Free Astronomy and Space Exploration Courses
Image: Fate of the Sister by Jim Plaxco. A depiction of a binary star system in which one of the stars has gone supernova. Original image size: 27 x 21 inches.
I recently discovered a great collection of free online courses being offered by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Known as MIT OpenCourseWare, it consists of complete courses in a wide variety of disciplines. You don’t even have to register - just download the files to your computer. The courses provide lecture notes, review problems, quizzes, and solutions using a combination of html, xml, and pdf files.
What caught my eye were the Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Physics sections. Classes in the Physics section that I downloaded are:
- Relativity
- Introduction to Special Relativity
- Exploring Black Holes: General Relativity & Astrophysics
- Introduction to Astronomy
- Modern Astrophysics
- The Early Universe
- Cosmology
- Astrophysics I
Closer to home the section Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences contains a number of interesting courses including:
Lastly, for the budding rocket scientist there is in the Aeronautics and Astronautics section the following courses:
In fact there is easily more than enough material available to keep the enquiring mind busy for years. My advice: go forth and learn.
Ad Astra, Jim
