Arizona State University saw a record number of freshmen enroll this fall, so it’s no surprise when it launched its first science massive open online course, or MOOC, Thursday it saw some big numbers. 

Almost 13,000 students from 168 countries enrolled in "Introduction to Solar Systems Astronomy." When ASU and the nonprofit edX joined forces to create the Global Freshman Academy, the vision was clear — create a slate of courses offered for free to anyone who wants to learn.

"Here we can intersperse the professors’ knowledge with various other places around the world, places where we can understand the concepts in deeper ways because we’re providing other context and so a lot of the video that is part of the intro to astronomy is coming from places around the world where various aspects of astronomy can be illustrated," said Adrian Sannier with the university.

Students won’t be able to raise their hands to ask questions, but Sannier said class conversations will still take place on edX forums.