AIMS OF THE CLASS:

The Solar System is our backyard in astronomical terms, our home turf in the Universe. The aims of this course are:

1) To review what the Solar System is like today, as revealed by both astronomical observations from Earth and NASA's intensive planetary exploration program over the past three decades.

2) To understand how the Solar System has evolved, how it got to be the way it is, and to think about how it might develop in the future.

3) To describe our planetary neighbors and discuss similarities and differences compared with the Earth.

4) To discuss the origin of life on Earth and review the possibility that life might exist (or may once have existed) elsewhere in the Solar System.

CLASS FORMAT:

One-credit class: meets on Mondays only and is graded satisfactory/unsatisfactory.

Two-credit class: meets on both Mondays and Thursdays and receives a letter grade.

Class presentations will include videos, PowerPoint lectures, and computer demonstrations. The Monday class will most typically be a video and the Thursday class a lecture. Lecture slides will be available for download from the LMS website.

Separate Monday/Thursday schedules can be found here. If you are taking the 1-credit class, you can ignore the Thursday schedule. Note that exams are scheduled only for students taking the 2-credit class. All exams will be in-class.

Please log into LMS for further details of class rules, requirements and expectations.

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