Meade High – Honors Astronomy (STEM)

Mar 2026 · 2nd Semester

The Methods in Astronomy module will focus on Earth and Planetary Systems as a science, first discussing the history of the field as a study of the scientific process and then moving to the tools and methods available to modern astronomers. This area will also address notions of scale, celestial mechanics, stellar formation and lifecycle, galactic structure, and cosmology. In this area, scientific computing as a tool of any modern scientist or engineer will be introduced and edified. The Planetary Science module will focus on how the tools and ideas developed in the previous module enable modern astronomers to make new discoveries in our solar system and in other stellar systems. This module will enable students to critically think about the energetics and dynamics of celestial bodies as they relate to how internal, surface, and atmospheric processes shape bodies in our solar system and in other systems. Furthermore, students will investigate the scientific aims of modern NASA/ESA miss