Crash Course Astronomy

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Introduction to Astronomy
Episode overview
Welcome to the first episode of Crash Course Astronomy. Your host for this intergalactic adventure is the Bad Astronomer himself, Phil Plait. We begin with answering a question: "What is astronomy?"
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Naked Eye Observations
Episode overview
Today on Crash Course Astronomy, Phil invites you to head outside and take a look at all the incredible things you can see with your naked eye.
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Cycles in the Sky
Episode overview
This week we build on our naked eye observations from last week and take a look at the cyclical phenomena that we can see at work in the universe.
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Moon Phases
Episode overview
In this episode of Crash Course Astronomy, Phil takes you through the cause and name of the Moon's phases.
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Eclipses
Episode overview
The big question in the comments last week was, "BUT WHAT ABOUT ECLIPSES?" Today, Phil breaks 'em down for you.
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Telescopes
Episode overview
Today Phil explains how telescopes work and offers up some astronomical shopping advice.
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The Gravity of the Situation
Episode overview
In today's episode, Phil looks at how gravity plays out across the universe.
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Tides
Episode overview
Today Phil explores the world of tides! What is the relationship between tides and gravity? How do planets and their moons become tidally locked? What would happen if you were 300km tall? Important questions.
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Introduction to the Solar System
Episode overview
In today's Crash Course Astronomy, Phil takes a look at the explosive history of our cosmic backyard. We explore how we went from a giant ball of gas to the system of planets and other celestial objects we have today.
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The Sun
Episode overview
Phil takes us for a closer (eye safe!) look at the two-octillion ton star that rules our solar system. We look at the sun's core, plasma, magnetic fields, sunspots, solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and what all of that means for our planet.
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The Earth
Episode overview
Phil starts the planet-by-planet tour of the solar system right here at home, Earth.
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The Moon
Episode overview
Join Phil for a tour of our capital-M Moon, from surface features, inside to the core, and back in time to theories about its formation.
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Mercury
Episode overview
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. It has no atmosphere and is, as such, covered in craters. It's also incredibly hot but, surprisingly, has water ice hiding beneath its surface.
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Venus
Episode overview
Venus is a gorgeous naked-eye planet, hanging like a diamond in the twilight -- but it’s beauty is best looked at from afar. Even though Mercury is closer to the sun, Venus is the .. show full overview
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Mars
Episode overview
The fourth planet from the sun and the outermost of the terrestrial planets, Mars has long been a popular spot for missions and imagination. Phil walks you through the planet's .. show full overview
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Jupiter
Episode overview
Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. The gas giant is NOT a failed star, but a really successful planet! It has a dynamic atmosphere with belts and zones, as well as an .. show full overview
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Jupiter's Moons
Episode overview
Before moving on from Jupiter to Saturn, we’re going to linger for a moment on Jupiter’s moons. There are 67 known moons, and 4 huge ones that we want to explore in greater detail. .. show full overview
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Saturn
Episode overview
Saturn is the crown jewel of the solar system, beautiful and fascinating. It is a gas giant, and has a broad set of rings made of ice particles. Moons create gaps in the rings via their .. show full overview
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Uranus & Neptune
Episode overview
Today we’re rounding out our planetary tour with ice giants Uranus and Neptune. Both have small rocky cores, thick mantles of ammonia, water, and methane, and atmospheres that make them .. show full overview
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Asteroids
Episode overview
Now that we’ve finished our tour of the planets, we’re headed back to the asteroid belt. Asteroids are chunks of rock, metal, or both that were once part of smallish planets but were .. show full overview
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Comets
Episode overview
Today on Crash Course Astronomy, Phil explains comets. Comets are chunks of ice and rock that orbit the Sun. When they get near the Sun the ice turns into gas, forming the long tail, and .. show full overview
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The Oort Cloud
Episode overview
Now that we’re done with the planets, asteroid belt, and comets, we’re heading to the outskirts of the solar system. Out past Neptune are vast reservoirs of icy bodies that can become .. show full overview
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Meteors
Episode overview
Today Phil helps keep you from ticking off an astronomer in your life by making sure you know the difference between a meteor, meteorite, and meteoroid. When the Earth plows through the .. show full overview
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Light
Episode overview
In order to understand how we study the universe, we need to talk a little bit about light. Light is a form of energy. Its wavelength tells us its energy and color. Spectroscopy allows .. show full overview
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Distances
Episode overview
