European Union Forums

[Ar-Gimilzor]

What is the difference between astronomy and cosmology? Are they the same thing? Also what is astrophysics?

[Handir]

astronomy is the study of the stars.
cosmology is the study of the origin and creation of the universe.

Astrophysics is the study of physics in space and how it interacts with things, and what doesn't apply to our normal realm of physics. Like a black hole, it has it's own type of physics, Quantum Physics.

[Tar-Meneldur]

Cosmology is the study of the universe taken as a whole. At the current size of the universe, cosmology deals with structures no smaller than superclusters of galaxies. Astronomy deals with structures smaller than the universe as a whole, such as galaxy clusters, galaxies, stars, black holes, supernovae, planets and so forth. Cosmology is more theoretical than astronomy, and astronomy is more observational than cosmology.

[Aratan]

Astronomy is the study of the stars, planets, nebulae, etc. in the known universe, their movements, and their creation (if you are lucky enough to see the creation or destruction of anything-everything lasts so long that it is really very difficult to see anything happen). Cosmology is the why things work of the Universe. It studies quarks, bosons, leptons, gluons, and other particles, as well as the shape of the universe, its origins, and the investigations of theoretical phenomena.