Declaration of a minor in Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences is open to any student enrolled at CU-Boulder. Coursework applied to the astronomy minor may be applied to another major or towards General Education requirements.
Requirements
Coursework applied to the minor may be applied toward General Education requirements or to a major offered by another department (except the Physics Plan 2 astrophysics focus major). Minimum requirements for a minor include:
- A minimum of six ASTR courses (18-21 credits), including at least three advanced courses (numbered above 3500; 9-10 credits).
- All coursework applied to a minor must be completed with a grade of C- or better; no pass/fail work may be applied. The GPA for all coursework completed in the minor department must be equal to 2.00 (C) or higher.
- Students pursuing an individually structured major or a major in distributed studies are not eligible to earn a minor.
- Students are allowed to apply no more than three courses (9 credits), including two advanced courses (6 credits), of transfer work toward a minor.
- Many of the classes listed below have corequisite or prerequisite mathematics and/or physics courses. Students are responsible to check and meet these requisites.
Required Courses and Credits
The minor requires a minimum of 6 approved courses.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Elementary | ||
| Select a maximum of two courses from the following: | 6-8 | |
| Accelerated Introductory Astronomy 1 1 | ||
| Accelerated Introductory Astronomy 2 1 | ||
| Ancient Astronomies of the World | ||
| Modern Cosmology-Origin and Structure of the Universe | ||
| Space Astronomy and Exploration | ||
| Black Holes | ||
| The Search for Life in the Universe | ||
| Gateway to Space | ||
| Introduction to Scientific Programming | ||
| Extraterrestrial Life | ||
| Intermediate | ||
| ASTR 2100 | Fundamental Concepts in Astrophysics 2, 3 | 3 |
| Advanced | ||
| Select one of the following upper-division course sequences: | 6 | |
Planetary Sequence: | ||
| Planets and Their Atmospheres and Planets, Moons, and Rings | ||
Astrophysics Sequence: | ||
| Astrophysics 1 - Stellar and Interstellar and Astrophysics 2 - Galactic and Extragalactic | ||
| Select a minimum of one of the following: | 3-4 | |
| Research Methods in Astronomy | ||
| Observations and Instrumentation 1 | ||
| Observations and Instrumentation 2 | ||
| Astronomical Instrumentation Laboratory | ||
| Formation & Dynamics of Planetary Systems | ||
| Planets and Their Atmospheres | ||
| Astrophysics 1 - Stellar and Interstellar | ||
| Cosmology and Relativity | ||
| Planets, Moons, and Rings | ||
| Solar and Space Physics | ||
| Astrophysics 2 - Galactic and Extragalactic | ||
| Cosmochemistry | ||
| Independent Study | ||
| Atmospheric Dynamics | ||
| Total Credit Hours | 18-21 | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | If they plan to take Calculus 3 (MATH 2400 or APPM 2350), then students should replace ASTR 2100 with an additional ASTR class (either upper or lower division). |
| 3 | Some upper division ASTR courses require a prerequisite of Modern Physics (PHYS 2130 or PHYS 2170) or ASTR 2100. We recommend students discuss the classes they're interested in with an ASTR advisor to plan accordingly. |
Additional information is available from any faculty mentor. See the department's Undergraduate Studies webpage.