This micro-credential will take students on a journey through the cosmos. From gravity and the orbit of planets, through how stars, galaxies and the structure of the Universe form and evolve over the last 13 billion years, to understanding how it all started with the Big Bang. We will touch on a key overview of many fields in astronomy, giving students a taste of our current understanding of the cosmos, and laying the foundations of further study at a university level.
Course Structure
This course teaches students everything they need to know about the fundamentals of Astronomy, and also provides an understanding of current techniques for both observing the Universe and analysing real astronomical data.
Topics covered are:
- Gravity and the motion of objects in space
- The Sun-Earth-Moon System and how it impacts the Earth
- The solar system and its formation
- Planets outside of the solar system and how to detect/study them
- Life on other worlds
- Measuring distances in astronomy and the size of the Universe
- The Periodic Table of elements and where/how elements are made
- The Sun and other stars
- The life-cycle of stars: Supernova, Neutron Stars and Black Holes.
- The Milky Way and other galaxies
- Galaxy evolution over the history of the Universe
- An introduction to relativity
- The origin and fate of the Universe
- Observing and analysing the Universe
- What’s missing? The many things we don’t know about the Universe.
This course is delivered as a series of online lectures (1-2h), where 1-2 lectures will be provided to students each week. All resources, including lecture recordings, lecture slides, assignment details and additional material will be provided online such that students can return to these at any point.
This course forms part of the UWA+ Starter program. Within the UWA+ Starter program, you’ll:
- Gain credit towards selected UWA bachelor degrees by completing 3 micro-credentials
- Gain access to university resources (library, online resources and other campus facilities)
- Receive a UWA Professional Development Transcript at the end of your studies, listing all completed UWA micro-credentials – great for uni entry and your resume!
- Successfully completed UWA Starter micro-credentials can also contribute towards admission to UWA via Experience-based entry.
Delivery mode
Fully online
Course dates
Term 2: 28 April 2025 – 4 July 2025
Term 4: 13 October 2025 – 19 December 2025
Applications close
Term 2: 21 March 2025
Term 4: 5 September 2025
Duration
10 weeks
Total effort
55 hours
Costs (for UWA+ Starter generally)
$82.50 (inc GST) for students from participating partner schools (register via your school)
$165 (inc GST) per micro-credential for individual students from non-partner schools
Non-Broadway Schools
$247.50 (inc GST) per micro-credential for students from participating partner schools (register via your school)
$495 (inc GST) per micro-credential for individual students from non-partner schools
For more information see here.
Academic lead
Dr Luke Davies