Michigan Tech To Offer Online Introductory Astronomy Course

Michigan Tech is offering an online introductory astronomy course for its spring 2007 semester, beginning Jan. 16.

The course is a standard two-credit course, with all its material including lectures, homework and tests available online. As such, students will never have to attend a class. Topics will include basic information about the sky, the solar system, the Milky Way galaxy, black holes, the Big Bang theory and what we know about the universe as a whole.

The class will also be available as a podcast. A podcast is an Internet audio show, much like a radio show. It can be saved to one's hard drive as an MP3 and played back at any time, as well.

Tuition for the course will amount to $589.40 for residents and $1,374 for non-residents. Access to a computer with Windows XP is required. A program such as iTunes is required if one wishes to listen to the podcast; this is optional.

For more information, call the Michigan Tech physics department at 906-487-2086 or e-mail epollins@mtu.edu.

To apply for the class, contact the Michigan Tech Admissions office at 487-2335 or 888-688-1885 and say you are interested in taking PH1600, Introductory Astronomy, online.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.