Subject

Astronomy & Space

The Sun, Moon and planets to galaxies, black holes and the Big Bang - explore the universe one tiny step at a time.

Astronomy begins with what anyone can see: the day and night sky, the Sun, the Moon and the constellations. It then works outward through the solar system, the planets in detail, stars, galaxies, black holes, cosmology and the search for life elsewhere.

It is one of the most rewarding subjects to start because the first units connect directly to things you can go outside and look at. The later units cover genuinely open questions, including dark matter and dark energy, where the honest answer is that nobody knows yet.

Astronomy is the subject that puts everything else in proportion, and it is the one where the evidence is furthest from the conclusion - almost everything known about a star was worked out from its light alone.

Units: 18
Steps: 378
Questions: 2,160

Who this track is for

Suitable from primary level, reaching undergraduate cosmology and astrophysics concepts in the later units.

How to approach it

Go outside and find what you are learning about - it makes it stick
Distances and scale are the hardest part, so spend time on them
Do not skip the light and spectroscopy material, it underpins how we know anything

Study guide · 8 min readHow to Learn AstronomyAstronomy is the science where you cannot touch anything you study, so almost everything is inferred from light. A guide to fixing the geometry misconceptions almost everyone carries, and to what the evidence actually is.

What you will be able to do

Explain the seasons and the Moon's phases with the geometry rather than a slogan
Say how the distance to a star is actually measured
Describe what happens to a star and why its mass decides it
Say what the Big Bang was an expansion of

The thing people get wrong

That the Big Bang was an explosion at a point in space. It was an expansion of space itself, happening everywhere at once, and there is no location you could travel to in order to visit the site of it.

If you only do 3 units

The first fixes the misconceptions almost everyone carries, the second explains where the atoms in your body were made, and the third is the largest question the subject asks.

What the questions look like

8 real questions from across the Astronomy & Space track, easiest first, each with the answer and the reason behind it. Every unit page below has thirty more.

Fact or fibLevel 1
1. Orion is the name of a constellation.
Answer: True
Orion is a famous constellation known for its belt of three stars.
Choose all that applyLevel 1
2. Which of these are dwarf planets? Choose all.
- Plutocorrect
- Cerescorrect
- Eriscorrect
- Jupiter
Pluto, Ceres, and Eris are dwarf planets; Jupiter is a giant planet.
Build the sentenceLevel 1
3. Build a true sentence about Earth and the Sun.
Answer: Earth goes around the Sun
Earth travels in a big circle around the Sun.
Choose all that applyLevel 1
4. Which things do astronauts really do in space? Pick all that are true.
- Float aroundcorrect
- Wear spacesuits outsidecorrect
- Swim in a pool
- Breathe without a helmet outside
In space astronauts float around and wear spacesuits when they go outside.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
5. Build a true sentence about Mars.
Answer: Mars is called the red planet
Mars is called the red planet because of its rusty soil.
Fill the blankLevel 2
6. How bright a star looks from Earth is called its ____ magnitude.
- apparentcorrect
- absolute
- colour
- distance
Apparent magnitude measures how bright a star appears to us, not how bright it truly is.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
7. Build a true sentence about the asteroid belt.
Answer: The asteroid belt is between Mars and Jupiter
The asteroid belt orbits between Mars and Jupiter.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
8. Build a true sentence about why astronauts float.
Answer: Astronauts float because they are falling
Astronauts float because they are in free fall, dropping around Earth along with their ship.

Units in Astronomy & Space

Listed in the order they are meant to be worked through.

Practise Astronomy & Space

2,160 questions, in tiny sessions you can finish in a few minutes.

Start playing

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.