Astronomy and geophysics

1 a. Contribution of the teaching unit to the learning outcomes of the programme AA1 : 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 AA2 : 2.1, 2.2, 2.4 AA3 : 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 AA4 : 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 AA6 : 6.5 b. Specific learning outcomes of the teaching unit At the end of this teaching unit, the student will be able to: 1. describe the Earth and the Universe in their generality; 2. explain and apply the fundamentals of astronomy, planetology and Earth physics and dynamics; 3. describe the major steps in these domains until recent developments; 4. describe and explain the latest great discoveries made by astronomers, geophysicists or planetologists, and by the most challenging space missions; 5. calculate sunrises and sunsets or the length of day and night for different locations on Earth; 6. find a star in the sky from a star catalogue or, conversely, identify a star that one has observed using coordinate transformations and a catalogue of stellar positions; 7. explain the different movements that animate the Earth in space (rotation around its axis, precession, nutations, polar motion and orbit around the Sun). 8. describe and explain the main features of the planets and synthesize the results of the latest space missions on these planets or moons of the solar system; 9. describe the general observed properties of stars, as well as their formation and evolution; explain the H-R diagram; 10. report on the latest discoveries about stars, galaxies and the detection of exoplanets.