Planetary Science
HET620
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?
Duration:
13 weeks
Government loans available:
FEE-HELP FEE-HELP
Domestic student fee:
$1,600.00 (AUD)
International student fee:
$1,825.00 (AUD)
Description
This unit will provide students with a detailed understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of planetary science - combining astronomy, geology, chemistry, and atmospheric science. It will investigate the origins and evolution of our Solar System, the terrestrial and giant planets, planetary atmospheres and surface phenomena.
Enrolment Restriction
In order to enrol in this unit, you must be accepted into one of the following courses:
If you wish to seek approval to enrol in this unit without being accepted in a course, please contact OUA regarding the process.
Prerequisites
Recommended prerequisites
You are recommended to have completed the following unit(s) or have equivalent knowledge before starting this unit:
- HET602 — Exploring the Solar System
Learning Outcomes
At the completion of this unit students will be able to:
- appreciate that planetary science is an interdisciplinary field involving astronomy, physics, chemistry and geology
- understand planetary orbits and the nature of gravity in shaping our Solar System
- understand planetary atmospheres, surfaces and interiors and specifically what they can teach us about planet formation
- research an astronomy topic in depth, using dependable sources of astronomical information on the internet and refereed journal articles.
Topics
This unit addresses the following topics.
| Number | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | An introduction to the interdisciplinary field of planetary science |
| 2 | Orbital dynamics: 2, 3 and N-body problems; perturbations and resonances; tides; dissipative forces |
| 3 | Solar heating and radiative equilibrium |
| 4 | Planetary atmospheres: thermal structure, composition, meteorology, photochemistry, escape |
| 5 | Planetary surfaces: morphology, mineralogy, cratering |
| 6 | Planetary interiors: modelling internal structure, terrestrials and giants |
| 7 | Magnetospheres: dipole magnetic fields, plasma, planetary magnetospheres |
| 8 | Debris: meteorites, asteroids, comets and planetary rings |
| 9 | Planet formation and the origin of the Solar System |
Study Resources
This unit is delivered using the following methods and materials:
Instructional Methods
- Discussion Forum/Discussion Board
- Embedded Multimedia
- Online Quizzes/Tests
- Online assignment submission
- Standard Media
- Web links
Textbook information for this unit is currently being updated and will be available soon. Please check back regularly for updates. Alternatively, visit the Unibooks website and enter the unit details to search for available textbooks.
Relevant Courses
This unit is a core requirement in the following courses:
This unit is an approved elective in the following courses:
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.
