Astronomy 183: Lecture notes and supplemental materials

Lecture 1 ... 25 Aug 2009 --- Welcome and course info; Mars thought experiments

Lecture 2 ... 27 Aug 2009 --- Tours of biology, astronomy, astrobiology; brief history of science; what is science?

Lecture 3 ... 1 Sept 2009 --- Definitions of life; initial conditions

Lecture 4 ... 3 Sept 2009 --- Miller-Urey; panspermia; anthropic principle

Lecture 5 ... 8 Sept 2009 --- Chemistry.

Lecture 6 ... 10 Sept 2009 --- Chemistry, continued.

Lecture 7 ... 15 Sept 2009 --- Finish chemistry, begin biology.

Lecture 8 ... 17 Sept 2009 --- Biology.

Lecture 9 ... 22 Sept 2009 --- Finish biology.

Lecture 10 ... 24 Sept 2009 --- Finish biology, start physics.

Lecture 11 ... 29 Sept 2009 --- Physics.

Lecture 12 ... 1 Oct 2009 --- Finish physics, start astronomy.

Lecture 13 ... 13 Oct 2009 --- Astronomy.

Lecture 14 ... 15 Oct 2009 --- Finish astronomy.

Lecture 15 ... 20 Oct 2009 --- Geology.

Midterm exam ... 22 Oct 2009 --- See guidelines here.

Lecture 16 ... 27 Oct 2009 --- Finish geology, start astrobiology.

Lecture 17 ... 29 Oct 2009 --- Astrobiology.

Lecture 18 ... 3 Nov 2009 --- Finish astrobiology, first case study: Europa

Lecture 19 ... 5 Nov 2009 --- Second case study: Mars (Prof. Nadine Barlow) [notes in PowerPoint format]

Lecture 20 ... 10 Nov 2009 --- Finish Europa; Enceladus

Lecture 21 ... 12 Nov 2009 --- A few Mars tidbits, and Titan

Lecture 22 ... 17 Nov 2009 --- Prokaryotes, eukaryotes, evolution

Lecture 23 ... 19 Nov 2009 --- Evolution; mass extinctions; Chixculub; detection of life

Lecture 24 ... 24 Nov 2009 --- Finish detection of life; signatures of life/advanced life

Lecture 25 ... 1 Dec 2009 --- SETI; messages to space; Fermi paradox; other evidence

Lecture 26 ... 3 Dec 2009 --- A stroll backward through the course

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Last modified: 2 Dec 2009