Enrolments for 2018 have closed.
Galaxies and their Place in the Universe
Postgraduate | SWI-AST80006 | 2018
Course information for 2018 intake
View information for 2019 course intakeGravitate towards galaxies and reveal the theory of dark matter. Chart the universe in depth and navigate structures from dwarf stars to voids. Discover the gravity of galactic clusters. Unearth how first galaxies are formed, evolve and change.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Part of a degree
- Duration
- 13 weeks
FEE-HELP available
Galaxies and their Place in the Universe
About this subject
At the completion of this subject students will be able to:
- Appreciate the 'big questions' in galactic and extragalactic astronomy, and the current state of our knowledge on these questions
- Understand the concepts of galaxy formation and evolution
- Understand the way galaxies are classified and the approaches used to discover their properties
- Communicate basic principles and concepts about our and other galaxies, their properties and their constituents in a non-technical way understandable to the wider public
- Research an astronomy topic in depth, using dependable sources of astronomical information on the internet and refereed journal articles.
- The Milky Way: structure, rotation curves and dark matter, spiral arms & density wave theory, galactic centre, modelling the origin of the Milky Way
- The structure and classification of normal galaxies: spiral, elliptical & irregular galaxies, Hubble's classification
- Estimating galactic distances: standard candles, sizes and masses, redshifts & Hubble's Law
- Galactic structures: the Local Group, dwarf galaxies, dark matter in clusters, superclusters & voids
- Star formation: measuring rates and evolution, techniques and relationships
- Quasars and active galaxies: host galaxies, radio and Seyfert galaxies, unified active galactic nuclei model, black holes, gravitational lensing
- Interacting galaxies, galactic cannibalism & mergers, starburst galaxies, modelling galaxy interactions
- Galaxy formation and evolution, fluctuations and galaxy seeds, Jeans mass, N-body simulations, Cold Dark Matter
- The first stars & galaxies: the dark ages, Population III stars, galaxies & quasars at high redshift, the evolution of clusters, faint blue galaxies
- Quasar absorbers, evolution of gas in the Universe, the intergalactic medium
This subject aims to provide an introduction to galaxies and galaxy clustering, theories of dark matter, galaxy formation and evolution.
- Essay (50%)
- Newsgroups (30%)
- Test (20%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
To enrol in this subject, you must be admitted into a degree.
Equivalent subjects
You should not enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:
SWI-HET624 (Not currently available)
Additional requirements
No additional requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.