Course Overview

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Do curso por Rutgers the State University of New Jersey

Analyzing the Universe

47 ratings

Rutgers the State University of New Jersey

Analyzing the Universe

47 ratings

Using publicly available data from NASA of actual satellite observations of astronomical x-ray sources, we explore some of the mysteries of the cosmos, including neutron stars, black holes, quasars and supernovae. We will analyze energy spectra and time series data to understand how these incredible objects work. We utilize an imaging tool called DS9 to explore the amazing diversity of astronomical observations that have made x-ray astronomy one of the most active and exciting fields of scientific investigation in the past 50 years. Each week we will explore a different facet of x-ray astronomy. Beginning with an introduction to the nature of image formation, we then move on to examples of how our imaging program, DS9, can aid our understanding of real satellite data. You will using the actual data that scientists use when doing their work. Nothing is "canned". You will be able to appreciate the excitement that astronomers felt when they made their important discoveries concerning periodic binary x-ray sources, supernovae and their remnants, and extragalactic sources that have shaped our understanding of cosmology.

Na lição

Light and the Nature of Images....Plus, an Introduction to DS9

Welcome to Week 1 of "Analyzing the Universe!" This week we explore the nature of light, and how we get astronomical information from the images we obtain. The lectures and "wiki" material address these themes: light, image formation, and DS9. Dive right in!

Course Overview4:21

Conheça os instrutores

Dr. Terry A. Matilsky
Professor
Physics and Astronomy

My name is Terry Matilsky.

I'm a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers University.

For many years, I have been interested in the nature of science and

how thinking like a scientist can help us in many aspects of our lives.

Science is not about what we know, it is about what we don't know.

It is not just a bunch of facts that you look up in a textbook, it is a vital

interactive process by which we attempt to make sense out of the world around us.

This is what I wish to explore and emphasize in this course.

From the moment we are born, we instinctively begin to explore and

interact with our environment.

When we crawled around outside in the dirt as infants, what's the first thing we did?

Right, we aid it.

Then when we discovered that cookies were tastier, we began to discriminate.

We learn to see patterns and differences in objects and behaviors and

then recognizing patterns and building ideas and theories of how our world works,

by testing those theories in our everyday experiences, we are,

perhaps unconsciously, exploring the essence of what it is to do science.

In this course, Analyzing the Universe, we will examine some of the astounding

discoveries that science, mostly astronomy, has made in the past decades.

We will think like scientists recognizing patterns and

developing theories from them about how the world behaves.

In so doing, we will encounter some very surprising relationships, and

some quite bizarre conditions that exist in remote corners of the universe.

For instance, what does an elephant have to do with this strange object?

Astonishingly, the power behind this cosmic x-ray source is an incredible star,

whose material is so dense that if you were able to scoop up just

one thimble full of its contents, it would weigh as much

as 6 million full sized African elephants.

How we learned this is a fascinating saga, that we will explore in this course.

It began almost a thousand years ago in 1054,

when a star exploded eventually becoming the Crab Nebula.

With the help of modern satellite telescopes that

are sensitive to light energies that our eyes can't even detect,

we can see it still ceasing in the 21st century.

And what does a lighthouse have to do with these types of stellar remnants?

We have discovered that the central engines which provide their light energy

are stars no bigger than Manhattan island which spin around like a lighthouse,

sometimes up to almost one thousand rotations per second,

can you picture that?

Manhattan island weeping around almost 1000 times a second?

We can model how these objects form through explosions we call supernovae.

What's even more exciting is that by using internet tools we can download actual

data from NASA's satellite telescopes and examine these phenomenon first hand.

We can do real science and look at the same data that scientists do everyday.

We won't use a textbook to tell us what to think.

We will be the explorers finding the patterns.

We won't take anybody's word for it.

We'll do it ourselves.

All you need for this course is a sense of wonder and

curiosity about the world we inhabit and a desire to look for and

make sense of patterns you find in the world around you.

If this sounds appealing, then I welcome you to Analyzing the Universe.

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