About this course: Learn about the science behind the current exploration of the solar system in this free class. Use principles from physics, chemistry, biology, and geology to understand the latest from Mars, comprehend the outer solar system, ponder planets outside our solar system, and search for habitability in our neighborhood and beyond. This course is generally taught at an advanced level assuming a prior knowledge of undergraduate math and physics, but the majority of the concepts and lectures can be understood without these prerequisites. The quizzes and final exam are designed to make you think critically about the material you have learned rather than to simply make you memorize facts. The class is expected to be challenging but rewarding.
Created by: Caltech
Taught by: Mike Brown, Professor
Planetary Astronomy
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Unit 1: Water on Mars (week 1)
11 videos, 1 reading
- Video: Introduction to Science of the Solar System
- Discussion Prompt: Welcome! Please introduce yourself.
- Video: Lecture 1.01: Early views of Mars
- Discussion Prompt: What's in the sky right now?
- Video: Lecture 1.02: Mars has canals!
- Video: Lecture 1.03: Taking the temperature of Mars
- Video: Lecture 1.04: Mars DOES have water (in the atmosphere)!
- Reading: Note on the next lecture
- Video: Lecture 1.05: Heating and composition of the polar caps
- Video: Lecture 1.06: Let's fly to Mars
- Video: Lecture 1.07: The first missions to Mars
- Video: Lecture 1.08: Water on earth
- Video: Lecture 1.09: Mariner 9 -- Mars had FLOWING water!
- Discussion Prompt: Groundwater sapping or not?
- Video: Lecture 1.10: Viking and the start of modern Martian science
Graded: Quiz 1
WEEK 2
Unit 1: Water on Mars (week 2)
10 videos
- Video: Lecture 1.11: Craters and surface ages
- Video: Lecture 1.12: Outflow channels
- Video: Lecture 1.13:Valley Networks
- Video: Lecture 1.14: Climate cycles on Mars
- Discussion Prompt: Polar layered terrains?
- Video: Lecture 1.15: Was early Mars warmer and wetter?
- Video: Lecture 1.16: Atmospheric escape
- Video: Lecture 1.17 Martian topography
- Video: Lecture 1.18: Gamma ray spectroscopy and subsurface water
- Video: Lecture 1.19: Glaciers on Mars!
- Video: Lecture 1.20 Origin of low latitude ice
Graded: Quiz 2
WEEK 3
Unit 1: Water on Mars (week 3)
10 videos, 1 reading
- Video: Lecture 1.21: Evolution of the interior
- Video: Lecture 1.22: Thermal spectroscopy and mineral identification
- Video: Lecture 1.23: Geology from the Opportunity rover
- Video: Lecture 1.24: Geochemistry from the Opportunity rover
- Video: Lecture 1.25: Introduction to guest lecturers
- Reading: Note on the next lectures
- Video: Lecture 1.26: Mineralogy on Mars, Part 1
- Video: Lecture 1.27: Mineralogy on Mars, Part 2
- Video: Lecture 1.28: Results from the Curiosity Rover, Part 1
- Video: lecture 1.29: Results from the Curiosity Rover, Part 2
- Video: Lecture 1.30: Where was the water on Mars?
- Discussion Prompt: Where was the water on Mars?
Graded: Quiz 3
WEEK 4
Unit 2: The insides of giant planets (week 1)
11 videos, 1 reading
- Reading: Note on the next section
- Video: Lecture 2.01: Introduction to Jupiter
- Video: Lecture 2.02: Measuring density
- Discussion Prompt: Transit of Venus!
- Video: Lecture 2.03: Using density
- Video: Lecture 2.04: Hydrostatic equilibrium
- Video: Lecture 2.05: Hydrogen equation of state
- Video: Lecture 2.06: Heat transport
- Video: Lecture 2.07: Theoretical internal structure
- Video: Lecture 2.08: A core from gravity?
- Video: Lecture 2.09: Magnetic fields
- Video: Lecture 2.10: The upper atmosphere and the Galileo probe
- Video: Lecture 2.11: Picture models
Graded: Quiz 4
WEEK 5
Unit 2: The insides of giant planets (week 2)
10 videos
- Video: Lecture 2.12: Planetesimal formation
- Video: Lecture 2.13: Core formation
- Video: Lecture 2.14: Core-collapse vs. Disk instability
- Discussion Prompt: Core collapse vs. disk instability?
