Astrophysics?

[Mike Kovich]

Hello All,

I joined SFN a while back, but I have not been too active, I intend to change that. Anyway, I am only thirteen. I have been striving for years to discover a field of science to go into, and I believe, it will be Astrophysics. I have information on this field, and I have been finding as much information as I can. After awhile, I thought that maybe you people could help me. What exactly is astrophysics, in your own words if possible? Can anybody give me some links, maybe the titles of some good books?

 

Thank You,

Michael Kovich

[Martin]

... I believe' date=' it will be Astrophysics... Can anybody give me some links, maybe the titles of some good books?

...[/quote']

 

I see you are in Pennsylvania.

 

How far are you from Penn State?

 

In 1998 when the acceleration in the expansion of the universe was detected by observing Type IA Supernovae, if I remember one of the two teams was associated with Penn State. It is a good school.

 

Check out their seminars for Fall semester 2005

go here

http://www.phys.psu.edu/events/index.html

and select "this semester" from menu and press "show"

 

you should get a list of the whole semester's seminar talks and the first two should be by Abhay Ashtekar---a world class quantum gravity guy, but somewhat the elder statesman now.

 

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BIG BANG An Analytical and Numerical Study

IGPG Seminar by Abhay Ashtekar from Penn State

Monday at 3:00 PM in 318 Osmond (8/29/2005)

 

 

Quantum Nature of the Big-Bang: Analytical Issues

Gravity Seminar by Abhay Ashtekar from Penn State

Friday at 11:00 AM in 318 Osmond (9/2/2005)

 

=================

from the whole list, the two that appeal most to me are these:

 

Quantum Gravity Effects and the Fate on Gravitational Collapse

Gravity Seminar by Parampreet Singh from Penn State

Friday at 11:00 AM in 318 Osmond (10/21/2005)

 

Recent Advances in Quantum Cosmology

IGPG Seminar by Parampreet Singh from Penn State

Monday at 3:00 PM in 318 Osmond (11/28/2005)

 

if you scroll down to them you will see that the audio for both are downloadable THAT IS, YOU CAN "ATTEND" THE SEMINARS AT PENN STATE some of them, using your computer.

 

You may be totally bewildered after 5 minutes and fall asleep after 20 minutes (I sometimes do) BUT AT LEAST YOU CAN GET A TASTE OF WHATEVER seems interesting to you.

 

the seminars at Penn State are GRADUATE LEVEL and they are a mishmash mix of astronomy, solid state physics, quantum gravity, astrophysics, whatever ACTIVE RESEARCH LINES are represented in the physics department

=====================

 

Yeah, I know this does not answer your question.

 

But you should know about these windows. the HARVARD astronomy department has a lecture series which I think you can tap into online. I remember doing that for a lecture I wanted to hear.

 

Perimeter institute has a great series of splitscreen online seminar talks and colloquia---some even for general audience!!! (not so hard to understand)

splitscreen is a great format, you see the speaker lecturing in the box on the left and his slides or lecture notes show up in the box on the right!

 

I think also Caltech and MIT have online lectures. Fantastic resource.

 

I dont happen to have links for Caltech and MIT, but check this out:

http://streamer.perimeterinstitute.ca:81/mediasite/viewer/FrontEnd/Front.aspx?&shouldResize=False

 

on the left there is a menu. the top item is "Grand Opening Gala" those are bigname figures like Penrose and Hartle talking to general audience

but the next item on the menu is Seminars. click there and you get a list of the seminar talks that are available on line.

 

================

 

do you know about all this stuff already? Am I wasting my time telling you?

 

===============

 

BTW Ned Wright teaches astrophysics and cosmology at UCLA. he has a classic website with a FAQ

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/intro.html

 

==================

 

all the research papers in astronomy and astrophysics are posted here as preprints, before they are peer-reviewed and published in journals----this is where you get all the latest

 

http://arxiv.org/

 

I go here 4 or 5 times a week to see what's new

 

http://arxiv.org/list/astro-ph/new

 

these are the specifically astrophysics papers

[Mike Kovich]

Definitely quite a lot of information. I thank you very much for taking the time to tell me it. Here is the thing, I suppose I should have stated this in my beginning post, I am only thirteen. Anyway, thank you, but do you have any information on where to start learning about Astrophysics, the stuff you are telling me about is a bit over-my-head? Could you define astrophysics in your own words? Thanks again.

[insane_alien]

Age doesn't matter. Its how much you know. Try browsing through the boards here and asking questions about what you don't understand. Or search them up on google. You'd be surprised at how much you can learn in a short time if you enjoy the subject.

[gagsrcool]

Hi,

 

I would suggest you start with basics. That is learn the structure of the atom properly, the reason is because of its resemblance with the Universe and its fundamental property. Then, go deeper into it by studying the various atomic particles and its influence on the atom as a whole and other atomic particles. You may then move on to Quantum Physics. Learn it properly as it gives you the restrictions in the Universe as such. Then I would suggest Relativity(avoid the Mathematics part!) Special first and then General. Then the structure of the Universe like black holes, time travel, galalxies, matter, antimatter, dark matter, EPR experiments etc.

 

gagsrcool

[Mike Kovich]

Okay, well, If I was an Astrophysicist, what would I be doing on a typical day of work?

