An Astronomical Introduction

Events: Recent and Upcoming Perihelion Jan 2 (5:49 PM) Mkm Aphelion July 4 (12:25 PM) Mkm Equinoxes Mar 19 (11:30 PM) Sept 22 (09:21 AM) Solstices June 20 (5:34 PM) Dec 21 (5:44 AM)

Two solar eclipses in 2016: one visible from mid-Pacific, one from Africa!

Let’s Meet the Stars

The Milky Way Galaxy

Beyond the Milky Way This link will take you on a virtual trip out into the realm of the galaxies!

Various Kinds of Galaxies

Multitudes of Them…

…in an Expanding Universe

In Other Words: The universe around us is not the same now as it was in the remote past! This prompts two obvious questions: What was it like at the ‘time of origin’? What was it like at the ‘time of origin’? What fate does the remote future hold? What fate does the remote future hold?

The history of the Universe

What We Can Explain The early state of the universe The formation of the light elements in the ‘big bang’ The emergence and growth of structure (quasars, stars, galaxies, etc) The creation of the heavier elements (‘we are stardust’) The formation, life, and death of stars and planets How it will progress into the future

Along the way, we encounter: black holes the cosmic microwave background radiation background radiation neutron stars white dwarfs quasars variable and exploding stars pulsars colliding galaxies novaesupernovae dark matter /dark energy curved space-time

Could There Even Be an Infinity of Universes?

But We Will Start with the Stars!