Astronomy 1141

Life in the Universe

Exoplanet System

Astronomy 1141, Life in the Universe, is a one-semester introduction to Astrobiology for non-science majors. The topics covered in this course lie at the interfaces between Astronomy, Chemistry, Biology, and the Earth and Planetary sciences. We will learn about scientists’ ongoing quest for answers to some of the most fundamental human questions: How did life originate on Earth? Is there life on other worlds? Are we alone in the universe? What is the long-term future of life in the universe?

The course covers three primary topics:

  1. The emergence and nature of life on the Earth
  2. The potential for life on other planets in our Solar System
  3. The search for habitable worlds and life around other stars in our Galaxy.

The course begins with an introduction to modern science and astronomy, and ends with a discussion of the long-term future of life on Earth and in the universe in general.

This course attempts to convey a number of the facts that astronomers and astrophysicists have learned about these topics, to describe the outstanding scientific problems that are the focus of current research, to illustrate ways in which physical principles are used to understand the universe, and to show how scientific theories are developed and tested against observations.