The Science of the Solar System

开始时间: 04/22/2022 持续时间: Unknown

所在平台: CourseraArchive 课程类别: 物理与地球科学 大学或机构: California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院） 授课老师： Mike Brown

课程主页: https://www.coursera.org/course/solarsystem

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课程详情

This course is a scientific exploration of our solar system. You will learn both what we know about the solar system around us but also how we have been using the tools of science to learn the things that we know. You will get to use some of the tools yourself.

Unlike typical solar system classes, which plod from one planet to the next, we will focus our examination of the solar system on four main topics: (1) Where is there water on Mars? (2) What is inside of a giant planet? (3) How can we use the smallest bodies in the solar system to answer the biggest questions? (4) Where might we look for life?

To answer these questions we will learn about details of atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, planetary interiors and magnetism, the geological history of planets, spacecraft exploration, telescopic observations of planets around other stars, spectroscopic determinations of composition, biochemistry of water- and non-water based life, and many more. In short, we'll learn about the whole solar system and about planets in other systems besides ours.

课程大纲

The course will be divided into 4 two-week long units exploring specific concepts in depth.

Weeks 1 and 2: Where is the water on Mars? We'll explore geology, atmospheric science, geochemistry, and interior physics to track water through time and figure out where and when it might have been on the surface.

Weeks 3 and 4: What is inside of a giant planet? We'll figure out all of the indirect methods scientists have used to learn about the interior of Jupiter and other giant planets, from understanding the formation of the solar system, experimenting with high pressure physics, calculating atmospheric structures, to exploring other giant planets here and outside the solar system.

Weeks 5 and 6: How can we use the smallest bodies in the solar system to answer  the biggest question? We'll learn about the populations of small bodies in the solar system, from the asteroids to the tiny satellites, to the distant Kuiper belt, and how we have been using these objects to determine how the solar system was formed, how it has rearranged since then, and how changes are continuing to happen.

Weeks 7 and 8: Where might we look for life in and beyond the solar system? We'll explore life in extreme environments on the Earth and then consider the habitability of places like Mars, Europa, Enceladus, and Titan before broadly considering habitability in the galactic environment.

Week 9: Final exam

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