ESP Biography

The time scale of the universe is overwhelming for humans. Even a rapid astronomical process (e.g. a planetary nebula diffusing in tens of thousands of years) can still last too long for us to witness any significant changes during our lifetime. Variable stars, however, are an exception. Some of them may get a hundred times fainter than usual in only two hours; some of them are among the brightest stars for a certain period of time, while becoming totally invisible by naked eyes during other times. All these notable phenomena in measurable timescale make variable stars an exciting topic in astronomy. In this course, we will explore how and why variable stars vary, and the significance of studying variable stars. More excitingly, we will discuss how amateur astronomers practically observe variable stars. That's right, you can do observation and contribute to the variable star database even if you live in a big city! Come to the class to learn more about it!

Have you ever seen a spectacular meteor shower with hundreds of meteors per hour? Curious about how meteor showers form? Want to know when and where to look for a meteor shower? In this course, we will discuss what causes meteor showers and how to observe them. We will also introduce the observing conditions of the main meteor showers in 2014.