Course Description
Summary
In the last thirty years, the study of life beyond our own planet has gone from science fiction to legitimate science. The course will initially focus on how stars form and evolve, starting from the formation of the universe, and continuing to a discussion of stars as both the synthesizers of heavy elements and the central energy source for stellar systems. From there, we will discuss current planetary formation theories, planet detection techniques, and the explosive discovery of planets outside our solar system in the past fifteen years. Finally, we will examine the conditions under which we think life evolves and whether any of the glut of planets we鈥檝e discovered recently may support life.
