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Dec 21, 2024
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2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog
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ASTR 0121 - Life in The Universe
Credits: 3
The Universe contains billions of galaxies, each including billions of stars, and many of those stars might be orbited by a planet harboring life! With those kinds of numbers, many astronomers think it likely that there are other civilizations of intelligent beings elsewhere in the Universe. But if intelligence is common, why haven’t we received unambiguous signals from any of them? This course will investigate the possibility of life elsewhere in the Universe, beginning with a look at life on Earth and the potential for life elsewhere in our solar system, then moving on to consider the more general requirements for life and how they might be met elsewhere. Topics will include the stellar synthesis of the elements necessary for life, recent discoveries of extrasolar planets, stellar and galactic habitability zones, possible modes of communication with other civilizations, and the potential for space travel.
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