Jupiter and Saturn are the largest planets in the Solar System,
and the prototype of the Jovian Gas Giant planets. This lecture
focusses on the planets themselves, looking at their composition,
atmospheres, and internal structures. We will leave discussion
of their fascinating systems of rings and moons for next week.
Recorded 2006 Nov 15 in 100 Stillman ... Show More
Sep 2006
Lecture 2: Astronomical Numbers
Before we can begin our exploration of astronomy, we need to develop a
common language for notating large numbers, and introduce the basic
units of length, mass, and time that we will use throughout the quarter.
We will first re-introduce the basic metric system, explaining how t ... Show More
43m 29s
Sep 2006
Lecture 3: The Starry Night
What are the constellations, and how have they be named and used by many
different cultures throughout human history? We will review the most
basic feature of the night sky, the 6000 visible stars sprinkled about
the sky, and introduce the idea of constellations, reviewing their
... Show More
35m 7s
Feb 2023
Defending the Planet from Asteroids
Our solar system contains millions of asteroids, orbiting our sun and rocketing through the night sky! Join scientists Kelly Fast, Tom Statler, and Davide Farnocchia as we discover what we can learn from these building blocks of the universe, and how NASA would respond if one wer ... Show More
27m 39s
Jan 2023
Juno Journeys to Jupiter’s Moons
Dive into the latest discoveries about Jupiter’s moons Ganymede, Europa, and Io with Scott Bolton, the principal investigator for NASA’s Juno mission. We share analysis of the data collected by the spacecraft and look forward to upcoming exploratory missions to Jupiter’s moons fr ... Show More
55m 9s
Aug 2021
Lucy in the Sky With Asteroids
How did the planets form? How did life happen? Where did Earth’s water come from? To answer questions like these, scientists used to go big—looking at planets, dwarf planets, and moons—but now small is the new big. Technology is zooming in on the pint-size stuff—asteroids, comets ... Show More
30m 51s