Astro 6: Lecture notes and supplemental materials

Lecture 1 ... 11 Jan 2004 --- Welcome and course info; powers of ten; introductions to science, astrobiology, biology, astronomy.

Lecture 2 ... 13 Jan 2004 --- Tours of biology, astronomy, astrobiology; brief history of science; what is science?

Lectures 3,4 ... 18,20 Jan 2004 --- Definitions of life; initial conditions: primordial elements and nucleosynthesis; prebiotic conditions on Earth.

Lecture 5 ... 23 Jan 2004 --- Miller-Urey; panspermia; anthropic principle.

Lectures 6,7 ... 25,27 Jan 2004 --- Chemistry: Atoms; periodic table; bonds; cosmochemistry.

Lecture 8 ... 30 Jan 2004 --- Cosmochemistry; radioactivity; chirality. Biology: Why carbon; amino acids, polymers, and proteins; RNA and DNA.

Lectures 9,10 ... 1,3 Feb 2004 --- Biology: amino acids, polymers, proteins; RNA and DNA; the RNA world; conundra.

Lecture 11 ... 6 Feb 2004 --- Cells, prokaryotes, eukaryotes; energy production; three domains; extremophiles.

Lectures 12-15 ... 8-15 Feb 2004 --- Physics: Electromagnetic radiation, the spectrum; spectroscopy; Kepler; Galileo; Newton; gravity.

Lecture 16 ... 17 Feb 2004 --- Start astronomy.

Lectures 17,18 ... 20,22 Feb 2004 --- Thermodynamics; seasons; tides; stars; formation of stars; meteorites; late heavy bombardment.

Lecture 19 ... 24 Feb 2004 --- Meteorites; the main sequence; Doppler shift; extrasolar planets; post-main sequence; cosmology.

Lecture 20 ... 27 Feb 2004 --- The Solar neighborhood; spectral types; brown dwarfs.

Lecture 21 ... 1 Mar 2004 --- Meteorites; composition of the Earth; geology; carbon cycle; water cycle.

Lecture 23 ... 13 Mar 2004 --- The early Earth; early life on Earth; climate; greenhouse effect; habitability.

Lectures 24,25 ... 15,17 Mar 2004 --- Climate change; comparative planetology; methane on Titan.

Lecture 26 ... 20 Mar 2004 --- Mars: history, overview, geology and climate, ALH84001.

Lectures 27,28 ... 22,24 Mar 2004 --- Mars: ALH84001; current missions; future exploration.

Lecture 29 ... 27 Mar 2004 --- Europa: the water ice layer; astrobiology

Lecture 30 ... 29 Mar 2004 --- Titan: atmosphere and geology; Cassini and Huygens; astrobiology

Lecture 31 ... 31 Mar 2004 --- Detection of life elsewhere: The Viking experiments; extrasolar planets; TPF and Kepler

Lecture 32 ... 3 Apr 2004 --- Eukaryotes; the Cambrian explosion; evolution.

Lectures 33,34 ... 5,7 Apr 2004 --- Evolution; mass extinctions; Chicxulub

Lecture 35 ... 10 Apr 2004 --- Signatures of life; the Drake Equation; SETI; messages sent to space.

Lecture 36 ... 12,14 Apr 2004 --- Messages sent to space; the Fermi Paradox; other "evidence"; parting shots.

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Last modified: 12 January 2006