This course is intended for people who are curious about the stars above. In 15 lectures we will study many topics including what you can see with your unaided eye, motion in the heavens, how our own star “Sol” and other stars “work”. As well, we will look at planets, nebulae, star clusters and galaxies and finally the biggest view of all – cosmology. Throughout the course there will be many opportunities to see how astronomy also influences poetry, music and the visual arts. A very small amount of mathematics will be used from time to time.
Instructor: Brian Martin
Brian Martin is a retired astrophysicist/science educator having taught Physics and Astronomy for more than 35 years at The King’s University in Edmonton. Since his early youth he has had a passion for the night sky and in retirement has returned to one of his favourite pastimes – photographing the night sky. Brian Martin and his wife live on an acreage east of Sherwood Park where they have several small observatories dedicated to ongoing research and pleasure viewing.
