1 – Introduction

Professor Bailyn introduces the course and discusses the course material and requirements. The three major topics that the course will cover are (1) exoplanets–planets around stars other than the Sun, (2) black holes–stars whose gravitational pull is so strong that even their own light rays cannot escape, and (3) cosmology–the study of the Universe as a whole. Class proper begins with a discussion on planetary orbits. A brief history of astronomy is also given and its major contributors over the centuries are introduced: Ptolemy, Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton.