The Cosmos and Beyond
Like Duolingo, but for The Cosmos and Beyond. 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.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in The Cosmos and Beyond
- Orbits require high tangential velocity to 'miss' the planet while falling
- The barycenter is the balance point of mass between two celestial objects
- Gravity provides a constant downward acceleration toward the center of mass
- If a moon is massive enough, the barycenter shifts outside the primary planet's surface
- Without sufficient forward speed, the path becomes a vertical drop rather than a curve
- Both the primary and the satellite execute orbits around this shared center
- The relationship between horizontal velocity and gravity in maintaining an orbit
- Understanding that planets and stars orbit a shared center of mass
- Gravity weakens with the square of the distance from the primary body
- Escape velocity is the speed where kinetic energy overcomes gravitational potential
- Slower speeds are required at high altitudes to balance the weaker pull of gravity
- Massive planets with high surface gravity require much higher escape velocities
- The inverse relationship between orbital distance and required velocity
- Inner planets or satellites must travel much faster than outer ones to avoid falling in
- Once escape velocity is reached, gravity can slow but never stop the craft
- The definition and application of escape velocity
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives The Cosmos and Beyond 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.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
What term describes the shared balance point of mass that two celestial bodies orbit around?
Get it right to open this lesson and 73 more in the app.
Where The Cosmos and Beyond takes you
Go beyond the basics of the solar system to master the mechanics of orbital motion, stellar evolution, and the deep-space structures that define our universe.
- 1
The Mechanics of Motion
- Orbital Dynamics and Gravity
- The Sun's Reach
- 2
Planetary Evolution
- Terrestrial World Geology
- Gas and Ice Giant Anatomy
- 3
Satellites and Small Bodies
- Moons and Tidal Heating
- Asteroids, Comets, and Debris
- 4
Stellar Life Cycles
- The Main Sequence and Fusion
- Stellar Remnants and Death
- 5
Mapping the Night Sky
- Celestial Coordinates
- Constellations and Deep Sky Objects
- 6
Galactic Architecture
- The Milky Way Structure
- Galaxy Classification and Evolution
- 7
Space Exploration Technology
- Launch and Trajectory
- Satellite Operations
- Observational Astronomy Tools
- 8
Cosmology and the Deep Unknown
- Black Hole Physics
- The Big Bang and Expansion
- 9
The Search for Life
- Exoplanet Detection
- Astrobiology and the Drake Equation
9 sections · 19 units · 74 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
The Cosmos and Beyond is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. 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.
More Science on Tomo
Exoplanets and the Search for Life
An exhaustive exploration of planetary systems beyond our own, from the subsurface oceans of icy moons to the detection of biosignatures in the deep cosmos.
The World of Dinosaurs
Move beyond the basics of the T-Rex to explore the complex evolution, specialized clades, and surprising biology of the Mesozoic's most successful inhabitants.
Fingerprint Analysis: The Art of the Lift
Learn to reveal the invisible world of latent prints. Master the tools of the trade to lift evidence and develop the sharp eye needed to match ridges like a professional investigator.
Genomic Engineering & Regulation
Move beyond the basics of inheritance to master the tools of modern genome editing and the complex regulatory layers that dictate cellular identity.
Biology: The Logic of Life
Move beyond memorizing parts to understanding the systems that drive all living things. Explore how energy, information, and environment interact to create the complexity of the natural world.
Gravity's Extremes: From Big Bang to Black Holes
Explore how the curvature of spacetime dictates the birth of the universe and the mysterious physics of its most dense objects.
Start The Cosmos and Beyond today.
Download Tomo, search The Cosmos and Beyond, and play your first lesson in under a minute.