How do astronomers make sense out of the vastness of space? How do they study things so far away? Today Phil talks about distances, going back to early astronomy. Ancient Greeks were .. show full overview
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Stars
Episode overview
Today Phil’s explaining the stars and how they can be categorized using their spectra. Together with their distance, this provides a wealth of information about them including their .. show full overview
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Exoplanets
Episode overview
Today Phil explains that YES, there are other planets out there and astonomers have a lot of methods for detecting them. Nearly 2000 have been found so far. The most successful method is .. show full overview
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Brown Dwarfs
Episode overview
While Jupiter is nowhere near massive enough to initiate fusion in its core, there are even more massive objects out there that fall just short of that achievement as well called brown .. show full overview
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Low Mass Stars
Episode overview
Today we are talking about the life -- and death -- of stars. Low mass stars live a long time, fusing all their hydrogen into helium over a trillion years. More massive stars like the .. show full overview
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White Dwarfs & Planetary Nebulae
Episode overview
Today Phil follows up last week’s look at the death of low mass stars with what comes next: a white dwarf. White dwarfs are incredibly hot and dense objects roughly the size of Earth. .. show full overview
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High Mass Stars
Episode overview
Massive stars fuse heavier elements in their cores than lower mass stars. This leads to the creation of heavier elements up to iron. Iron robs critical energy from the core, causing it .. show full overview
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Neutron Stars
Episode overview
In the aftermath of a 8 – 20 solar mass star’s demise we find a weird little object known as a neutron star. Neutrons stars are incredibly dense, spin rapidly, and have very strong .. show full overview
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Black Holes
Episode overview
We’ve covered a lot of incredible stuff, but this week we’re talking about the weirdest objects in space: BLACK HOLES. Stellar mass black holes form when a very massive star dies, and .. show full overview
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Binary and Multiple Stars
Episode overview
Double stars are stars that appear to be near each other in the sky, but if they’re gravitationally bound together we call them binary stars. Many stars are actually part of binary or .. show full overview
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Star Clusters
Episode overview
Last week we covered multiple star systems, but what if we added thousands or even millions of stars to the mix? A star cluster. There are different kinds of clusters, though. Open .. show full overview
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Nebulae
Episode overview
Astronomers study a lot of gorgeous things, but nebulae might be the most breathtakingly beautiful of them all. Nebulae are clouds of gas and dust in space. They can glow on their own or .. show full overview
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The Milky Way
Episode overview
Today we’re talking about our galactic neighborhood: The Milky Way. It’s a disk galaxy, a collection of dust, gas, and hundreds of billions of stars, with the Sun located about halfway .. show full overview
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Galaxies, Part 1
Episode overview
The Milky Way is our neighborhood in the universe. It’s a galaxy and there are many others out there. Galaxies contain gas, dust, and billions of stars or more. They come in four main .. show full overview
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Galaxies, Part 2
Episode overview
Active galaxies pour out lots of energy, due to their central supermassive black holes gobbling down matter. Galaxies tend not to be loners, but instead exist in smaller groups and .. show full overview
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Gamma-Ray Bursts
Episode overview
Gamma-ray bursts are not only incredible to study, but their discovery has an epic story all its own. Today Phil takes you through some Cold War history and then dives into what we know. .. show full overview
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Dark Matter
Episode overview
Today on Crash Course Astronomy, Phil dives into some very dark matters. The stuff we can actually observe in the universe isn’t all there is. Galaxies and other large structures in the .. show full overview
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The Big Bang, Cosmology Part 1
Episode overview
Thanks to observations of galaxy redshifts, we can tell that the universe is EXPANDING! Knowing that the universe is expanding and how quickly its expanding also allows us to run the .. show full overview
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Dark Energy, Cosmology Part 2
Episode overview
The majority of the universe is made up of a currently mysterious entity that pervades space: dark energy. We don’t know exactly what it is, but we do know that dark energy accelerates .. show full overview
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A Brief History of the Universe
Episode overview
Thanks to the wonders of physics, astronomers can map a timeline of the universe’s history. Today, Phil’s going to give you an overview of those first few minutes (yes, MINUTES) of the .. show full overview
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Deep Time
Episode overview
As we approach the end of Crash Course Astronomy, it’s time now to acknowledge that our Universe’s days are numbered. Stars will die out after a few trillion years, protons will decay .. show full overview
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Everything, The Universe...And Life
Episode overview
Here it is, folks: the end. In our final episode of Crash Course Astronomy, Phil gives the course a send off with a look at some of his favorite topics and the big questions that Astronomy allows us to ask.

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