Catalog Search Results
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
As it gradually uses up the hydrogen in its core, fusing it to helium, the Sun will expand to form a red giant star. Through a series of relatively nonviolent eruptions, it will expel its outer layers of gas, producing a beautiful, glowing nebula around the dying core.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
Many stars are members of binary systems, in which two stars orbit a common center of mass. Our best estimates of how much mass stars have come from observations of binaries. We find that massive stars have far shorter lives than low-mass stars.
3) Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy, 2nd Edition: Episode 11More Eclipse Tales
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
Solar eclipses also come in annular and hybrid varieties, reflecting the varying distance of the Moon from Earth. A famous total solar eclipse in 1919 provided observational evidence for Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
The Universe can be thought of as expanding into a mathematical dimension to which we have no physical access. Even an infinite Universe can expand, becoming less dense. The expansion suggests that there was a hot, dense beginning long ago-a Big Bang.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
Astronomers obtain most of their information through the analysis of light. This lecture introduces the electromagnetic spectrum and the technique of spectroscopy, in which light is dispersed into its component colors, as in a rainbow.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
Until a few decades ago, astronomers thought that galaxies were composed primarily of stars. There is now strong evidence that most of the mass of galaxies may be invisible dark matter. Clusters of galaxies are also dominated by dark matter.
7) Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy, 2nd Edition: Episode 92In the Beginning
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
This lecture turns back the clock to almost the moment of creation-a fraction of a second after the Big Bang-and follows events as they sort themselves out, from what may have been packages of space-time foam winking in and out of existence, to conditions conducive for star and galaxy formation.
8) Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy, 2nd Edition: Episode 31Magnificent Saturn
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
Best known for its extensive ring system, Saturn has come into focus recently thanks to the Cassini spacecraft, which landed a probe on Saturn's largest moon, Titan; and also discovered evidence of liquid water on the moon Enceladus.
9) Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy, 2nd Edition: Episode 28Mercury and Venus
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
Though broadly similar to Earth, Mercury and Venus differ in detail. Mercury has a negligible atmosphere and is heavily cratered. Venus has an incredibly thick atmosphere and suffers from an extreme greenhouse effect that makes it intensely hot.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
In 1987 a Type II supernova only 170,000 light years away became visible. Earlier photos of the region showed that the exploded star was a blue supergiant, a previously unsuspected candidate for this fate. Ghostly neutrinos were detected from this supernova.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
The finite speed of light allows observers to look back in time and see the unfolding history of the Universe. This lecture shows how astronomers search for distant galaxies to compare with better understood, nearby galaxies.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
Until recently, astronomers had no smoking gun to identify the precise location and cause of gamma-ray bursts. Now they have assembled an abundance of clues pointing to two separate mechanisms: the collapse of a massive star, and the merging of two neutron stars-in each case creating a black hole.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
Earth is one of the four innermost, or terrestrial, planets; the others are Mercury, Venus, and Mars. All are relatively small, rocky, and dense. This lecture examines Earth's structure, properties, and the forces that affect it.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
When the central temperature of a contracting cloud of gas grows sufficiently high, it becomes a star-a gigantic, controlled, thermonuclear reactor, fusing hydrogen into helium and maintaining a constant luminosity and size.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
How do galaxies form and evolve over time? Is it possible to determine what nearby galaxies, or even the Milky Way, once looked like? The answers can be found by examining distant galaxies that formed when the Universe was young.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
The central regions of many galaxies go through an active, very luminous phase early in their development. The most powerful of these active galaxies, called quasars, shine like beacons across billions of light years of space.
Series
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
Supernovae come in several types, based primarily on their spectra. This lecture focuses on the important, hydrogen-deficient subclass called Type Ia, in which a white dwarf robs gas from its companion star and then becomes violently unstable.
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