Astronomy olympiad preparation
Astronomy olympiads test a wide body of theory and the skill to apply it under time pressure. Here is how the masterclass helps with the first, and how to train the second.
The olympiad path
The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) is the main international competition for high school students in astronomy. Countries select their teams through national olympiads, usually over several rounds, so the way to the IOAA leads through the olympiad of your own country. Open international competitions such as the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition can be entered by students from any country and are a good way to start.
Olympiad exams have a theory part with problems that need calculation, and often a data analysis part and an observation part. The theory part covers the topics in the table below.
Which units cover which topics
| Syllabus area | What it includes | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Celestial sphere, coordinates and time | Spherical astronomy, sidereal and solar time, seasons, the motion of the Sun, Moon and planets across the sky | Unit 1, Unit 2 |
| Celestial mechanics | Kepler's laws, Newton's law of gravitation, orbits, escape velocity, tides, binary systems | Unit 2 |
| Light, magnitudes and spectra | Black-body radiation, Wien's and Stefan-Boltzmann's laws, magnitudes and the distance modulus, spectral lines, the Doppler effect | Unit 3 |
| Telescopes and instruments | Resolution, light-gathering power, magnification, detectors, observing across the spectrum | Unit 4 |
| The solar system | Planets, moons, small bodies, equilibrium temperatures, the Roche limit | Unit 5 |
| Stars | Luminosity, radius and temperature, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, binary stars and stellar masses, the Sun | Unit 6, Unit 9 |
| Stellar evolution and compact objects | Star formation, the main sequence, red giants, supernovae, white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes | Unit 7, Unit 10 |
| Exoplanets | Transit and radial velocity methods, habitable zones | Unit 11 |
| Galaxies | The Milky Way, galaxy rotation, active galaxies, Hubble's law | Unit 8, Unit 12 |
| Cosmology | The expanding universe, the cosmic microwave background, dark matter and dark energy | Unit 13, Unit 14, Unit 15 |
Units 1 to 8 (the Foundation masterclass) cover most of what national olympiads ask in their first rounds. Units 9 to 15 go deeper into stars, compact objects, galaxies and cosmology, as the later rounds and the IOAA do. Every unit shows its calculations step by step, and the equation sheet collects the formulas you need most often.
What to add to the masterclass
The masterclass teaches the theory and checks it with quizzes. It is not a problem-solving course. To do well at an olympiad, add these:
- Past problems. Work through the problems of your national olympiad and of past IOAAs, without looking at the solution first. Check your result, then read the official solution even when yours was right.
- Speed. Once a topic is familiar, time yourself. Olympiad problems are long, and the clock matters.
- The night sky. Learn the constellations and the brightest stars by observing, or with a planetarium program such as Stellarium Web.
- Data. Practise reading graphs and tables, fitting lines and estimating uncertainties.
A study plan
Follow the masterclass at one unit a week. In the same week, solve five to ten past problems on the topics of that unit. In the last weeks before your exam, take full past papers under exam conditions. Our blog article How to prepare for an astronomy olympiad goes into more detail, and the topic page Olympiads and competitions lists further articles.