Astrophysics

Despite spectacular recent progress, there is still a lot we don't know about our universe. We don't know why the Big Bang happened. We don't know what most of the universe is made of. We don't know whether there is life in space. We don't know how planets form, how black holes get so big, or where the first stars have gone. This course will take you through nine of the greatest unsolved problems of modern astrophysics. We can't promise you the answers, but we will explain what we do and don't know, and give you an up-to-date understanding of current research. This course is designed for people who would like to get a deeper understanding of these mysteries than that offered by popular science articles and shows.

This is the first of four ANUx courses which together make up the Australian National University's first year astrophysics program. It is followed by courses on exoplanets, on the violent universe, and on cosmology. These courses compromise the Astrophysics XSeries. Learn more about the XSeries program and register for all the courses in the series today!

The discovery of exoplanets is one of the greatest revolutions in modern astrophysics. Twenty years ago, we had no idea whether any of the countless stars out there beyond our solar system had planets or not.

Today, things are totally different. Over 1,000 planetary systems have been discovered. The universe is teeming with planets. And what strange planets they are - hot Jupiter-like planets skimming the surfaces of their stars, cold and lonely free-floating planets far from any star, planets made of diamond, planets with rain made of glass, super-Earths and even planets orbiting neutron stars. In this course, we’ll bring you up-to-date with the latest research on exoplanets, and how this research has revolutionised our understanding of the formation of solar systems like our own.

This course is designed for people who would like to get a deeper understanding of these mysteries than that offered by popular science articles and shows. You will need reasonable high-school level mathematics and physics to get the most out of this course.

This is the second of four ANUx courses which together make up the Australian National University's first year astrophysics program. It follows on from the introductory course on the Greatest Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe, and is followed by courses on the violent universe and on cosmology. These courses compromise the Astrophysics XSeries. Learn more about the XSeries program and register for all the courses in the series today!

Interested in exploring the deadliest and most mysterious parts of our universe? Or, investigating black holes, which warp the very fabric of space-time around them?

We will look at what we know about these objects, and also at the many unsolved mysteries that surround them. We will also study white-dwarf stars and neutron stars, where the mind-bending laws of quantum mechanics collide with relativity. And, examine dwarf novae, classical novae, supernovae and even hypernovae: the most violent explosions in the cosmos.

This course is designed for people who would like to get a deeper understanding of astronomy than that offered by popular science articles and television shows.You will need reasonable high-school level Maths and Physics to get the most out of this course.

This is the third of four ANUx courses which together make up the Australian National University's first year astrophysics program. It follows on from a course on the Greatest Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe, and a course on exoplanets. It is not necessary to have done the previous courses first: all necessary background material is repeated here. It is followed by a course on cosmology. These courses compromise the Astrophysics XSeries. Learn more about the XSeries program and register for all the courses in the series today!