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    Is There A Difference Between Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Science (And Navigation) ?

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    Nagaraja Prasanna Rass
    Astronomy is the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside Earth's atmosphere. Astrophysics is a branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of celestial objects and the space between them. Space science can include planetary science, solar astronomy, stellar astronomy, galactic astronomy, and astronautics. Navigation focuses on monitoring and controlling movement through different environments like land, sea, air, and space. In the context of space exploration, astrophysics knowledge is required for space navigation.

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    Is There A Difference Between Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Science (And Navigation) ?

    Uploaded by

    Nagaraja Prasanna Rass
    50 views2 pages
    Astronomy is the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside Earth's atmosphere. Astrophysics is a branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of celestial objects and the space between them. Space science can include planetary science, solar astronomy, stellar astronomy, galactic astronomy, and astronautics. Navigation focuses on monitoring and controlling movement through different environments like land, sea, air, and space. In the context of space exploration, astrophysics knowledge is required for space navigation.

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    Astronomy and astrophysics

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    Difference Astronomy,Astrophysics

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    Astronomy is the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside Earth's atmosphere. Astrophysics is a branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of celestial objects and the space between them. Space science can include planetary science, solar astronomy, stellar astronomy, galactic astronomy, and astronautics. Navigation focuses on monitoring and controlling movement through different environments like land, sea, air, and space. In the context of space exploration, astrophysics knowledge is required for space navigation.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    50 views2 pages

    Is There A Difference Between Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Science (And Navigation) ?

    Uploaded by

    Nagaraja Prasanna Rass
    Astronomy is the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside Earth's atmosphere. Astrophysics is a branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of celestial objects and the space between them. Space science can include planetary science, solar astronomy, stellar astronomy, galactic astronomy, and astronautics. Navigation focuses on monitoring and controlling movement through different environments like land, sea, air, and space. In the context of space exploration, astrophysics knowledge is required for space navigation.

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    of 2

    Is there a difference between astronomy, astrophysics, space

    science (and navigation)?


    By G. O. Okeng'o
    A friend of mine recently asked me if there is any difference between the three disciplines: astronomy,
    astrophysics and navigation. My instincts told me that by mentioning the latter he probably mean't space
    science, so I chose to hold my cards close to my chest and provide a full answer to his (intended and
    asked) question....
    The term astronomy comes from two Greek words astron meaning star and nomos meaning law
    and therefore 'literary' means "the laws of stars". It is a natural science (a science that seeks to explain
    the natural world using laws of science) that deals with the study of celestial objects or celestial bodies
    such as planets, asteroids, comets, stars and galaxies, and all phenomena that originate from beyond (or
    outside) the Earth's atmosphere (also called 'space') such as the cosmic microwave background (or CMB
    in short).

    Astrophysics is a branch of astronomy that deals with the physics, chemistry,


    meteorology, motions and interactions between celestial objects, their physical
    properties such as temperature, chemical composition and structure, and the physics of
    the space between stars (interstellar medium) and that between galaxies (intergalactic
    medium).
    The differences above are, however, only historical; and were based on astronomy
    being considered an observational science charged with observing and storing data
    about positions and properties of celestial bodies (cataloguing the heavens), while
    astrophysics was deemed a theoretical science concerned mainly with computing
    models and formulating theories to be tested against the observations.
    In the present era of modern astronomy, the two disciplines refer to one but the same
    subject since both astronomers and astrophysicists today use a combination of
    observational and theoretical tools such as telescopes and various analytical techniques
    to study the universe.
    Space science- can be defined as the study of 'issues' related to outer space (and voila! Astrophysics
    becomes one branch) and may include, but not limited to:

    Planetary science- study of planets other than the Earth


    Solar astronomy- study of the Sun
    Stellar astronomy- study of stars
    Galactic astronomy- study of the Milky Way galaxy (our galaxy)
    Astronautics- the science and engineering spacefaring and spaceflight, a branch
    of aerospace engineering (which includes atmospheric flight)
    space food, space medicine, astrobiology etc
    Navigation-, on the other hand, is a field of science that focuses on the monitoring and controlling of the
    movement of an aircraft, spacecraft or vehicle from one place to another. In includes sub-fields such as:
    land navigation, marine navigation, aeronautic navigation, and space navigation, which refer to monitoring
    motion through land, sea, air and space respectively. In the context of astronomy and astrophysics, the
    relevant type of navigation (such as the one used by NASA to land the Curiosityrover on Mars, yesterday)
    is space navigation. And space navigation requires good knowledge about space and hence astrophysics.

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