Croydon Astronomical Society

The Croydon Astronomical Society promotes the education of its members through our meetings (see our meetings schedule), Informal Lectures at our Observatory (see our Observatory Page) and via group visits to the observatory. Our Observatory is open to the public on Saturday evenings from Autumn to Spring. More details are here.

For those who wish to extend their knowledge through more formal and structured courses. This page provides information and links where available to the courses that are available either in our local area or nationally. Where possible we have provided links rather than hard information, as they are less likely to go out of date.

Distance Learning Courses

Some Universities run distance-learning courses usually leading to a 'University Certificate’, which may include either the award of CAT's points or Certificates of Academic Development. In the case of the Open University the Astronomy Module maybe taken as part of a degree course or as an independent module. This area is developing rapidly with several new courses being advertised. These courses are mostly based on a postal system supplemented by weekends and/or Internet access to a dedicated site.

These courses require some knowledge of Mathematics; lack of skills in this area is a major reason for people not completing the course. In general you will need to be able to use Logarithms and some basic Trigonometry. If you are unsure of your ability in this area or are slightly rusty you should discuss this with the tutor before signing up.

CAS are not responsible for content on external sites

University			Summary
Open University			Four Modules are available – two level two & two level 3 they can be taken either as stand alone courses or as part of a degree course. S282 Astronomy S283 Planetary Science and the Search for Life S357 on Space, Time & Cosmology S381 The Energetic Universe
Open University – Short Courses Also a page here			S194 Introducing Astronomy S196 How the Universe Works S197 Planets, an Introduction SXR208 Observing The Universe (Includes 1 week observing on Majorca)

The three universities at the right offer a range of courses in Astronomy at levels 1,2 & 3.	University of Central Lancashire			Both level One , Level Two and level Three courses
	Liverpool John Moores University			Several Astronomy Courses at Level One
	University of Manchester			Both level One and Level Two courses

Certificate of Higher Education in Astronomy by Evening Study University College London. One evening per week for two years plus observing at UCL Observatory at Mill Hill.

Certificate in Planetary Geology – Birkbeck, University of London (Evening Study)

Swinburne University (Australia)		Offer a 4 module - Graduate Certificate in Astronomy by Distance Learning, Communication is by a mixture of the Internet & Post.

James Cook University (Australia)		The Graduate Certificate of Astronomy (via the Internet). The Graduate Diploma of Astronomy (via the Internet). The Master of Astronomy (via the Internet). The Doctor of Astronomy: A specialist Doctor of Astronomy that can be obtained through a combination of course-work and research. The PhD (via the Internet): High level research training that can be obtained over the Internet by extension of the Doctor of Astronomy. This program is only available to students who have shown exceptional ability in the Doctor of Astronomy program.

Knightsbridge University (Denmark)		Degree & Phd courses in Astronomy

Assosciate Links: SAGAS Federation of Astronomical Societies

Croydon Astronomical Society

Education

Summary

Assosciate Links:

SAGAS

Federation of Astronomical Societies