Astronomy: Observations and Theories - Episode List and Summaries

Episode List and Summaries

1. The Study of the Universe - This episode introduces viewers to galaxies, superclusters, stars, and planets that will be discussed in future shows.
2. Observing the Sky - The concept of a ‘scientific model’ is explained to help describe a celestial sphere and to organize the night sky. The naming of stars and constellations by different cultures is discussed.
3. Celestial Cycles - The motion, size, and cycles of the sun, moon, and earth are compared and the prediction of solar eclipse’s are looked at.
4. The Birth of Astronomy - A presentation on the foundations, theories, observations, and contributors to Astronomy.
5. Astronomical Tools - Astronomers do two main things, collect light and analyze it. This chapter answers two questions, what is light and what tools are used to collect it?
6. The Science of Starlight - The installment of the stellar classification system is presented along with the interactions of atoms and light related to the history of the spectral classes.
7. The Sun: Our Star - This lesson discusses the sun’s interior layers, atmosphere, magnetic cycle, and its effects on Earth.
8. The Family of Stars - The brightness of a star is determined by its distance from Earth. Lesson 8 shows viewers how to find distance to nearby stars and how to plot them on an HR diagram.
9. Stellar Births - Lesson 9 examines the birth of stars in the process of stellar evolution and looks at different types of nebulae and the ingredients needed to produce a star.
10. Stellar Deaths - This episode details the life and death of stars and the products that are leftover after a star dies.
11. Stellar Remnants - Neutron stars and black holes are often remainders of the death of a star. This episode also discusses highly energetic objects, gamma-ray bursts and hypernovae.
12. Our Galaxy: The Milky Way - Talks about the history, size, and anatomy of our galaxy, the Milky Way
13. Galaxies - The introduction of Hubble Law and discussions of the classification of galaxies are among the topics of lesson 13.
14. Active Galaxies - The discussion of galaxies continues and active galaxies are introduced and defined.
15. Cosmology - Cosmology asks questions like, what shape is the universe? How did it begin? How will it end? The Big Bang theory is examined as well.
16. Solar Systems - Lesson 16 reviews solar systems and how they are formed. It includes topics such as the solar nebula theory and the detection of planets around distant stars.
17. The Terrestrial Planets - Formation and evolution of the Earth is detailed and compared with other terrestrial planets.
18. The Jovian Worlds - Episode 18 provides an explanation of the processes that allowed the planets in this part of the solar system to grow to such large sizes. It also discusses gravity, volcanic activity, and atmosphere.
19. Solar System Debris - This lesson examines solar system debris, meteorites, asteroids, and comets.
20. The Search for Life Beyond - In this episode, scientists discuss the possibility that the early seeds of life on Earth were delivered by comet impacts and the reasons why it is believed that the first life began on the deep seafloor near hydrothermal vents.