Despite its recent explosive growth, astronomy is a science that can be covered in a single term. It therefore serves as a quick and useful introduction into the way physical scientists look at the natural world. Astronomy provides many good examples to illustrate basic scientific principles. The impact of astronomical discoveries and theories on the cultural outlook of Western civilization has been and is still very large. While astronomy is the oldest science, it is also among the youngest.
New discoveries pour in, yet there is still room for fundamental theories to be invented.
Most importantly, we want you to learn how science works. You will learn this in several ways, through historical examples of the scientific process, labs where you make your own observations and discoveries, homework problems where you reason through astronomy questions, etc. We also want you to learn the main ideas of astronomy. While it will be important for you to learn factual information, our goal is for you to apply information and concepts to new situations, and to understand the major themes that interconnect all areas of astronomy. We'll later ask why Greek science ossified after its promising beginnings.