- Video: Lecture 2.15: Saturn and the ice giants
- Video: Lecture 2.16: Discovering hot Jupiters
- Video: Lecture 2.17: Densities of hot Jupiters
- Video: Lecture 2.18: Inflating hot Jupiters
- Video: Lecture 2.19: Kepler and the sub-Neptunes
- Video: Lecture 2.20: Exoplanet spectroscopy
- Video: Lecture 2.21: Juno and future exploration
- Discussion Prompt: Juno results?
Graded: Quiz 5
WEEK 6
Unit 3: Big questions from small bodies (week 1)
12 videos
- Video: Lecture 3.01: Introduction to the small bodies
- Video: Lecture 3.02: The formation of small bodies
- Video: Lecture 3.03: The formation of terrestrial planets
- Video: Lecture 3.04: The surface density of the solar system
- Video: Lecture 3.05: An ode to comets
- Video: Lecture 3.06: The composition of comets
- Video: Lecture 3.07: Where do comets come from?
- Video: Lecture 3.08: The formation of the Oort cloud
- Video: Lecture 3.09: Meteorites and the beginning of the solar system
- Discussion Prompt: Lead-lead dating
- Video: Lecture 3.10: Types of meteorites: Chondrites
- Video: Lecture 3.11: Types of meteorites: Achondrites
- Video: Lecture 3.12: Asteroids and meteorite delivery
Graded: Quiz 6
WEEK 7
Unit 3: Big questions from small bodies (week 2)
9 videos
- Video: Lecture 3.13: Asteroid compositions
- Video: Lecture 3.14 : Pictures of asteroids
- Video: Lecture 3.15: Asteroid hazards
- Video: Lecture 3.16: The Kuiper belt
- Video: Lecture 3.17: Properties of dwarf planets
- Video: Lecture 3.18: Dynamical instabilities
- Discussion Prompt: Lucy!
- Video: Lecture 3.19:The Grand Tack
- Video: Lecture 3.20: Planet Nine
- Video: Lecture 3.21: A trip to the Subaru telescope
Graded: Quiz 7
WEEK 8
Unit 4: Life in the solar system (week 1)
10 videos
- Video: Lecture 4.01: Introduction to life
- Discussion Prompt: Life as we do (or don't) know it
- Video: Lecture 4.02: Photosynthesis
- Video: Lecture 4.03: Water
- Video: Lecture 4.04: Alternative energy sources
- Video: Lecture 4.05: History of life on Earth
- Video: Lecture 4.06: Mars -- The Viking experiement
- Video: Lecture 4.07: Mars -- Microbial hitchhikers
- Video: Lecture 4.08: Mars -- Methane?
- Video: Lecture 4.09: Mars -- Methane!!
- Video: Lecture 4.10: Mars -- a habitable environment
Graded: Quiz 8
WEEK 9
Unit 4: Life in the solar system and beyond (week 2)
11 videos
- Video: Lecture 4.11: Oceans on Europa
- Video: Lecture 4.11: Energy on Europa
- Video: Lecture 4.12: Exploring Europa
- Discussion Prompt: Europa Clipper!
- Video: Lecture 4.13: Enceladus
- Video: Lecture 4.14: Introduction to Titan
- Video: Lecture 4.15: Weird life on Titan
- Video: Lecture 4.17: Habitable zones
- Video: Lecture 4.18: Detecting exo-life
- Video: Lecture 4.19: Looking around M-dwarfs
- Discussion Prompt: Planets!
- Video: Lecture 4.20: A mission to find life in the solar system
- Video: Lecture 4.21: All good things must come to an end
Graded: Quiz 9
WEEK 10
Final exam
4 videos, 1 reading
- Reading: Bonus material
- Video: Bonus: The formation of the moon
- Video: Bonus: What we used to think about Sedna (before we knew about Planet Nine!)
- Video: Bonus: Seasons on Titan
- Video: Bonus: Why Pluto had to die
Graded: Final exam
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Ratings and Reviews
Really good, great recent material with decent presentation. (Pet peeve: a small percentage of quiz questions were not well formed and impossible to answer with material provided.) I'd take additional courses from same instructor.
simply amazing. The pluto Killer is a genius
This is an excellent course. It covers a wide range of interesting topics in a technical but accessible way. The information is "layered" such that students of different technical backgrounds can all participate and each take the appropriate level of detail away. Dr. Brown communicates clearly and engagingly, and he is an astronomical "rock star" taking time to teach all comers.
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TL
I am a social scientist and this course filled a very large void in my knowledge. While data for social scientists are gathered in the here-and-now with subjects being only a few feet away, I have learned to respect how astromers must gatherdata points that are millions of years old AND millions of miles away. Good luck, Professor Brown, with your work on Lucy!