Study the universe one unit per week, from the motion of the planets to black holes and the Big Bang.
Image: ESO/C. Malin (christophmalin.com)The A&A Masterclass takes you through the universe one unit at a time. You enrol, and from then on a new unit reaches you every week. Each unit is a chapter written for this program, with worked examples, derivations, and the research of astrophysicists who are active today.
A quiz completes every unit and opens the next. At the end you sit a final exam and receive an official certificate.
For high school students, college students, and lifelong learners. You do not need prior knowledge of astronomy. Unit 1 gives every participant the same toolkit.
You want to understand the universe and be among the best in this field early. The masterclass also prepares you for college and for astronomy olympiads and competitions, such as the IOAA and national olympiads.
A supplement to your studies that widens your horizon. Use it to prepare for astrophysics courses, a thesis, or a first research project.
You observe the sky as a hobby, or you have always been curious about space. The masterclass takes you through all of astronomy, step by step.
From enrolment to certificate in six steps.
Create your account with your email address, choose your masterclass, and pay the tuition fee. Your program starts at once.
Unit 1 arrives immediately, every further unit on a Monday: as a web page and as a PDF to keep.
Work through the text, the worked examples, and the derivations. A day later we send further reading with current research papers.
Each unit has its own quiz: ten questions, open book, no time limit. You must submit it before the next unit is sent to you.
50 questions across all units in 60 minutes. Pass with 70%.
Certificate and transcript as PDF, each with a verification ID and a personal link you can share.
The topics cover the sky, the planets, the stars, the galaxies, and the universe as a whole.
How the sky moves, why planets stay in orbit, what starlight tells us, and how stars and galaxies are born, live, and die.
What holds a star up, how matter ends as a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole, how we find planets around other stars, and what powers a quasar.
The expanding universe, the Big Bang and its afterglow, dark matter and dark energy, gravitational waves, and the first galaxies.
Learn about real-world research. Each unit contains a research spotlight: the published work of a leading astrophysicist, explained at your level and linked to the original paper.
Galaxy evolution and citizen science
Stellar archaeology, the oldest and most metal-poor stars
Detection of exoplanets by precise radial velocities and transits
Theoretical astrophysics, black holes, and relativistic jets
Radio astronomy, pulsars, and neutron stars
Theoretical cosmology, inflation
X-ray astronomy, galaxy clusters, and active galactic nuclei
Cosmology, galaxy formation and dark matter halos
The scientists named here are not contributors to the A&A Masterclass, are not affiliated with it, and have not endorsed it. The program presents and explains their published research, with references to the original papers.
Choose the masterclass that fits you best. One tuition fee, paid once, covers all units, quizzes, the final exam, and your certificate.
The fundamentals of astronomy: the sky, the stars, and the galaxies.
The full program, with stellar physics, black holes, and exoplanets.
The full program plus four units on cosmology and current research.
Tuition fees are one-time payments and include applicable taxes. Secure payment by card through Stripe.
Participants who pass the final exam receive an official certificate of completion. It states your name, the program, its duration, and the units you completed.
Read one complete unit before you enrol, exactly as participants receive it: the full text with its worked examples, derivations, figures, and research spotlight.
This unit takes stock of the solar system and explains how it formed 4.567 billion years ago from a disc of gas and dust. You calculate planetary temperatures, the Roche limit, and the positions of orbital resonances, and you meet the evidence that the giant planets changed their orbits early on and rearranged everything else.
Before the masterclass I knew black holes from documentaries. After Unit 10 I could calculate a Schwarzschild radius and explain to my physics teacher why neutron stars have a maximum mass. I listed the certificate in my university application.
The weekly rhythm was what I needed. One unit, one quiz, and by Sunday I had understood something for real. The derivation boxes let me decide how deep I wanted to go each week.
I have had a telescope on the balcony for years and could name most of what I was looking at. The masterclass gave me the physics behind it: why a nebula glows, how far away it is, and how we know. The units on cosmology were the hardest, and my favorite.
Masterclass participants come from all over the world, and when you complete the program you stay part of a network that keeps you close to astronomy.
Our alumni program connects former participants across countries: for study advice, exchange about university applications, and shared projects.
Past participants hear from us about scholarships, competitions, summer schools, and other academic opportunities in astronomy and astrophysics.
The program shows you how research works and where it happens, so that your next step, at school, at university, or beyond, is an informed one.
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Ten olympiad style problems with worked solutions, from Kepler’s laws to the Hubble law, each with the key equation behind it.
For high school students, college students, and lifelong learners. High school students use it to get ahead in astronomy early and to prepare for college or for competitions. College students take it as a supplement to their studies. Lifelong learners, among them many amateur astronomers, use it to learn about space in depth. The Foundation masterclass suits a first contact with the subject; the Advanced masterclass goes on to stellar structure, black holes, exoplanets, and active galaxies.
Yes. A new unit is scheduled for every Monday, but once you have submitted the quiz of a unit you can ask for the next one ahead of schedule, from your dashboard or from the email we send you. The earliest moment is 24 hours after the previous unit was sent. We recommend the weekly rhythm, because the material needs time to settle, but the pace is your decision.
Nothing is lost. The next unit is only sent once you have submitted the quiz of the current one, so the program waits for you. You can pause for a week or for a term and continue at any time. There is no penalty and no deadline.
School mathematics up to powers, roots, simple equations, and basic trigonometry is enough. Unit 1 refreshes every tool the later units use: scientific notation, units, angles, logarithms, and the physics of motion and energy. The later units of the Advanced masterclass use simple calculus and explain each step.
On Monday you receive the unit by email, as a web page and as a PDF. A day later we send further reading, including current research papers that are free to read. During the week you study the unit and take the open-book quiz of ten questions. After you submit it, you see your result with explanations, and the next unit follows on the next Monday.
After the last unit you sit the final exam online: 50 multiple-choice questions across all units, drawn individually for each participant, with a time limit of 60 minutes. It is open book. You pass with 70% correct answers. If you do not pass, you can try again after 3 days with new questions, up to 3 attempts in total.
