Ever Since Online Astronomy Society Academy started rolling out the successful GCSE Astronomy course, we always felt there was something missing. Despite already offering a maths course too catering for A-Level students.

Unfortunately Ofqual is not awash with Astronomy qualifications at level 1-3 although there was an A Level in Space Science in the pipeline which our very own Dr Nigel Marshall was assisting in. Sadly this course never developed much beyond the drawing board. However all was not lost. We had a chat with Dr Marshall as saw there was an opportunity for us to develop our very OWN “A-Level” course in Astronomy and Space Science.

This course will be itself entirely online with no assessed projects or final formal examination however it is crammed with interesting projects to both wet and satisfy the appetite of the most budding astronomer come would be Astrophysicist/ Space Scientist. As such we start at the mother Earth where we study our own atmosphere and our previous space history. We then look at the mechanics of how satellites are launched and reach their destination, focusing particularly on Soyuz and ISS.

We then start voyaging into outer space where we look at how the universe began in greater detail before venturing off to looking at why stars shine.

although the course itself carries with it no formal qualification it is intended to and we hope it succeeds in providing a primer for anyone looking to go to read space science, astronomy, or astrophysics at university. Or even to satisfy the enthusiast.

So what will the format be of the course?

Well at the start of the course students will be invited to our landing page which trains our students in how the course works and how it is run. They are then given a study planner then invited to proceed onwards to the course.  As with the GCSE Astronomy this course has full tutor support.