---
title: "Outline of natural science"
chunk: 1/12
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_natural_science"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:57:12.306970+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to natural science:
Natural science – a major branch of science that tries to explain, and predict, nature's phenomena based on empirical evidence. In natural science, hypothesis must be verified scientifically to be regarded as scientific theory.  Validity, accuracy, and social mechanisms ensuring quality control, such as peer review and repeatability of findings, are amongst the criteria and methods used for this purpose. Natural science can be broken into 2 main branches: life science, and physical science. Each of these branches, and all of their sub-branches, are referred to as natural sciences.

== Overview ==
Natural science can be described as all of the following:

Branch of science – systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Major category of academic disciplines – an academic discipline is focused study in one academic field or profession. A discipline incorporates expertise, people, projects, communities, challenges, studies, inquiry, and research areas that are strongly associated with academic areas of study or areas of professional practice. For example, the branches of science are commonly referred to as the scientific disciplines. For instance, Gravitation is strongly associated with the discipline of physics, and is considered to be part of that disciplinary knowledge.

== Branches of natural science ==

=== Physical science ===

Physical science – branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to the biological sciences. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences". However, the term "physical" creates an unintended, somewhat arbitrary distinction, since many branches of physical science also study biological phenomena (organic chemistry, for example).

==== Astronomy ====
Astronomy – studies the universe beyond Earth, including its formation and development, and the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects (such as galaxies, planets, etc.) and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth (such as the cosmic background radiation).
Astrobiology – study of evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe—also known as exobiology, exopaleontology, and bioastronomy
Astrodynamics – application of ballistics and celestial mechanics to the practical problems concerning the motion of rockets and other spacecraft.
Astrophysics – study of the physical aspects of celestial objects.
Astrometry – branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestially  bodies.
Cosmology – discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole.
Extragalactic astronomy – branch of astronomy concerned with objects outside our own Milky Way Galaxy
Galactic astronomy – study of our own Milky Way galaxy and all its contents.
Physical cosmology – study of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution.
Planetary science – scientific study of planets (including Earth), moons, and planetary systems, in particular those of the Solar System and the processes that form them.
Stellar astronomy – natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies) and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth (such as cosmic background radiation)