Our Lectures
are typically used to give presentations, although they can also be used for self study.
They run directly from our website and no software in your computer is needed apart from the webbrowser that you are already using.
Most of the Slide shows are accompanied by a narrative text file and/or handout(s) (in pdf-format) that can be downloaded and which contain background information. These attachments should be studied beforehand by the presenter for the best results or can be used as a study resource for self study. These documents can be downloaded from the "Resources" tab (top left) in each presentation.
Open any one of the categories below and click on the icon in the column "Run" (only visible when you are logged in) to open the show in a separate tab. Make sure to scroll down to see all our presentations.
Available Lecture Series
Individual Presentations
The Rhythmic Sky Course
In this course we discuss how we see celestial objects move in the sky and why this happens that way.
Exploring the Solar System Course
In this course we travel virtually through our Solar System, visiting planets, and many moons, minor planets, asteroids, and comets. New version 4.0 of this course in development.
Mars InDepth Series
In this series we take a close look at the planet Mars.
Leaving the Solar System Course
In this course we leave our Solar System and travel up to about 5000 light years. We discuss major observation techniques and look at different types of stars we find and their properties. New version 2 (2020).
| Title | Description | Run |
|---|---|---|
| Click on icon in column Run | The Slide presentation will open in a separate tab | |
| Sense of Scale | Continuing our scale model up to about 5000 light years. What do we find and what can we see with the naked eye? Units of distance in Astronomy; the magnitude scale. | |
| Multiple systems | Most stars are not alone. Binaries, Trinaries, etc. Open Clusters. | |
| Exploring the Nearest stars | An excursion past a selection of the star systems and nebulae we find in this region. | |
| Distance and proper Motion | Parallax as the first rung of the cosmic distance ladder. How does it work and how do we separate it from proper motion of stars? | |
| Mass, Luminosity, Colour | Most important characteristics of a star. Mass; what is luminosity?; Relation between temperature and colour. Introduction to the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR-) diagram.This prepares for Stellar Evolution. | |
| Physics of Spectroscopy | What is light? Wave vs. Quantum model. Diffraction and Intererence. What is a spectrum? Photon energy and absorption and emission lines. | |
| Spectroscopy in Astronomy | Spectroscopy as the most important observation technique in astronomy. Spectral classification and the HR-diagram again. Applications of spectroscopy. | |
| Stellar Evolution | Star formation. Nuclear fusion explained. Main sequence stars. The final stage for sun-like and more massive stars. Neutron stars and Black holes. Mapping stellar evolution on the HR-diagram. The importance of the HR-diagram. | |
| Beyond the Visible | Overview Multi-wavelength astronomy. Radio including VLBI, Infrared, Visible light, Ultraviolet, X-ray and Gamma-ray. History and Detection technology. (Applications are being discussed in the next Series Exploring the Milky Way). | |
| Exoplanets | How do we find exoplanets? Observation programmes in space and on the ground, Properties and classification of exoplanets. How do we search for life? Any chance of finding intelligent life? | |
| Travel to the stars | A popular topic around the coffee table, but how realistic is that?. An inventory using a bit of physics. | |
| Corona Blog | Click here Currently there are TWELVE items in this blog. |
Exploring the Milky Way Course
In this course we travel up to about 500,000 light years and explore our home galaxy in detail.
Version 2.
Going Deep Course
In this course we travel all the way out to the edge of the observable Universe.
