Exploring Stars and the Milky Way
HET603
Overview
To enrol in this unit, you must be accepted into a course from the provider.
Read before you start
Level of study: What does Postgraduate mean?
Postgraduate
EFTSL: What does EFTSL mean?
0.125
Delivery Method: What does delivery method mean?
Fully Online
Prerequisites: What are the prerequisites?
No
Duration:
13 weeks
Government loans available:
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Domestic student fee:
$1,600.00 (AUD)
International student fee:
$1,825.00 (AUD)
Description
This unit aims to provide an introduction to the birth, life and death of stars and the structure of our Galaxy. The emphasis is on conceptual astronomy rather than mathematical techniques.
Enrolment Restriction
In order to enrol in this unit, you must be accepted into one of the following courses:
- Graduate Certificate of Science (Astronomy)
- Graduate Diploma of Science (Astronomy)
- Master of Science (Astronomy)
If you wish to seek approval to enrol in this unit without being accepted in a course, please contact OUA regarding the process.
Learning Outcomes
At the completion of this unit students will be able to:
- appreciate and understand the way stars are classified and the approaches used to discover their properties
- understand the principles involved in the life cycle of stars, from protostar to stellar remnants
- communicate the basic principles and concepts about our Galaxy and its constituents (stars, protostars, stellar remnants, gas clouds, dark matter) in a non-technical way understandable to the wider public
- perceive the limits of our understanding of our place in the Galaxy, including an awareness of the place of dark matter in modern astronomical theories
- research an astronomy topic in depth, using dependable sources of astronomical information on the internet.
Topics
This unit addresses the following topics.
| Number | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | The bulk properties and structure of the Sun |
| 2 | Distance, magnitudes, colours and luminosity of stars |
| 3 | Spectral lines and spectral types of the stars |
| 4 | The interstellar medium and the birth of stars |
| 5 | The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and the ZAMS |
| 6 | Life on the main sequence, lifetime and mass-luminosity relations |
| 7 | Evolution of a solar mass star: red giants, planetary nebulae and white dwarfs |
| 8 | Variable stars |
| 9 | Supernovae, supernovae remnants and creation of the elements |
| 10 | End products: neutron stars, pulsars, black holes |
| 11 | Gamma ray bursts: observations and theory |
| 12 | Binary star systems, open clusters and globular clusters |
| 13 | The structure of the Milky Way, the galactic centre, dark matter |
Study Resources
This unit is delivered using the following methods and materials:
Instructional Methods
- Discussion Forum/Discussion Board
- Online Quizzes/Tests
- Online assignment submission
- Standard Media
- Web links
Textbooks are subject to change within the academic year. Students are advised to purchase their books no earlier than one to two months before the start of a unit.
Click on the titles of the listed books below to find out more:
Recommended textbooks
Relevant Courses
This unit is a core requirement in the following courses:
- Graduate Certificate of Science (Astronomy), Swinburne University of Tnlgy
- Graduate Diploma of Science (Astronomy), Swinburne University of Tnlgy
- Master of Science (Astronomy), Swinburne University of Tnlgy
This unit may be eligible for credit towards other courses:
- Many undergraduate courses on offer through OUA include 'open elective' where any OUA unit can be credited to the course. You need to check the Award Requirements on the course page for the number of allowed open electives and any level limitations.
- In other cases, the content of this unit might be relevant to a course on offer through OUA or elsewhere. In order to receive credit for this unit in the course you will need to supply the provider institution with a copy of the Unit Profile in the approved format, which you can download here. Note that the Unit Profile is set at the start of the year, and if textbooks change this may not match the Unibooks textbook list.
