Introduction to Astronomy
MIT OpenCourseWare's quantitative survey of astrophysics, covering the solar system, stars, the interstellar medium, the galaxy, and cosmology as revealed by observation and modeling. The course builds from basic orbital mechanics and radiation physics up through stellar evolution, galactic structure, and large-scale cosmological models, using problem sets grounded in real astronomical data. Materials include lecture notes, assignments with solutions, and exams, following MIT's standard OCW format for a physics-department course rather than a popular-science overview. It suits students with a calculus and physics background who want to work through the mathematics behind phenomena like stellar luminosity, galactic rotation curves, and the expansion of the universe. As with all MIT OCW offerings, the content is free to access under a Creative Commons license, with no certificate attached. It functions as a rigorous foundation for further study in astrophysics.