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COLLISIONS IN SPACE
Course description and syllabus
Astronomy 220 is an introductory course in astronomy for non-science
majors. This course satisfies the CORE distributive studies
requirement for a non-laboratory physical science course. Since this
is a CORE course we will focus on active learning, emphasize critical
thinking, and concentrate on written expression.
As the course title implies, we will examine the role of collisions in
the formation and development of the universe. Collisions of comets
and asteroids with the Earth have certainly captured Hollywood?s
imagination and the headlines, and we will examine this often
bizarrely misinformed topic in considerable detail. Collisions are
more general than this, however, and we will study three main themes:
collisions between objects in the Solar system; collisions of all
kinds, including gravitational interactions, between stars; and
collisions between galaxies. As you scan the
syllabus you will readily see these three areas. With this
approach you will see many of the objects that you would see in a
general survey of astronomy, but we will be able to probe more deeply
into specific areas as we go along.
List of lectures:
Handouts, homeworks and extra credit assignments:
Supplementary material
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