Earth, Solar System and Universe

Catalog description

The Earth, solar system and universe are diverse and dynamic, featuring galaxies, solar systems, suns, planets and moons. Each type of feature is characterized by a suite of processes and features, such as volcanoes, landslides and climate. As scientists and engineers, we want to understand what is going on in our world. Understanding past events helps begin to predict future events. With the Earth, we examine past events and current natural processes to understand how this past and these processes affect humans. Accordingly, this course examines the processes, materials and features observed and inferred on the Earth, in the Solar System, and in the Universe. The course is purposely designed to be rather holistic, exploring concepts from stellar evolution, atmosphere and oceans on Earth and in extraterrestrial objects, plate tectonics, volcanoes and mountain building. Both SES 121 and SES 123 must be taken to secure General Studies Gold SCIT credit or General Studies Maroon SQ credit.