Professor John Bally
Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
University of Colorado at Boulder

Spring 2013 Teaching:
ASTR 2040 "Life in the Universe"
ASTR 2040 (previously listed as ASTR3300 ) introduces students to the new subject of "astrobiology". Is life on Earth unique? Or is the cosmos teaming with life. If the latter, what kind of life? Bacteria, advanced civilizations, or something in-between? What is the cosmic context of life? How did the Earth and Sun form and evolve? How did life originate on Earth? How do we search for planets around other stars? How can we detect life on distant planets? What are the possibilities and physical contraints on future space travel?

Class: ATLAS 100. Meets MWF 11:00 - 11:50 AM.
Office hours: Monday 2:00 - 3:30 PM, Wednesday 1:00 - 2:00 PM, by appointment.

Syllabus ; Course Materials (lectures, homework, solutions)

Research and Outreach:
The insterstellar medium, star formation, feedback and the self-regulation of star formation. Formation of clusters and massive stars. Protostellar outflows and jets. Molecular Clouds. Astrobiology. Black-holes and cosmology. Observations from visual to radio wavelengths. Instrumentation. Major recent projects include the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey and the Herschel Galactic Plane Survey (Hi-GAL).

Current senior graduate students: Adam Ginsburg , Cara Battersby , and Allision Youngblood

I give popular talks on astronomy and comsmology to the general public and amateur astronomy groups. Bo Reipurth and I have written a popular book, The Birth of Stars and Planets

Resources:

Personal Interests:

Skiing:
Various images:

Web page last modified: Thursday, 24-Aug-2011 5:50 PM MDT