This is a very exciting time for planetary science, with new data being returned by spacecraft from planets within our own solar system and thousands of planets now being discovered orbiting other stars. There is also growing scientific interest in the likelihood of life elsewhere in the universe.

With our BSc Planetary Science with Astronomy you will learn more about all of this and develop your knowledge of the solar system and its wider astronomical context. You will study subjects ranging from astronomy and astrobiology to geophysics and remote sensing. You will develop skills in the manipulation of scientific data and critical assessment of scientific hypotheses and experience actual scientific research during project work.

Our teaching philosophy is based around flexibility, allowing you to fit the degree around your lifestyle. We embrace new technology and methods to make our degrees accessible to all and have been running remote as well as face-to-face lectures for more than 20 years. This means you can attend classes with our internationally distinguished researchers in our world-class laboratories in London or you can watch live streams/recorded lectures at home using our cutting-edge online teaching platform. You are free to mix both these methods to find the best balance for you.

A number of our researchers work on current space missions with access to unique datasets. You will have the chance to work on these data as part of a research project in your final year.

We also offer the option to attend a number of UK and overseas field classes, using Earth analogues to understand the geology of other planets. Currently, we take students to Pembrokeshire (Year 1), North-West Scotland or Greece (Year 2) and Morocco (Year 3) and a dedicated Planetary Science field class to the Canary Islands (Years 2 or 3).

This course is also available for part-time evening study over four years.

• We offer you flexible teaching methods, balancing face-to-face and online learning.
• Exciting field trip opportunities to famous geological sites in the UK, Greece and Morocco.
• We are part of the joint UCL-Birkbeck Institute of Earth and Planetary Sciences (IEPS) meaning we share laboratories, expertise and events, all open to students for research projects. Find out more about our research facilities.
• In our joint submission with UCL, we were rated sixth in the UK for Earth Systems and Environmental Science research (in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF)).
• Our Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences has been offering evening study courses for over 70 years and distance learning for more than 20 years.

You undertake a combination of compulsory and option modules, worth 360 credits in total.

In Year 1, you take seven compulsory modules and choose one option module.

In Year 2, you take six compulsory modules and choose two option modules. There may also be an opportunity to undertake an option module in practical astronomy, run by UCL and conducted at an observatory in London.

In Year 3, you take three compulsory modules, choose one option module and undertake a project.

In Years 2 and 3, some compulsory modules run in alternate years:

• Comets, Asteroids and Meteorites/Volcanism in the Solar System
• Exploration and Modelling of Planetary Interiors/Remote Sensing and Planetary Surfaces

You take both modules, but the order in which you take them will depend on which module of the pair is running when you reach Year 2.