Online Course - Astrobiology & Life in the Universe-May 2024 (English Medium)(OAE-05)

Duration: 4 Saturdays - 4 Lectures - Total 8 hours

Dates : 04.05.2024, 11.05.2024, 18.05.2024, 25.05.2024

Time : 07.00 pm - 09.00 pm

Registration deadline - 2nd of May 2024

• Suitable for anyone over 11 years old (Grade 6 and above), willing to learn Astronomy from the beginning.
• E-book and E-certificate will be send to your email address. 
• Provide your WhatsApp number for your contact number.
• Provide participant's details only. 

• We are only providing any two recordings out of four sessions. 

Content

 Day 1

Introduction to Astrobiology& Life

A basic introduction to astrobiology -definition, Fundamental questions in astrobiology, The history of Astrobiology,Early/pioneer Scientists, Definition of life, Characteristics of life andrequirements, Development of concepts about life, The building blocks of life,Amino acids, proteins, and chirality, Sugars, Lipids, Nucleic Acids,Alternative chemistries for life, Carbon as

the core element, Alternatives for Carbon,Importance of Water, Solvents other than water, Cells: the basic unit of life,Types of Cells, Prokaryotic cell structure, Eukaryotic cell structure, Otherlife/life-like forms (virus, prions, etc.)

Day 2 

The Origin of Elements toform Life, Early earth & Chemical evolution of life

The origin of elements and formation of thesolar system, The formation of Early Earth, Early Oceans,Crust, Atmosphere and other conditions, Rock records (Geological records),Asteroid/comet impacts, A brief Geological history of Earth, Origin of life on earth: Concepts, ChemicalEvolution- Primordial soup concept, Urey-Miller experiment

Early Life on Earth, The protocells, Tree oflife and early evolution, Evidence of early life on Earth. Rise ofphotosynthesis and the Great Oxidation Event, Snowball Earth, The rise ofmulticellular life and Mass Extinctions, Geological time scales and life, Fivemajor Mass Extinctions.

Day 3 

Other methods todescribe life on Earth

Spontaneous Generation, Panspermia, The role ofcomets, Meteorites with the source of material, Nucleotides, RNA/DNA, Membranelipids, RNA world. Extremophiles and Cave microbiology

Day 4 

Habitability - Conceptsof Habitability, Potential for life on Solar system, Mars. Venus?, Moon?,Titan, Europa, Enceladus, Triton, exoplanets, Meteorites, and other conditionsin the universe, stability of the star, and other factors.

·        Lectures are conducted by experienced professionals of the Institute of Astronomy Sri Lanka, trained under Homi Bhabha center for science education India