ScienceThe BestieBeginner
Decoding the Universe course icon

Decoding the Universe

Like Duolingo, but for Decoding the Universe. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.

12 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free during early access · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Astro the Axolotl
Decoding the Universe
with Astro the Axolotl
12
Levels
2
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Decoding the Universe

  • Light as a data carrier
  • Blue light and temperature
  • Stellar signatures in light
  • Yellow/White star temperature
  • Red light and temperature
  • Star color and temperature
  • Every chemical element absorbs or emits light at specific, unique wavelengths
  • How light acts as a data carrier for distant objects
  • A star's spectrum acts as a barcode for its chemical composition
  • The relationship between star color and temperature
  • Light has a finite speed and takes time to cross cosmic distances
  • The image we see of a star is how it looked when the light first left it
  • The main job of a telescope is to gather more light than the human eye can (light bucket)
  • How specific elements create unique patterns in light
  • Collecting more light allows us to see fainter, more distant objects that are otherwise invisible
  • The concept of light-travel time as a window into the past
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Decoding the Universe the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Messages from the Deep

If you spot a star glowing with a distinct blue color, what does that tell you about its temperature?

Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.

Course map

Where Decoding the Universe takes you

Learn to read the messages hidden in starlight and understand the invisible forces that shape our cosmos.

  1. 1

    Reading the Cosmic Message

    • Starlight as Data
    • Gravity: The Universe's Architect
  2. 2

    The Life and Death of Everything

    • The Secret Life of Stars
    • The Expanding Big Picture

2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Bestie

Decoding the Universe is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

Start free

Start Decoding the Universe today.

Download Tomo, search Decoding the Universe, and play your first lesson in under a minute.