Astronomy 141:
Life in the Universe
Prof. Richard Pogge, MTWThF 12:30

Unit 6: Death in the Universe

We will end the class by considering the limits to the habitability of our Solar System and the Universe. The Sun is currently a middle-aged main sequence star that will shine stably for about 10 Gyr. So far, the Earth has been comfortably within the Sun's Habitable Zone, but as the Sun ages it has been slowly brightening, and eventually we will find ourselves outside the HZ. When the Sun later becomes a red giant star, much of the Solar System will become inhospitable to life as we know it. Perhaps we could move out into the stars, but even that possibility has its limits. Discoveries in Cosmology in recent years have shown that the Universe is expanding and cooling at an accelerating rate, so in the very distant future the entire Universe may become completely uninhabitable. The first two lectures in this final unit consider first the future of life in our Solar System, and then the future of life in the Universe.

Lectures

The lecture notes below are all in adobe PDF format, and requires the free Adobe Reader to view.

The Future of Life in the Solar System (Dec 2)

The Future of Life in the Universe (Dec 3)

Lecture Audio Podcasts

Lectures will be posted on the morning before class, or earlier if I get ahead of things. Please also see A Note about Graphics to learn why some of the graphics shown in the lectures are not reproduced in these notes.

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