Astronomy GCSE

After studying this module, you’ll be able to observe astronomical phenomena (such as star clusters, galaxies, nebulae, planets and comets) with the naked eye. How? You’ll learn how to plan your observations to be at the best time and location, taking into account things like weather and light pollution. This module with then teach you how to use information from star charts, planispheres, and different apps to identify objects in the night sky.

As if going back in time, this module will teach you how early astronomers modelled the solar system. You’ll discover how ancient civilisations all around the world used solar and lunar observations for their agricultural, religious, time, and calendar systems, understanding how crucial astronomy was (and still is) to many aspects of life.

Now, you’ll dive into the gravitational pull of the sun, learning about the motions that planets follow around the sun and how gravity plays a role in this. This will teach you about Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, alongside Newton’s law of universal gravitation.

Understanding the major differences between the appearance of the moon’s near and far side, you’ll learn about its internal structure and different features. This will lead you to discover why there’s a constant drive to improve the accuracy, detail, and range of observations made about the moon.

In this module, you’ll study the structure of the sun, learning about its energy production process and solar wind. Learning how to use sunspot data, you’ll be able to determine information about the sun’s rotation period and solar cycle. Then, we’ll teach you about the location and relative temperatures of the sun’s internal divisions, including its core and radiative zone.

Here, you’ll discover the observations that provided a context for the invention of the telescope, the development of the space telescope, and probes to the outer reaches of our solar system. From here, we’ll teach you how to investigate the main bodies that make up the solar system, learning about their characteristics. This will provide a context for the manned exploration of the moon.

It was the interaction of gravitational and tidal forces that led to the formation of our solar system. Understanding how this might have occurred, you will use this information to study exoplanets and consider the possibility of life existing elsewhere in the universe.

There is a certain way to observe stars, which you will become an expert at in this module, learning how to obtain information about them just from observing the light they emit. We’ll teach you why we observe stars in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum and where telescopes are located to enable better observations to be made.

Learning about the different types of stars, you’ll also discover how and why stars evolve, looking at their formation and how they end their life, depending on their size. You’ll develop a solid understanding of the principal stages and timescales of stellar evolution for different stars, including red giant stars, white dwarf stars, and supernovas.

In this module you’ll get to study everything to do with the Milky Way and be able to recognise its appearance as seen from Earth. This is where you get to explore our place in the universe, looking at different types of galaxies beyond our own. Then, you’ll get to grapple with the main theories for the evolution of galaxies.

Finally, you’ll end this course by closely studying the evidence and explanations for the expanding of the universe, which supports both the big bang theory and the steady state theory. You’ll also gain an understanding of redshift and Hubble’s law for distant galaxies, exploring dark matter and dark energy. Delving into the possible fate of the universe, you’ll understand that current models predict different evolutionary paths for the future.