2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ASTR 0105 - The Solar System


Credits: 3

The solar system is our “local neighborhood” in space-including the sun and everything that orbits around it: planets, dwarf planets (e.g. Pluto, Ceres, Eris), and smaller solar system bodies (including most asteroids and comets). This course will explore our evolving understanding of the solar system, from the recognition of some of its members by the ancient Greeks, through the telescopic discoveries of the past several centuries, to the much richer understanding provided by the space probes of the last few decades. Additional topics will include possible locations of life elsewhere in the solar system and comparisons between our solar system and the extrasolar planetary systems that have been discovered since the early 1990’s.