![I (finally) just watched "Guardians of the Galaxy" the other night, and this was inevitable. For more on Grote Reber, click the image. [Credit: NRAO]](https://sciencevspseudoscience.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/i-am-grote.png?w=500&h=603)
It’s not terribly relevant to today’s post, but I (finally) just watched “Guardians of the Galaxy” the other night, and this was inevitable. For more on Grote Reber, click the image. [Credit: NRAO]
- Asteroids! Observations, Meteorites, and Missions (starting January 20)
- Gravity and Orbits (starting February 2)
with two more to be announced very soon, so stay tuned! For more on these two offerings, please click on the links or scroll down. And please help spread the word to your friends!
All our classes are small — no more than eight students — and emphasize the expertise of the teachers to give our students the best experience possible. We don’t require any particular background except curiosity about astronomy and astrophysics (and a little high school-level algebra).
Asteroids! Observations, Meteorites, Missions
This year, the DAWN mission will visit Ceres, the largest asteroid in the Solar System, as a follow-up to its earlier flyby of Vesta (which is in the image accompanying this post). In this course, we’ll learn about the small bodies in our solar system, focusing on asteroids. We’ll cover optical, infrared, and radar techniques for characterizing asteroids, both near-Earth and in the main asteroid belt, and also learn about meteorites. We’ll also discuss recent spacecraft missions to asteroids, and look ahead to future missions. We’ll use some high school-level algebra, and if you know how to use Excel or a programming language, that will be helpful, but not a prerequisite. Bonus: The class includes a tour of the Southwest Meteorite Collection at the University of Arizona. All participants will receive an Arecibo Observatory postcard on completion of the class.Class status: Open for enrollment!
Instructor: Alessondra Springmann
Meeting times: Tuesdays and Sundays, 7:00-8:00 PM US Eastern time (4:00-5:00 PM US Pacific time)
Course dates:
- Tuesday, January 20
- Sunday, January 25
- Tuesday, January 27
- Sunday, February 1
CQX201: Gravity and Orbits

Orbits around the Milky Way’s central black hole, as obtained using the Keck telescope in Hawaii. [Credit: Keck/UCLA Galactic Center Group]
Class status: Open for enrollment in two sections! US Afternoon section and US evening section
Instructor: Matthew R. Francis
Meeting times: Mondays and Wednesdays, 1:00-2:00 PM US Eastern time (10:00-11:00 AM US Pacific time) and 9:00-10:00 PM US Eastern time (6:00-7:00 PM US Pacific time)
Course dates:
- Monday, February 2
- Wednesday, February 4
- Monday, February 9
- Wednesday, February 11
Enroll today! Afternoon section or evening section