This course focuses on three particularly interesting areas of astronomy that are advancing very rapidly: Extra-Solar Planets, Black Holes, and Dark Energy. Particular attention is paid to current projects that promise to improve our understanding significantly over the next few years. The course explores not just what is known, but what is currently not known, and how astronomers are going about trying to find out.

The Plentiful Universe: Space, Time and Quantity

Many things are now known abut our Universe, but how have we gained this knowledge? This course will consider some of the intriguing methods that we can use to create our knowledge base. The methods are based on mathematical techniques which will all be taught in an approachable way from the most basic level.

Scientists now have a good idea of how the Universe started, based on recently gathered evidence. This course explores the 'Big Bang' and the science that underpins it, including Einstein's theories of relativity, and the nature of the quantum world. The course is self-contained and assumes no prior knowledge of cosmology.