Astrophysics

Astrophysics could simply be described as the Physics of space. It is the study of the Universe, from the largest of scales down to the bodies that exist in our Solar System. It is used to describe objects like stars, planets and galaxies, and a myriad of other things. Some objects, such as the planets and moons found in the Solar System, are reasonably well understood. Other objects, like quasars, supermassive black holes and dark matter, are more exotic, and the information concerning them is patchy and inconclusive at best. This makes astrophysics, and astronomy in general, a current frontier of research, with work being done by telescopes and detectors spread both across the surface of the Earth, and in orbit around it.

For more information, and a more in depth explanation of the topics that astrophysics includes, see the course.

See Also