Exploring Our Universe

Introductory astronomy course covering the fundamentals of astronomy with an emphasis on the diversity of astronomical objects and how we have described them with observational techniques. (Co-instructors: Prof. Elisabeth R. Newton, Prof. Aaron L. Dotter).

Topics Covered

Observational astronomy, navigating the night sky, Sun & stars, stellar life cycles, black holes and neutron stars, galaxies, cosmology.

Course structure

• Lectures and weekly group activities (flipped classroom 1 day/week).
• Weekly quizzes to solidify topics learned in the prior week.
• Term project exploring the observational methods and scientific reasoning behind a recent (≤1 year) astronomical finding.
• The term project was supported by an exercise exploring the potential and limitations of using generative AI to support reading and summarizing scientific literature.