Astronomy Minor

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College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Astronomy Program Information

Department of Physics and Astronomy
P.O. Box 70652
277 Brown Hall
Johnson City, TN 37614
Tel: (423) 439-4231 | Fax: (423) 439-6905
e-mail: lutter@etsu.edu

www.etsu.edu/cas/physics/academics/astrominor.aspx

The astronomy minor is intended for students interested in gaining a broad overview of the physical sciences and their application to the study of the universe.

Astronomy Minor: 21 Credit Hours

A minor is a secondary area of study outside of the major program of study with a structured curriculum composed of at least 18 semester credit hours of which at least 9 hours must be at the 3000-level or above.

Required Courses: 12 Credit Hours

The required courses are:

ASTR 1020 - Astronomy II (4 credits)
PHYS 2010 - General Physics I-Noncalculus (3 credits)
PHYS 2011 - General Physics Laboratory I-Noncalculus (1 credit)
PHYS 2020 - General Physics II-Noncalculus (3 credits)
PHYS 2021 - General Physics Laboratory II-Noncalculus (1 credit)
Note that Astronomy II has a required laboratory component. Astonomy II does not require Astronomy I.

Note that PHYS 2110/2120, Technical Physics I and II (5 credit hours each) with included laboratory, can be substituted for the four course combination PHYS 2010/2011/2020/2021.

In addition: 9 Credit Hours

In addition, the astronomy minor requires 9 more credit hours selected from:

ASTR 3415 - Astrophysics (3 credits)
ASTR 3970 - Variable Stars (2 credits)
ASTR 4110 - Extragalactic Astronomy (4 credits)
ASTR 4900 - Independent Study in Astronomy (1-3 credits)
Generally students are expected to have taken at least one of the other upper level courses in astronomy before taking ASTR 4900, Independent Study in Astronomy.

In addition to the above courses, it is recommended that students minoring in astronomy also take MATH 1910, Calculus I.

Physics majors who wish to minor in astronomy are permitted to count Technical Physics I and II for both the major and minor, however, the upper level astronomy classes can only be used for either the astronomy minor or the physics major, but not both at the same time.