Astronomy

This Astronomy course includes historical astronomy using The Project Physics Course text and observational astronomy using The Stargazer’s Guide to the Night Sky. Astronomy-only carries the successful completion of Algebra I as its only prerequisite.

All course content is normed to the Holy Scriptures by a teacher who acknowledges the historicity of the Genesis account as does the Lord Himself (Matt. 24: 37-39; Mark 10:6; Luke 3:38, 11:50-1, 17:26-7) and his apostles (Acts 17:24-7; Rom. 1:18-20, 5:12, 8:19-20; I Cor. 15: 21-2; 1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5, 3:3-6), albeit implicitly. That is, Genesis chapter one is God’s own account (penned by Moses) of His Creation Ex Nihilo in six natural days some 6000 years ago (Gen. 5, 11; Luke 3) and Genesis chapters 6-9 describe a catastrophic global flood that profoundly impacted the earth's geology and in which all land animals and mankind perished save those on the ark.

Please note: this course is one semester, eight weeks before the Christmas break, and eight after.

Students are strongly encouraged to audit Quarters 1 and 4 of The Project Physics with Astronomy. The price for auditing is an additional $200. To register for the Auditing portion, click here.

Course Objectives

• Motion in the Heavens with Celestial Coordinates in Quarters 2-3: Where is the Earth?
• The Greeks’ Answers; Does the Earth Move?
• Work of Copernicus and Tycho; A New Universe Appears
• Work of Kepler and Galileo; The Unity of Earth and Sky
• Work of Newton; Greater and Lesser Lights (Lisle); New Findings in the Heavens
• Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (Unit B); Stargazing (Lisle); Hubble and Beyond.
• (Significant scientific advances since 1970 will be noted here and in context.)

Texts

• The Project Physics Course materials (Holt, Rinehart and Winston: 1970). Project Physics Collection Primary student resource is the Text and Handbook for Unit 2 supplemented by the Unit 2 Reader and supplementary Unit B.
• The Stargazer’s Guide to the Night Sky by Dr. Jason Lisle (Master Books: 2012). There is a Kindle edition available on Amazon at significantly reduced cost but the hardback version is preferred because it includes a planisphere in its back jacket pocket.