Rutgers the State University of New Jersey

Analyzing the Universe

Taught in English

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17,878 already enrolled

Course

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals

4.8

(227 reviews)

Beginner level
No prior experience required
21 hours to complete
3 weeks at 7 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace

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Assessments

6 quizzes

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There are 6 modules in this course

Welcome to Week 1 of "Analyzing the Universe!" This week we explore the nature of light, and how we get astronomical information from the images we obtain. The lectures and "wiki" material address these themes: light, image formation, and DS9. Dive right in!

What's included

7 videos4 readings1 quiz

Welcome to week two of "Analyzing the Universe". This week we will be exploring some of the means we have at our disposal to find out many things about the stars. It is really quite incredible that these tiny pinpoints of light can yield so much information about their nature and about the structure of the Universe as a whole. And if this is your first visit to the course, welcome and jump right in!

What's included

5 videos2 readings1 quiz

This week is our first in-depth look at an x-ray source, and it involves a white dwarf in a binary system. So sharpen up your detective skills, keep your copy of DS9 at the ready, and let's get down to business. It should be an exciting week.

What's included

4 videos2 readings1 quiz

This week we turn our attention to another fascinating cosmic source, discovered in the infancy of x-ray astronomy: Cen X-3. In so doing, we will see how binary stars can determine and influence many of the interesting and surprising features of our observations.

What's included

7 videos2 readings1 quiz

This week, we will be examining supernovae, and their remnants. These fascinating objects are the breeding grounds for future stars, and were the sources of virtually all the atoms that make up our solar neighborhood. Every atom of calcium in every bone in your body, for example, was once shot out of a supernova, billions of years ago.

What's included

2 videos2 readings1 quiz

This week we wrap things up with trips to galaxies and exotic objects, seen long ago and far away. The mysterious quasars provide clues about the way our Universe is evolving in time. They are incredible objects (actually, come to think of it, what isn't incredible in the x-ray sky?) discovered almost exactly a half century ago, quite by accident. We will explore the astonishingly prodigious x-ray output of 3C 273, one of the nearest ones, at a mere 2.5 billion light years away.

What's included

5 videos3 readings1 quiz

Instructor

Instructor ratings
4.8 (63 ratings)
Dr. Terry A. Matilsky
Rutgers the State University of New Jersey
1 Course17,878 learners

Recommended if you're interested in Physics and Astronomy

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4.8

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