Astrophysics & Cosmology
The physics of the largest structures and longest timescales in nature — how stars are born, live, and die; what happens when matter collapses into a black hole; how galaxies formed; and how the universe itself began, evolved, and may end.
Astrophysics and cosmology apply the full toolkit of physics — nuclear physics, general relativity, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and electromagnetism — to objects and phenomena at the scale of stars, galaxies, and the universe as a whole, from the nuclear fusion powering a single star to the large-scale structure and ultimate fate of the cosmos.
What this domain covers
This domain spans two closely related fields. Astrophysics applies physical laws to individual astronomical objects and systems — stars, their life cycles, the extreme compact objects (white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes) that result from stellar death, and the wider galactic environments hosting them. Cosmology zooms out further, to the origin, large-scale structure, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe as a whole — grounded observationally in the cosmic microwave background, the large-scale distribution of galaxies, and, since 2015, the direct detection of gravitational waves.
Stars
- Stellar Structure [DONE — Session 21 — 2026-10-12]
- Stellar Evolution [DONE — Session 18 — 2026-08-05]
- Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram [DONE — Session 18 — 2026-08-05]
- Stellar Nucleosynthesis [DONE — Session 17 — 2026-08-05]
- Main Sequence [DONE — Session 21 — 2026-10-12]
- Red Giants [DONE — Session 22 — 2026-10-12]
- White Dwarfs [DONE — Session 17 — 2026-08-05]
- Neutron Stars [DONE — Session 17 — 2026-08-05]
- Pulsars [DONE — Session 22 — 2026-10-12]
- Supernovae [DONE — Session 18 — 2026-08-05]
- Chandrasekhar Limit [DONE — Session 22 — 2026-10-12]
Black Holes
- Black Holes (Astrophysical) [DONE — Session 19 — 2026-08-05]
- Stellar Black Holes [DONE — Session 22 — 2026-10-12]
- Supermassive Black Holes [DONE — Session 19 — 2026-08-05]
- Accretion Discs [DONE — Session 20 — 2026-08-05]
- Active Galactic Nuclei [DONE — Session 20 — 2026-08-05]
- Quasars [DONE — Session 22 — 2026-10-12]
Galaxies
- Galaxy Formation [DONE — Session 19 — 2026-08-05]
- Milky Way [DONE — Session 20 — 2026-08-05]
- Galaxy Clusters [DONE — Session 22 — 2026-10-12]
- Large-Scale Structure [DONE — Session 20 — 2026-08-05]
Cosmology
- Big Bang Theory [DONE — Session 17 — 2026-08-05]
- Cosmic Microwave Background [DONE — Session 18 — 2026-08-05]
- Inflation [DONE — Session 20 — 2026-08-05]
- Dark Matter [DONE — Session 17 — 2026-08-05]
- Dark Energy [DONE — Session 18 — 2026-08-05]
- Cosmological Constant [DONE — Session 21 — 2026-10-12]
- Hubble Constant [DONE — Session 21 — 2026-10-12] (see also the Hubble\'s Law simulation)
- Age of the Universe [DONE — Session 21 — 2026-10-12]
- Fate of the Universe [DONE — Session 21 — 2026-10-12]
Gravitational Waves & Multi-Messenger
- Gravitational Waves (Astronomy) [DONE — Session 19 — 2026-08-05]
- LIGO/Virgo [DONE — Session 19 — 2026-08-05]
- Gravitational Lensing (Astronomy) [DONE — Session 22 — 2026-10-12]
- Exoplanets [DONE — Session 22 — 2026-10-12]
Sources
- Carroll, B.W., Ostlie, D.A. (2017). An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.
- Ryden, B. (2016). Introduction to Cosmology, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.