Bruce Betts' Online College Intro Astronomy Course 2017

Introduction to Planetary Science and Astronomy

Want to take an Introductory Planetary Science and Astronomy class at your leisure with the Planetary Society's Director of Science and Technology, Dr. Bruce Betts? He is teaching the virtual college class at California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) spring semester 2017-- Physics 195: Introduction to Planetary Science and Astronomy.

The course begins Tuesday, January 24, 2017 with weekly classes running from 3:00-4:30pm Pacific Time. You can watch each class live on CSUDH DHTV and Ustream or view archived classes that will be posted to this page shortly after their live presentations.

Bruce Betts Bruce Betts, Director of Science and Technology, The Planetary Society. Bruce Betts, Director of Science and Technology, The Planetary Society.

Dr. Betts guides you through the solar system and universe in a class heavy on imagery and fun, and light on math, while still giving you a strong introduction to what we know and how we learn more. Below, you can find class resources as well as links to an archive of the class.

Class Resources

You can view the syllabus which includes the class schedule and reading assignments list.

Montage © 2011 Emily Lakdawalla, The Planetary Society. Image data courtesy NASA/JPL and JHUAPL/CIW. Image processing by Bjorn Jonsson; Mattias Malmer; Ted Stryk; Gordan Ugarkovic. The eight planets, to scale (widescreen)

Certificate Quiz

To receive a Certificate of Achievement for watching the 2017 Bruce Betts Introduction to Planetary Science and Astronomy class (Physics 195 at California State University Dominguez Hills), a Random Space Fact (RSF) is given in each class designed to be “the” RSF that users will have to recognize later to get the certificate. Take the Quiz

Continue Learning

Watching the course and want more? Continue learning and exploring by joining The Planetary Society, following Dr. Bruce Betts on Twitter, or Facebook, or Google+ and following The Planetary Society on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.

Class Video Archives

You can view the archived versions of each 2017 class along with descriptions of what is covered in each class below. You can also access the archive of all of the Spring 2016 version of the same course and the archives for the Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013 and Spring 2012 courses.

2017 Classes