The Emergence of Space and Time, Light and Matter: How Our Galaxy, Our Sun, and Our Earth Came to Be

From the birth of our universe, 14 billion years ago, the explosion of space into existence which led to the Big Bang, our knowledge is only recently beginning to give us more fundamental answers about our physical existence. In this course, we discuss how the expanding cosmos gave rise to galaxies, how stars are born and die, and how planets form. We explore black holes, neutron stars, and other mysterious states of matter. Students learn about the most recent developments in the field of astronomy, including the discovery of gravity waves coming from merging neutron stars and the first images from the huge black hole at the center of our galaxy. We look into the mystery of symmetry in the cosmic laws and explore the possible existence of portals between far away times and locations, wormholes. We delve into the near future of telescopic exploration, such as the Webb Telescope and many other upcoming space missions.