The Cosmos
Beyond Earth's Atmosphere
Astronomy studies objects beyond Earth's atmosphere, ranging from the Moon and the planets out to the farthest galaxies known to humankind. One goal of studying astronomy is to understand the fate of the universe at a large scale, which can be accomplished by observing the distributions of sizes, shapes and distances of galaxies using both ground-based and space-based telescopes. Another goal of astronomy is to understand the objects close by, such as asteroids and planets, and learn about the history of our solar system. These topics and others are what Astronomy majors study.
Faculty
- Dr. Ryan Chornock: Supernovae, Gamma-ray Bursts, Black Holes, Transient and Time-domain Astronomy
- Dr. Doug Clowe: Cosmology, Clusters of Galaxies and Gravitational Lensing
- Dr. Hee-Jong Seo: Cosmology, Large Scale Structure Study using Galaxy Surveys and Weak-lensing Surveys
Associated Faculty and Staff
- George Eberts: observational astronomer and part-time instructor
- Thomas O'Grady: observational astronomer and part-time instructor