Hey, thanks for dropping by! We’re grateful to have you here. Let’s talk a bit about why we built AO Guide.

When we were preparing for astronomy olympiads, we found ourselves (and others) jumping between massive textbooks (that had way more info than we needed), scattered handouts from random websites, and outdated materials that didn’t really capture what IOAA was all about. It was honestly pretty overwhelming. Its understandable, they weren’t really designed for IOAA in mind, but we wanted to fix this.

Therefore we built AO Guide. Its not a textbook or another handout, the main goal of AO Guide is to be complete and concise. That doesn’t mean its just short, dry text without any motivation, we have actively tried to do the exact opposite; but that it contains a lot more of what is needed for the olympiads.

We wanted to create something that we wish we had when we started our olympiad journey:

1. Everything you actually need for IOAA – no more, no less. We’ve been through this, so we know what matters.
2. Built the way we learn – step by step, with plenty of examples and explanations that actually make sense.
3. Modern and accessible – because studying shouldn’t feel like punishment, and everyone deserves good resources.
4. Visual and engaging – diagrams, and other interactive elements that help visualise concepts.
5. Real problem-solving practice – not just theory, but the kind of problems you’ll actually face in competitions.

Astronomy and astrophysics are incredible subjects that we really do love. But preparing for olympiads caused us a lot of frustations, and not for a lack of trying. Most textbooks were either too advanced, or woefully incomplete for IOAA.

It was because of this frustation that we decided to write AO Guide. We don’t really benefit much from it, its free for you to use and modify afterall! But honestly, just allowing for a far smoother way to learn for the next person who wanted to get into astronomy is quite rewarding in itself :)

Olympiads aren’t about memorizing formulas (though you do really need some of them). It’s about really understanding how things work, being able to think through problems step by step, and having the confidence to tackle something you’ve never seen before. That’s what we’re trying to help you build, we have a plethora of problems with solutions for you to go through!

Akshat Srivastava

Creator & Author

Hi! I'm a high school student from India and a Gold medalist from IOAA 2025. I love physics, astronomy and math, along with few other subjects (including but not limited to cs, linguistics, chemistry and engineering). I like mathematical rigor in solving problems, and I believe I have been succesfully able to reflect this in the guide. You can reach out to me on my Discord server, or dm me at @bunchofcells (I like cucumbers).

GitHub

Lilian

Editor

I'm a high school student from India passionate about mathematics, physics, cs, literature, and philosophy (yes its a bit of a weird combo). I was a PROMYS 2025 Alumni, and was the leader of Physics Olympiad Co-operation for BL4S, which was shortlisted. I help make sure our explanations are correct, and most importantly clear! You can contact me at discord at @jardindelys, but do send a cat pic if you decide to :D

A special thanks to Madhav Gupta (@Madhav2609) for helping with mobile compatibility, CSS improvements, and hosting the website.

This project is way bigger than just the two of us, and we’d love your help! Whether you’re a fellow student who’s found a mistake, an educator with suggestions, or just someone who loves astronomy:

1. Spot an error? Please let us know! We’re human and definitely make mistakes.
2. Have a great problem or explanation? We’d love to include it (with credit, of course).
3. Ideas for improvements? We’re always looking for ways to make this better.
4. Want to spread the word? Tell your friends, teachers, or anyone who might find this useful!

Check out the GitHub repository to get involved. Every contribution helps make this better for everyone.

There were a lot of people and institutions that helped create this. Its not possible to credit all of them, and we’re sorry if we missed you, we do really appreciate your contribution. Huge thanks to:

Educational Institutions

1. Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) – For creating such an amazing olympiad culture in India and giving us opportunities we never thought we’d have
2. IOAA – For organizing the international olympiad and making astronomy education a global priority
3. National Olympiad Committees worldwide – For maintaining high standards and sharing resources with the community

The Tech That Powers This

1. Hugo – For making our website fast and beautiful
2. Hextra Theme – For the gorgeous design foundation that makes everything look professional
3. KaTeX – For making our math equations look crisp and readable
4. GitHub – For making collaboration so easy
5. Vercel – For reliable, fast, and hassle-free website hosting
6. Name.com – For domain registration and DNS management

Our Amazing Community

1. IOAA alumni and participants – For sharing problems, giving feedback, and helping us improve constantly
2. Astronomy teachers and mentors – For reviewing our content and making sure we’re not leading anyone astray
3. Open source contributors – For helping with code, bug fixes, and feature improvements
4. Early users and beta testers – For putting up with our mistakes and helping us make this actually useful

Here’s what this means in plain English:

1. Share it – Copy, download, and share with anyone who might find it useful
2. Modify it – Adapt, remix, or build upon our content for your own non-commercial use

1. Give us credit – Let people know where the original came from and mention if you’ve made changes
2. Keep it non-commercial – Don’t sell this or use it to make money
3. Share your improvements – If you make something cool based on our work, share it under the same license

Basically, if you’re making money from it, that’s commercial use:

1. Selling the content or anything based on it
2. Using it in paid courses or tutoring services
3. Including it in commercial apps or software
4. Any other profit-making activities

This guide is completely free for educational use! Use it for studying, teaching, school projects, or olympiad preparation. Just give us a quick mention if you use our content in presentations or assignments.

If you need to use our content commercially for some reason, just reach out to us and we can probably work something out. Note that fair use of the content is completely fine!