Study

[Visionary]

I would very much like to engage in formal study of Astronomy. At the moment my knowledge is restricted to "which side is up". I am chasing something like Astronomy 101, does TAFE or any distanced based institution offer online introductory course, if you know of an sititution or course what would be your recomendations?

[Visionary]

I have one more question.... Well I have 1001 more questions, but the first question is....
Regards cool down times on SCT why can't you simply wrap some cold packs around the base of the scope? The cool packs that you use when you have sprained a knee etc: obviously wrap the cold pack to prevent moisture condensating onto the scope. Would this process speed up the "cool down" process?
Cheers

David

[pluto]

I think you've just missed the start of this one but they'll probably do it again:
https://www.coursera.org/course/introastro

[Visionary]

Michael
Up is a wonderful place too find! I am linking to Crawford now and learning a little more about up.
Cheers

[MichaelSW]

David,

Gresham College London puts on free public lectures about many subjects. There are lots of Astronomy lectures in the Science section. You can download each lecture for later, or watch on-line, and you can download PDF of the text. The current Astronomy lecturer is Professor Carolin Crawford. She is not heavy on the maths / science - it is interesting public extension.

http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Also for free, there is Astronomy 160 and 161 presented by Professor Pogge of OHIO State in 2006-07. You can Podcast the lectures and download text.

http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/

http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/

And isn't "Up" a wonderful side to find.

Cheers

[Visionary]

Proff: Crawford is both animated and engaging, thanks for the "heads up".

[Dboots]

Hi,

I have completed a number of courses through Coursera and they have all been great. I have completed courses on cosmology, astronomy, mechanics calculus etc and they have all been very user friendly and often entertaining. There is something about watching an enthusiastic calculus lecturer at 1.5x that makes me laugh...

The course "Astronomy: Exploring Time and Space" starts on 15 February. https://www.coursera.org/course/astro



Duncan

[pluto]

Just came across this too:
http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/video/bettsclass/