Astronomy, gravity, space and time

Join Dr. Adrian Jannetta for a fascinating exploration of the universe over five weeks! We'll uncover the secrets of gravity, tour our solar system, delve into Einstein's theories of relativity, and learn about the groundbreaking discovery of the Higgs Boson. Each session includes stargazing tips and highlights of autumn's celestial events. Don't miss this journey through the cosmos!

Course overview and further details:

Week 1 / The mysterious force of gravity. In this session we’ll see how Newton discovered a universal law of gravitation. Newtonian gravity explains how the planets move around the Sun, why there are unusual gaps in the asteroid belt and why Saturn has incredible, highly structured rings. Despite all these successes Newtonian gravity is merely the beginning of our understanding of why things fall in the universe!

Week 2 / What’s new in Astronomy?. Latest from the James Webb Space Telescope and the Vera Rubin Observatory. Also: Why did some astronomers think an interstellar visitor might be a precursor to an alien invasion? Is 3I/ATLAS a comet, or the beginning of the end of Earth?

Week 3 / Space, time and spacetime. Most of what we know about the universe comes from studying light from distant objects. But what is light? In this journey we’ll delve into Einstein’s special theory of relativity. Einstein’s attempt to resolve experimental problems involving light led to a revolution in our understanding of space and time.

Week 4 / The fabric of the universe. In this session you’ll learn how Einstein was driven to develop a new theory of gravity called general relativity which tells us that we live in a universe of curved space and time. 100 years ago Einstein’s equations predicted the existence of black holes, gravitational waves and a dynamical universe. We’ll see how these predictions came true.

Week 5 / Time and the universe. We confront the biggest mystery of all: the nature of time. The laws governing the motion of fundamental particles make no distinction between past and future, and yet, it is completely obvious in our everyday lives. How does time emerge from timeless laws? Current understanding is that time is related to entropy - and what we perceive as the passage of time was set by conditions at the beginning of the universe in the Big Bang. We’ll also consider time travel and whether that can ever be feasible in our universe.

Each week will be a split between the main topic described above and guidance about seeing stars, constellations and astronomical events in the autumn night sky.

This course will be delivered via Zoom. If you haven't used Zoom before, please go to www.zoom.us and look at the tutorials. Once you have booked, you will find the Zoom invitation in the Online Event Page on Eventbrite. You will also receive an email with the invitation 24 hours before the event. If you can't find the invitation, please email berwickea@gmail.com.

All bookings are subject to our Terms and Conditions. If you book this course online, we will hold your personal data in accordance with our privacy policy. If you do not wish us to hold your personal data, please book by post (see www.berwickea.co.uk) and do not supply an email address.