Wherever you are in the world – whether you are in the UK or overseas, Starlearner has
developed our diploma to meet the needs of students of all ages who want to learn about Astronomy.
Our British style course helps you learn without having a final examination.
The diploma will be the equivalent of an international GCSE – an examination taken
by students at schools all around the world. Many adults in the UK sit the
GCSE Astronomy examination to help gain a good understanding of Astronomy - this examination is
not available to overseas students. That is why Starlearner has set up the diploma.
The Starlearner diploma runs for one year, giving you time to study the night sky through all the
seasons. You may take longer if you choose to spend more time with your coursework. We are on
hand to guide you throughout the course and you will have access to the full range of our
Astronomy textbooks and resources on the starlearner.com website.
How the diploma runs:-
You will need to submit 8 written pieces of work to build into your Astronomy portfolio. Four
coursework items are from the core topics which are compulsory:-
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Planet Earth : Life in the ‘Goldilocks Zone’
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Our Solar System
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Stars in the Milky Way and other Galaxies
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From the Big Bang to today and beyond
The remaining four coursework topics can be chosen from a range of options, to tailor to your
particular areas of interest:-
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Observing in different wavelengths
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Space Exploration
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Famous astronomers : the history of Astronomy
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Space spin-offs : how we have gained from space developments
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Observatories around the world : how telescopes work
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Impacts in our Solar System and crater formation
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Astronomy issues with global warming
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Near Earth Objects, meteoroids and meteorites – the death of the dinosaurs
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Manned/Unmanned space travel, space observatories and laboratories
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New developments in Astronomy : future space programmes
Each of your 8 portfolio topics is scored out of 50 marks, giving a total of 400 marks.
To this will be added marks out of 100 for observational work carried out through the year.
This will give you a superb understanding of the night sky. Tasks will be set through the year
which will help you observe important astronomical events and objects. Our podcasts have
successfully guided astronomers viewing the night sky. Work will be carried out with naked eye
observations and using optical instruments – either binoculars or a telescope if you have one.
Overall, the diploma will be scored out of 500 marks. The levels of achievement are:-
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Diploma Pass : 300 marks
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Diploma with Merit : 360 marks
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Diploma with Distinction : 420 marks
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Diploma – Star Distinction : 460 marks
The cost for the course is 100 GBP.
Contact us at Starlearner for full details.