1 Semester

Equivalent to 60 hours

Off-Campus

HET624 Galaxies and their Place in the Universeand HET607 History of Astronomy or equivalent.

Nil

Credit Points: 12.5 Credit Points

Related Course/s:

A unit of study in the Graduate Certificate of Science (Astronomy), Graduate Diploma of Science (Astronomy) and Master of Science (Astronomy).

Aims & Objectives:

Aims
This Unit will investigate in depth great debates in astronomy which have shaped (or are still shaping) our current understanding of the Universe and its evolution.
Objectives
After successfully completing this Unit, students should be able to:
• appreciate that our current understanding of the universe has been shaped by academic debate;
• understand how astronomical debate was and still is conducted;
• research an astronomy topic in depth, using dependable sources of astronomical information on the internet and refereed journal articles.

Teaching Methods:

Online Delivery Mode, Contact via Newsgroup & Email

Assessment:

Assessable newsgroup contributions, online debate, online tests and project 

Content:

The course content will be made up of detailed investigations of six of the 'big questions' in astronomy, including the following:
• Our place in space: the nature of our Earth, the Solar System, the cosmos
• Is Pluto a planet?
• Stellar controversies: the energy source of stars, the HR diagram and the white dwarf mass limit
• The scale of the Universe: nearby nebulae, or a universe of galaxies?
• What is the origin of Gamma Ray Bursts?
• The Large Scale Structure of the Universe: dark matter and the cosmological constant

Recommended Reading: