Astronomy

Intended for

High school students with an interest for Astronomy.

The web class

This webclass deals with the expansion of the universe: you will be determining that expansion yourself! You will measure the distances and recession velocities of carefully selected galaxies and plot these quantities in a so-called Hubble-diagram. That diagram will tell you the current rate of expansion of the universe. You will learn about extragalactic astronomy and develop analytical skills as well as a critical view. The webclass is structured into four weeks: (1) Introduction and background; (2) Galaxies and their optical spectra; (3) Measuring velocities and distances; (4) Your Hubble diagram and its implications.

This webclass is offered in English, but questions can be submitted in either English or Dutch.

Student Workload and Awarding

You will have to deliver assignments every week, and therefore some effort is needed. On average, students spend 3 hours a week on this web class.

You can earn credits comparable to a workload of 10 hours and will receive a certificate if you do the practical assignments sufficiently every week. The fourth week contains a final assignment that will be graded. It is possible to use this course for credits at your school, but you have to arrange this with your school yourself. You can for example ask your teacher to join this web class, so he/she can keep up with your accomplishments.