Professor
Karl Gebhardt
Office: RLM 16.210
Phone: (512) 471-1473
gebhardt@astro.as.utexas.edu
TA
Amanda Bauer
Office: RLM 15.202A
Phone: (512) 471-8316
amanda@astro.as.utexas.edu
TA
Shyam Kumar
Office: RLM 15.308
shyam_s_kumar@lycos.com
Course Web Site
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Course Objectives
Astronomy receives considerable attention from the media and the public in general. It allows us to
ask fundamental questions about who we are, where we come from, and where we will end up as a
world. This course will concentrate on the areas of Astronomy that are currently most covered by the
media---planet detection and interpretation, supermassive black holes, gamma-ray bursters, dark
matter in the Universe, and other significant developments that arise during the semester. We will
cover each of these in depth, but will also concentrate on the reaction that the media has had on
them. The media and public often have an uncanny ability to probe directly to the main reasons for
why scientists study a particular problem. The student who completes this course will not only have a
better scientific understanding of the current hot topics in Astronomy, but also understand how the
media can actually drive science in general.
Text
No textbook is required. Much of the relevant material will be articles that are available on the internet,
so access to the internet is important. Lectures, along with many articles from the internet,will be provided
online. I strongly recommend the book Cosmic Perspective by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, and
Voit for additional material. I will add websites to the lists provided during the semester.
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