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Solar system

The new astronomy course is shooting for the stars this school year. Students will learn a wide variety of things from constellations all the way to the moon. This class is available to everyone who has completed Biology and Chemistry.

“Space has always been fascinating to me, but I never dug into it,” sophomore Valessa Wong said. “Now I can learn about space in depth, and I’m stoked.”

Before bringing in Astronomy, Klein High School offered a combined Earth and Space course. This year the state of Texas made the decision to split them into two separate classes: Earth Systems and Astronomy.

“What prompted me to join Astronomy was that it was only about space. It was Earth and Space before, and I wasn’t interested in learning about Earth,” Wong said. “When I saw that the two classes split up, I knew that’s what I wanted to join.”

Similarly, sophomore Naomi Mack shared her thoughts on the subject.

“It was fun learning about constellations and things because space is interesting to me,” Mack said. Mack also said she thought the teacher was “cool”.

Christopher Bowman, one of the former teachers of the Earth and Space course, is now the teacher for the new Astronomy course.

“The teacher Mr. Bowman is one of my favorites,” senior Kate Mehaffey said. “I just love the way he tries to connect with his students and the way that he converses with them. I feel like he’s very personable, and that he really tries to reach out and look out for his students.”

Bowman gives a quick explanation of some of the things that his students will learn this school year.

“The focus of astronomy is to further our understanding of our place in the universe,” he said. “We begin with ancient observations of the night sky and ancient astronomy, then concentrate on the movement of the stars and planets around us all the way up to our most cutting edge understanding of what’s out there.”

To that, Wong shares what she’s learned so far while taking Astronomy.

“Unit one was about the Earth’s sky, so basically: constellations, star signs, star names, etc. Our second unit is about Ancient Astronomy. So far we’ve learned that telling time was dated back to 1500 BCE! We’ve also learned how they told time.They used something called Gnomon which is a pointy object so that the sun could shine on it and cast a shadow.” Wong said.  

The Astronomy course at Klein High School offers students a new opportunity to explore the wonders of space in-depth. Bowman said the class will be successful if students put in the work.

“Like with any class, you’ll only get out as much as you put in,” Bowman said.