The Australian National University has launched its third free on-line astronomy course which explores the deadliest and most mysterious parts of the universe.

Titled The Violent Universe, the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) will be led by Nobel laureate Professor Brian Schmidt, and prize-winning educator and astrophysicist Dr Paul Francis.

“The universe is indeed a violent place,” Professor Schmidt said.

“In this course, we’re going to look at all the deadly, violent things in the universe – black holes, quasars, supernovae, gamma ray bursts and neutron stars.”

Anyone with high school level maths and physics can enrol in the free course, part of the global online EdX platform which is a partnership including Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Violent Universe is the third of four courses which together make up the ANU first year astrophysics program. It follows on from the Greatest Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe, and a course on exoplanets.