The universe is awaiting your exploration
The Department Astronomy & 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!
Explore our degrees
By the numbers
102
Merged Physics/Astro Majors40
Astronomy Majors20
Astronomy Minors26
Undergraduate Researchers27
Phd StudentsResearch spotlight
News
For a complete listing of all news articles, please visit our news page.
NAU repeats its record with three Goldwater Scholars
April 30, 2019 For the second year in a row, three Northern Arizona University students have been named national Goldwater Scholars. Christopher Keefe, a sophomore studying computer science and biology; Kyle Ghaby, a junior in chemistry and biomedical science; and Megan Gialluca, a sophomore studying physics and astronomy, received this recognition, which is the most prestigious award in the U.S. for undergraduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “Congratulations to the students and their mentors, who exemplify the Lumberjack…
Collaborating on two major NASA projects, NAU astrobiologist joins in hunt for life outside our solar system
Feb. 25, 2019 When 51 Pegasi b was the first planet orbiting a Sun-like star discovered outside our solar system in 1995, the question of whether life exists in other corners of our galaxy shifted from, “Do exoplanets exist?” to “How do we recognize whether an exoplanet can support life?” Since then, NASA’s Kepler mission and ground-based surveys of exoplanets have revealed some profound findings: Earth-sized, potentially habitable worlds around other stars in our galaxy are extremely common—in fact, scientists…
Rest in Peace, Mars Exploration Rover-B, AKA Opportunity: Jan. 25, 2004-Feb. 13, 2019
Feb. 14, 2019 Farewell, Opportunity. This six-wheeled solar-powered rover approximately the size of a golf cart has been immobile and unable to respond to radio signals since it entered a power-saving contingency mode during a sun-blocking dust storm on Mars during the summer of 2018. After more than a half year of effort to re-establish communications with Opportunity, NASA declared on Wednesday that Opportunity’s mission has come to an official end. Opportunity began exploring the flat plains of Meridiani Planum…
NAU planetary scientist talks about her work with NASA studying asteroid Bennu (VIDEO)
Feb. 7, 2019 What can the asteroid Bennu tell us about the universe and its origins? Assistant astronomy professor Cristina Thomas talked to NAU-TV about her experience as a team member of NASA’s OSIRIS REx mission, which landed on the asteroid late last year and is collecting samples of regolith, or loose surface material, which scientists think may have answers about the earliest history in the solar system. Thomas’ research focuses on asteroids and near-Earth projects; she recently completed a…
Events
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