Spring 2025 Courses

**REMINDER: the University Class Schedule is the official listing for courses in a specific semester.**

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:

• Spring 2025 astronomy courses for Astronomy majors and related fields
• Spring 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 Solar System

CAS AS 101 — Professor Paul Withers
4 units
The historical development of astronomy and the motion of the planets. The formation of the solar system. The sun and its effects on the earth. Description of the planets and the moons of our solar system including recent results from the space program. Use of the observatory.

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.

Cosmology

CAS AS 109 — Professor Tereasa Brainerd
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.

Principles of Astronomy II

CAS AS 203 — Professor Catherine Espaillat
4 units
Astronomical measurements; time and the celestial sphere; telescopes and observatories; the solar system, orbital motion; comparative planetology; the sun and solar-terrestrial effects; electromagnetic radiation; spectroscopy, stellar properties and stellar evolution; the Milky Way galaxy; galaxies; the universe. Lectures and laboratories. Intended primarily for astronomy or physics concentrators.

UNDERGRADUATE COREQUISITES:   CAS MA 123.
DIVISIONAL STUDIES:   Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS.
BU HUB:   Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning II, Critical Thinking.

Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics

CAS AS 312 — Professor Thomas Bania
4 units
Basic physics of radiation; radiative transfer; spectral analysis; distances, motions, and physical properties of stars; stellar interiors and atmospheres; stellar evolution; clusters of stars; the interstellar medium; content, structure, and rotation of the Milky Way Galaxy.

UNDERGRADUATE PREREQUISITES:   CAS MA 124, and either CAS PY 212 or CAS PY 252.
BU HUB:   Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning II, Teamwork/Collaboration. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Scientific Inquiry II, Creativity/Innovation.

Solar and Space Physics

CAS AS 414 — Professor Wen Li
4 units
The Sun and Solar Wind: solar magnetic fields, sunspot cycle, active sun, corona. Interaction of the solar wind with planets and comets. Planetary Magnetospheres and Ionospheres. Aeronomy. Solar System plasma physics. Magnetic Storms and Space Weather.

UNDERGRADUATE PREREQUISITES:   CAS PY 355, and either CAS PY 212 or CAS PY 252.
BU HUB:   Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.

Observational Astronomy

CAS AS 441 — Professor JJ Hermes
4 units
Astronomical techniques. Photometry, spectroscopy, photography, CCD imaging, and interferometry. Statistical methods for data reduction and analysis. Strong laboratory component. Use of computers.

UNDERGRADUATE PREREQUISITES:   CAS AS 312, First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120).
BU HUB:   Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy.

Radiative Processes and Spectroscopy

CAS AS 706 — Professor Philip Muirhead
4 units
Generation, propagation, and transfer of electromagnetic radiation. Spectral energy distributions, continuum radiation, atomic and molecular spectral lines. Energy levels in atoms and molecules. Interaction of radiation with matter, transfer of radiation through astrophysical media. Thermal and nonthermal radiative processes.

Cosmic Plasma Physics

CAS AS 708 — Professor Chuanfei Dong
4 units
Physics of space and astrophysical plasmas. Individual particle drifts in fields, electrostatic and electromagnetic waves and instabilities, magnetohydrodynamics, kinetic theory of waves, instabilities, and Landau damping.

Normal Galaxies and the Milky Way

CAS AS 753 — Professor Elizabeth Blanton
4 units
Normal galaxies and the Milky Way as systems. Stellar components and clusters, elliptical and disk galaxies. Luminosity functions, radial distributions, distance indicators, triaxial spheroids, and central bars. Motions near the sun, asymmetric drift, velocity ellipsoid, galactic rotation, Oort formulae, gas distributions, galactic center.

GRADUATE PREREQUISITES:   CAS AS 701, CAS AS 704, and CAS AS 706.

Graduate Literature Seminar II

GRS AS 851 — Professor Dillon Brout
2 units
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 II

CAS AS 866 — Professor Carl Schmidt
2 units
Weekly seminar offering graduate students the skills and practice needed for oral presentations on current research topics and to receive peer and expert feedback.