About This Course

I Solar system overview – space debris – asteroids, comets, meteorites – origin of the solar system – the story of planet building II Introduction – classification of stars – Harvard classification – Luminosity – Stellar evolution – white dwarfs – Chandrasekar limit – neutron stars – black holes – supernova explosion III Life on other worlds – the nature of life – the physical basis of life – information storage and duplication – modifying the information – life in the universe – origin of life on earth – deep time and the evolution of life – life in our solar system – life in other planetary systems – Intelligent life in the universe – travel between the stars – radio communication – how many inhabited worlds?