M. Porter, Senior Executive, Master of Art, San Jose
Answered Nov 27, 2018
Astrophysics is one part of science that is specific to the study of space. It includes the actions and reactions from the things that are in space. It also includes the unknown behaviors and things that occur in space. Cosmology is the study of the world and how the things in the universe and space relate and interact with the world.
The difference between these two sciences is that astrophysics is one part of cosmology. Cosmology is the bigger subject and contains many other little sciences within it. Astrophysics is a branch of astronomy and is one part that makes up cosmology. Cosmology can include many other sciences like rocket science and physics. To study astrophysics, you would be studying cosmology.
These are closely related, with cosmology often one part of astro-physics generally. Astrophysics itself is a branch of astronomy that studies the physical or chemical properties of celestial bodies. Using laws of physics and chemistry it seeks to understand the birth, life and death of stars, planets, galaxies, nebulae and other objects in the universe. The crossover between this and cosmology is extensive.
Cosmology is the scientific study of the large scale properties of the universe as a whole. Therefore, this encompasses the forementioned study area of astro-physics but taking a wider-still view. I suppose it's the difference between regarding a feast (cosmology) and a table of festive foods, if that helps.