Stars are the best!

This semester I'm teaching a class at Loyola University. It's a general astronomy class for non-science majors. It's my second time teaching such a class, and the first time here in Baltimore.

We're starting to talk about stars, and I'm reminded how much I love stars! I just love them! They are the best!

Next time in class we're going to be talking about the H-R Diagram, the most important diagram in stellar astronomy. (And star clusters, which are my absolute favorite!!) To help explain it, I'm going to show a brief clip of a public talk by Jay Anderson, an astronomer here at STScI who is pretty much an astro-rock star. He talked about the HR Diagram and how we construct them. It's THE BEST explanation I've ever seen of it. And really cool animations too! I can't wait!

If you're interested in checking this video out, here's the link to the talk in the STScI public talk archives. Start at about 9:45 and go until 12:15. It's neat! (And if you're ever bored, I'd recommend watching talks in this archive. Some of them are really cool.)

Yay stars!