Events/Courses - Event View

Have you wondered what stars are? We will explore these gems of the night-time sky: where they are; what they are made of; how they produce their energy; how they form, evolve, and die; and how we can possibly know so much about them. Not only do stars provide the light and warmth that make life possible, they are also the foundries where the chemical elements that make up our bodies were forged. Some stars end their lives in cataclysmic explosions that rock our galaxy, while others go gently into the dark night. Stars like our Sun lead solitary lives, while others reside in giant clusters of a million or more. And, yes, there are some stars that are essentially “diamonds in the sky”!

Instructor Theodore (Ted) Williams is Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers University and former Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory. He has a B.S. degree in physics from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology. Ted spent most of his career at Rutgers, where he pursued observational studies of galaxies and developed astronomical instrumentation, while teaching a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in physics and astronomy. He has spent innumerable nights at telescopes around the world, including observatories in California, Arizona, Texas, and Hawaii, as well as Chile, China, and South Africa, and an orbiting facility on the Space Shuttle (Ted stayed firmly on the ground). He has taught a number of astronomy courses for Coastal Senior College.

Class Limit: None
NOTE: First class is Sept. 28