Earth science is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth.[2] Earth science may also be called geoscience. Geoscience is the study of the architecture of the earth.
If there is one fact which underlies all Earth science it is this; the Earth is an ancientplanet which has been changing the whole time since its formation. The extent of the changes is much greater than people used to think.[3]
Fields of study
The following disciplines are generally recognised as being within the geosciences:
Astronomy includes the study of distant stars and galaxies to the examination of the 4.6 billion years old Earth from an astronomical point of view. It is also closely related with the study of the solar system and its planets, a subdiscipline called planetology. A more distant relative of astronomy is physical cosmology, which aims to study the Universe as a whole.[10]