Fall 2025 Courses

**REMINDER: the University Class Schedule is the official listing for courses.**

Check the official University Schedule via Class Search in MyBU Student for additional course notes and the most up-to-date information regarding current courses.

Go to the section for:

• Fall 2025 astronomy courses for Astronomy majors and related fields
• Fall 2025 astronomy courses for the graduate-level

🙛  Course Offerings  🙙

 
 
Please note – none of our 100-level courses (i.e. AS 101, 105, etc.) need to be taken in a specific sequence. They are separate courses from each other.
 
 

The Astronomical Universe

CAS AS 102 — Professor Catherine Espaillat
4 credits
The birth and death of stars. Red giants, white dwarfs, black holes. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, and other galaxies. The Big Bang and other cosmological theories of our expanding universe.

DIVISIONAL STUDIES:   Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS.
BU HUB:   Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Quantitative Reasoning I, Teamwork/Collaboration.

Alien Worlds

CAS AS 105 — Professor JJ Hermes
4 credits
Examination of planets in other star systems and comparison with planets in our solar system. Study the historical context of planetary astrophysics and changes in our understanding of planetary formation and evolution. Explore the possibility of life on other worlds.

DIVISIONAL STUDIES:   Carries natural science divisional credit (without lab) in CAS.
BU HUB:   Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.

Cosmology

CAS AS 109 — Professor Dillon Brout
4 units
The evolution of cosmological thought from prehistory to the present: Greek astronomy, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein. Motion, gravity, and the nature of space-time. The expanding universe. The early universe and Big Bang.

DIVISIONAL STUDIES:   Carries natural science divisional credit in CAS.
BU HUB:   Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.

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Principles of Astronomy I

CAS AS 202 — Professor Paul Withers
4 credits
Astronomical observing and the night sky; optics and telescopes; birth of modern astronomy; atoms, spectra and spectroscopy; planetary motion and orbits; overview of solar system; uses observatory. Intended primarily for astronomy or physics majors. Lectures and laboratories.

UNDERGRADUATE COREQUISITES:   CAS MA 123.
DIVISIONAL STUDIES:   Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS.
BU HUB:   Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.

Planetary Physics

CAS AS 311 — Professor Chuanfei Dong
4 credits
Celestial mechanics, tides, resonances. Physical processes that affect atmospheres, surfaces, interiors of planets, and their satellites. Comets, asteroids, meterorites, and Kuiper belt objects. Formation and evolution of the solar system. Extra-solar planets.

UNDERGRADUATE PREREQUISITES:   CAS MA 124, and either CAS PY 211 or CAS PY 251.
BU HUB:   Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Scientific Inquiry II, Teamwork/Collaboration.

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Introduction to Astrophysics

CAS AS 701 — Professor Thomas Bania
4 credits
Introduction to astronomical and astrophysical nomenclature and concepts. Coordinate systems, celestial orbits, radiation, stars, stellar structure, stellar evolution, clusters of stars, galactic components, galactic structure, galaxy types, active galaxies, cosmology.

Introduction to Space Physics

CAS AS 703 — Professor Wen Li
4 credits
Survey of physical phenomena in the sun, solar wind, magnetospheres, ionospheres, and upper atmospheres of objects in the solar system. Introduction to the physical processes governing space plasmas, solar-terrestrial interactions, and ionized and neutral media surrounding the Earth and other solar system bodies.

Observational Techniques

CAS AS 709 — Professor Elizabeth Blanton
4 credits
Telescopes, light detection, and analysis tools and techniques of experimental astronomy. Signal-to-noise calculations. Photometric and spectroscopic instrumentation and applications. Use of the observatory, CCD light detectors, modern software analysis tools, image processing. Proposal writing and science writing.

The Sun and Heliosphere

CAS AS 786 — Professor Merav Opher
4 credits
Fundamentals of solar and heliospheric physics, including observational methods and theory from the sun’s interior through interplanetary space and into the local interstellar medium. The sun as a star. Relation of our heliosphere to astrospheres surrounding other stars.

GRADUATE PREREQUISITES:   GRS AS 701, GRS AS 703, GRS AS 704, GRS AS 706, and GRS AS 708; or consent of instructor.

Graduate Literature Seminar I

CAS AS 850 — Professor Luke Moore
2 credits
Weekly seminar offering graduate students the skills and practice needed for reading, evaluating, and discussing scientific peer-reviewed literature on current research topics.

Graduate Research Seminar I

CAS AS 865 — Professor Carl Schmidt
2 credits
Weekly seminar offering graduate students the skills and practice needed for oral presentations on current research topics and to receive peer and expert feedback.

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