M-W-F 11:00-11:50 in room GMCS 301
Astr 310: Astrobiology and the Search for
Extraterrestrial Life
M-W-F 11:00-11:50 in room GMCS 301
Prerequisites:
Completion of the General Education requirement in
Foundations II.A.1 Physical Sciences -or-
II.A.2 Life Sciences.
Course Catalog Description:
The search for extraterrestrial life in our Solar System and other
planetary systems; the formation of stars and planets; UFOs and SETI;
origin and evolution of life on Earth; life in extreme environments;
cosmology and the structure of the Universe.
Outline of topics to be covered:
- The Big Bang and the size & structure of the Universe
- The formation of stars and planetary systems
- The possibility of extraterrestrial life in our Solar System
- The Earth and terrestrial life
- Life in extreme environments
- The discovery of planets around other stars
- The Drake Equation
- Habitable Zones
- SETI and the search for extraterrestrial life
- UFOs and pseudo-science: developing critical review skills
Notes for the prospective student:
(1) As a 300-level GE course, this class will require a substantial
amount of reading and writing. (Remember this is a science class -
"substantial" does not mean tons and tons and tons of reading.)
Mathematics will be kept to a minimum, but we do need some.
(2) For the most part, the philosophical and sociological aspects of
the origin of life and extraterrestrial life will generally not be
discussed in class. Although these are absolutely fascinating topics,
we just won't have enough time.
(3) This course is focused on the astronomy part of
astrobiology; many related and important topics in geology,
chemistry and biology will not be covered - there's just not enough
time to do it all (this is a GE course, not a Ph.D.!).
I encourage you to pursue your interests and take classes offered by
those departments.
(4) Class participation is an important learning tool, so the class
will be stuctured to allow time for discussions and questions &
answers.
(5) The class textbook will be "Life In the Universe" by Bennett, Shostak
and Jakosky. This is a brand-new book (copyright 2003).
We will also have a "reader" of papers and chapters
from various sources that will be required. A highly recommended, but
not required book is Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World"
(Ballantine). Another excellent textbook is
``The Search for Life in the Universe'' by Goldsmith and Owen.
(6) You will be required to write a term paper, or some sort of
equivalent project (be creative!).
"Astrobiology: exploring the living universe" graphic from NASA Ames
Research Center WWWeb site: http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/;
The ALH84001 images are from
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/flash/marslife/photos.htm;
Other images from J. Craig Wheeler's Ast309L course WWWeb page at the
Univ. of Texas (http://tycho.as.utexas.edu/~wheel/ast309L/pics.html),
and from SETI at UC Berkeley (http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/)