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Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science
Call us at: 928-523-2661 astro@nau.edu Directory
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The universe is awaiting your exploration

The Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science at Northern Arizona University offers various bachelor’s degrees, and a doctoral degree.

The department has a small, family feeling. At NAU, your instructors will know you by name; they are easily accessible, and they genuinely care about student success. Lecture courses are taught almost exclusively by full-time faculty. Both undergraduate and graduate students are routinely and deeply involved in faculty research.

The sense of community I felt while at NAU is something I very much miss.

– recent graduate who is now a PhD candidate

Our Classroom is the Cosmos!
Join us: we’re looking for a few good students!

Diversity and Inclusivity Statement

The Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science (DAPS) strives to build a diverse and inclusive community at Northern Arizona University. We value collaborations between individuals of diverse backgrounds, identities, appearances, and beliefs, such as, but not limited to, races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, ages, faiths, abilities, socio-economic statuses, family histories, education levels, documentation statuses, body shapes, veteran statuses, and intersections therein. The field of astronomy and planetary science must continue to make progress on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in order to establish a more just community. Faculty, students, researchers, and staff within DAPS strive to be strong advocates for education and action on diversity related topics. Through these efforts, the DAPS community aspires to be a leader in creating a more inclusive environment for all scientists in our field and we invite both members of our community and external to DAPS to hold the department accountable to these ideals.

Explore our degrees

Bachelor's Degrees Quantum Physics Blackboard
Doctoral Degrees Discovery Channel Telescope

By the numbers

27

PhD Students

71

Astronomy Majors

17

Astronomy Minors

26

Undergraduate Researchers

Research spotlight

MarsCuriosity-IresonHill Planetary Surface Processes
Astrophysical Ices Lab Lab Studies of Planetary Materials
OortCloud 2012VP113tile Observational Planetary Science
Hubble Space Telescope Exoplanets & Planetary Formation
Astrobiology
Spacecraft Missions

News

For a complete listing of all news articles, please visit our news page.

NAU planetary scientist named key partner on NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer mission

Posted by Author on Source on December 02, 2020

The relatively tiny Trailblazer satellite, which will measure just 3.5 meters in length with its solar panels fully deployed, will spend more than a year orbiting the Moon at a height of 100 kilometers, scanning it with two instruments on board. Christopher Edwards, assistant professor in NAU’s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, will contribute to the instrumentation being developed for the satellite: a visible-shortwave infrared imaging spectrometer built by JPL and a multispectral thermal imager built by the University…

NAU chemical physicist to collaborate with Lowell scientist on NASA-funded study of Saturn’s moon Titan

Posted by Author on Source on November 23, 2020

Scientists say Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is the only body in the solar system besides Earth with liquid on its surface. However, chemical elements behave very differently there in the extremely cold and dense atmosphere, with a temperature of minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit. For example, water forms Titan’s bedrock while methane acts much like water does on Earth—it flows, evaporates and rains down on Titan to form rivers, lakes and seas. . . . Co-principal investigator on the project, Gerrick…

President’s Prize, Gold Axe recipients, Distinguished Seniors honored at 2020 virtual ceremony

Posted by Author on Source on October 30, 2020

DAPS Senior Brittany Harvison is the CEFNS Distinguished Senor. Read the full article here.

NAU astronomers discover activity on distant planetary object; findings lead to reclassification of Centaur as comet

Posted by Author on Source on October 28, 2020

This new image of C/2014 OG392 (PANSTARRS) and its extensive coma combines many digital images into a single 7,700 second exposure. The dashed lines are star trails caused by the long exposure. Images captured October 14, 2020 using the Large Monolithic Imager on the 4.3 m Lowell Discovery Telescope. Centaurs are minor planets believed to have originated in the Kuiper Belt in the outer solar system. They sometimes have comet-like features such as tails and comae—clouds of dust particles and…
Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science
Location
Room 209 Building 19
Physical Sciences
527 S. Beaver St.
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-6010
Mailing Address
NAU Box 6010
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-6010
Email
astro@nau.edu
Phone
928-523-2661
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