Course Description
What is going on in the heavens? Why is the moon-changing phase? What causes the seasons? Why are calendars based on motions of objects in the heavens so complex? How did we come to make sense of the motions of our neighbours in the solar system? What is going on at each of these planets? How did they get formed? Our own sun is a star. What makes a star a star? How does our sun compare with other stars? What is the life cycle of a star? Why is that life cycle important to us? Why do most stars gather in clumps called galaxies? How do galaxies organize themselves to make up the whole universe? Are we alone? Humans have been asking these questions from the beginning of conscious awareness. But we live in exciting times with powerful insights and new technologies that provide answers to these questions with increased accuracy and clarity and at the same time pose new problems to be solved. This course will not be rote learning of the answers to these questions, but an exploration of the process of enquiry that leads to answers and an opportunity, without recourse to mathematical complexity, to gain an insight into the conceptual foundations of the science of astronomy.
