the hearts of most galaxies affect the evolution of those galaxies, and how the galaxies provide raw material for the black holes' growth.

Black holes do not spend their lives alone in empty space. It is now known that at the center of almost every galaxy there is an enormous black hole, with a mass billions of times the mass of the sun. This black hole pulls in and sweeps away gas from the center of the galaxy. This coupling of the black hole and the galaxy causes the pair to evolve hand in hand. In the right circumstances it liberates huge amounts of energy, giving rise to the brightest objects in the universe. In this lecture, SLAC astrophysicist Silvia Bonoli describes the torrid relationship of black holes and galaxies as each shapes the life of the other.

About the Lecturer
Silvia Bonoli, a postgraduate researcher with the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology.

Hearts of Darkness: Black Holes in Space

Dr. Alex Filippenko (University of California, Berkeley). Black holes are regions of space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape! No longer confined to the imaginations of science-fiction writers and theoretical physicists, black holes have recently been discovered in large numbers by observational astronomers. Learn about the remarkable properties of these bizarre objects from one of the finest explainers in the field of astronomy.

Related Links
Books and Films - Black Holes

Black Holes: The End of Time or a New Beginning?

Dr. Roger Blandford (Kavli Institute, Stanford University). While black holes are popularly associated with death and doom, astrophysicists increasingly see them as creators, not destroyers - playing a major role in the formation and evolution of galaxies, stars, and planets. Dr. Blandford (whose research interests include black holes, galaxies, and cosmology) summarizes why scientists now think that black holes of various sizes actually do exist, describes some of their strange properties, and explains their "environmental impact" on the universe at large.

Related Links
Books and Films - Black Holes

Black Holes: No need to be afraid! - by Professor Ian Morison

Black Holes seem to have a bad press that is largely undeserved. The lecture will explain what Black Holes are, how we can discover them even though they cannot be seen and how Stephen Hawking has shown that they are not totally black!

Related Links:
Black Holes

The Black Hole Wars

Leonard Susskind of Stanford University on The Black Hole Wars. Susskind discusses the story behind the black hole conflict and how it has led to a better idea of how our universe works.

Related Links:
Cosmology and Black Holes
Books and Films - Black Holes

Spacetime Atoms and the Unity of Physics

Black holes are hot! This discovery made by Stephen Hawking ties together gravity, spacetime, quantum matter, and thermal systems into the beautiful and exciting science of "Black Hole Thermodynamics". Its beauty lies in the powerful way it speaks of the unity of physics. The excitement arises because it tells us that there is something lacking in our understanding of spacetime and, at the same time, gives us a major clue as to what the missing ingredient should be. Theoretical physicists at Perimeter Institute and elsewhere are pioneering a proposal, known as Causal Set Theory, for the structure held by these most fundamental atoms of spacetime. In this talk, Professor Dowker describes black hole thermodynamics and argue that it is telling us that spacetime itself is granular or "atomic" at very tiny scales.

About the Lecturer
Helen Fay Dowker is a British Theoretical Physicist at Imperial College London.