Autumn Astronomy: Gravity, Spacetime, and the Fabric of the Universe

A practical guide to the night sky, and a deep dive into topics in modern astronomy.
About this Event

A course of five lectures in astronomy by Dr. Adrian Jannetta, on Saturdays from 11 am to 12 noon via Zoom. Join us for a fascinating exploration of the universe over five weeks! We'll uncover the secrets of gravity, tour our solar system, delve into Einstein's theories of relativity, and learn about the groundbreaking discovery of the Higgs Boson. Each session includes stargazing tips and highlights of autumn's celestial events. Don't miss this journey through the cosmos!

Week 1 / The mysterious force of gravity. In this session we’ll see how Newton discovered a universal law of gravitation. Newtonian gravity explains how the planets move around the Sun, why there are unusual gaps in the asteroid belt and why Saturn has incredible, highly structured rings. Despite all these successes Newtonian gravity is merely the beginning of our understanding of why things fall in the universe!

Week 2 / Our solar system and other planets. This week we’ll take a tour of the solar system. We’ll review how our local star, the Sun, is able to generate energy for 10 billion years. We’ll visit the planets and see images of their atmospheres, surfaces and moons. Finally, we’ll learn what new discoveries about exoplanets (planets around other stars) have taught us about the origin of our own Earth and solar system.

Week 3 / Space, time and spacetime. Most of what we know about the universe comes from studying light from distant objects. But what is light? In this journey we’ll delve into Einstein’s special theory of relativity. Einstein’s attempt to resolve experimental problems involving light led to a revolution in our understanding of space and time.

Week 4 / The fabric of the universe. In this session you’ll learn how Einstein was driven to develop a new theory of gravity called general relativity which tells us that we live in a universe of curved space and time. 100 years ago Einstein’s equations predicted the existence of black holes, gravitational waves and a dynamical universe. We’ll see how these predictions came true.

Week 5 / The Higgs Boson and beyond. Everything is made of atoms but, according to quantum theory, atoms are vibrations in underlying fields. In this session we’ll review the Standard Model of particle physics and give a historical account of the discovery of the Higgs Boson at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012. What is this particle? And what part does it play in the universe?

Each week will be a split between the main topic described above and guidance about seeing stars, constellations and astronomical events in the autumn night sky.

This course will be delivered via Zoom. If you haven't used Zoom before, please go to www.zoom.us and look at the tutorials. Once you have booked, you will find the Zoom invitation in the Online Event Page on Eventbrite. You will also receive an email with the invitation 24 hours before the event. If you can't find the invitation, please email [email protected].

All bookings are subject to our Terms and Conditions. If you book this course online, we will hold your personal data in accordance with our privacy policy. If you do not wish us to hold your personal data, please book by post (see www.berwickea.co.uk) and do not supply an email address.