a nice introduction to Astronomy, but unfortunately, like so many of these online university lectures, you will have to skip past a large amout of unnecessary information vital for the students sitting in the actual lecture but worthless for us listening. Skip at least 17 minutes of the first lecture

I have to start this saying that I am Math-phobic, yet Prof. Bailyn makes some VERY complicated math approachable... but it IS astrophysics so it's still complicated... It helps immensely that I am not worried about taking the midterm or the final. He is a good lecturer and is animated and funny. Certainly entertaining enough to enjoy just listening to him. However, if you are trying to grasp the math at all, I suggest using the video version of this, although, even with the video you occasionally miss something (the camera is firmly focused on the overhead projector and you hear him say 'that means it goes this way' but you never see which way that is. The subject matter is dead-on current. It is talking about the planets and the problems they present up to when this class was held. Fascinating stuff! I would heartily suggest following this iTunesU selection.

Great