[Klaynos]

Okay, well, If I was an Astrophysicist, what would I be doing on a typical day of work?

 

An interesting link:

 

http://www.astro.ex.ac.uk/

 

That's the astrophysics research group in the school of physics where I study. Follow some of the links from the research page... It's quite interesting.

[Martin]

Definitely quite a lot of information. I thank you very much for taking the time to tell me it. Here is the thing, I suppose I should have stated this in my beginning post, I am only thirteen. Anyway, thank you, but do you have any information on where to start learning about Astrophysics, the stuff you are telling me about is a bit over-my-head? Could you define astrophysics in your own words? Thanks again.

 

You DID say you were 13. I know the stuff is over your head, it is mostly over mine

I just thought we should start with a look at the reallife professional world.

 

Consider getting a course catalog from your nearest university and looking at the COURSE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ASTRONOMY MAJOR.

 

For example, in the UC Berkeley catalog, last time I looked, the astronomy major was a variation on the physics major plus some specifically astro courses

 

astronomy and astrophysics mean very close to the same thing, in practice, but with different NUANCES. an astronomer is more apt to be involved in OBSERVATION and an astrophysicist in the THEORETICAL MODELS of how stars work and how clusters of stars work and how the interstellar medium works etc.

 

but observation and theory have to work closely together! you can only interpret observations intelligently if you have intimate understanding of the life and death of stars, and the consecutive generations of stars.

 

so people collaborate and GO BACK AND FORTH between astronomy and astrophysics, and the line is real blurred.

some people may think you can make a sharp distinction but I dont believe you really can. an astrophysicist is simply (oversimply, I know) just someone who does mainly "theoretical astronomy" instead of observational.

 

the birth of stars out of clouds of gas and dust has to be MODELED very accurately, the explosions of stars have to be modeled. if you dont have a model you cant infer anything.

 

the greatest discovery in recent years was the 1998 discovery of accelerating expansion. it came from observation of Type IA supernovas.

you have to have a model of different supernova mechanisms, you have to be able to classify by inpecting the lightcurve. it is wonderfully technical

 

and out of that very focused technical examination of supernovas came the awareness of a nonzero cosmological constant----or that 73 percent (or now I see 74 percent) of the overall energy density of the universe is dark energy.

 

Listen Kovich, when my son was 13 I took him to audit the General Astronomy course at UC Berkeley. It was a great course, taught in a huge auditorium by a very popular teacher. It was for non-majors. Anybody could understand it. But even majors used to take this course because it was so good.

 

We enjoyed it so much that we did it several times spread out over several years. There would always be new discoveries in the field and a slightly new focus.

 

A general astro course is a great introduction to physics, because you really see physics applied.

You have to have an idea of how stars work and how hot objects glow and how dopplershift works and how to apply trig and algebra to the realworld, simply to tell how far away stars are.

 

the most basic question in astronomy---how far are they----involves using lots and lots of basic physics and math just to construct the distance scale.

It is a kind of ladder of scales which extend out stage by stage. Each stage is used to calibrate the next larger stage.

 

At the level of general astronomy, at the ground floor, THERE IS NO DISTINCTION between astrophysics and astronomy. Even for the undergraduate MAJOR there is no big difference----at UC Berkeley you have to learn both the theoretical and observational stuff, they dont let you specialize until you have graduated and go on to grad school.

 

Kovich, what part of the state do you live in? How far are you from Penn State? If you are not near Penn State, then what is your nearest university campus.

 

13 is not too young to visit a campus and check out the astronomy scene. Read the bulletin board outside the departmental office. Talk to a grad student. Drop into the coffee room and listen to the conversation. Audit a lecture in General Astronomy, if there is a popular lecturer. (if they have only boring lecturers don't bother, you are at the wrong campus).

 

Reading books is important too, but you dont have to only read books. you can get a taste of the realworld environment of an undergrad astro major, and the environment where actual research is done.

(the best universities are where they do leading edge research, as well as just teach you---believe me Penn State is one such)

 

About books. Maybe other people here have favorite Popularization books and will give titles. I would suggest browsing campus bookstores etc. until you find a TEXTBOOK in General Astronomy that you like. Something with lots of pictures and good explanations that you can understand and something with PROBLEMS to work. Problems and exercises make you think. It is important to work lots and lots of them. Even very simple ones. If you are on your own it helps if the textbook has answers in the back to some of the problems---for peeking, and for checking if you got it right.

 

Astro is a beautiful field. People fall in love with it.

[Mike Kovich]

Once again, a lot of information. I enjoyed reading it. I am going to contact some Professors and other successful Astrophysicists, I am going to do so after typing this. I'm not too far from Penn State, my brother who is 21 is going to Penn State Main Campus in the Field of Aeronautical Engineering and Various Propulsion Systems I believe. I will find the times and such of various lectures and seminars as you suggested and go there. While I am there, ill take a look at the bookstore. Now, another question, does Time and things like that fit into Astrophysics? In a post on SFN I seen an "Aspiring Astrophysicist" as he calls himself, talking about Time and his ideas about it...

Thanks,

Mike

 

Edit: What other fields of science include studying Space? What other fields include studying Time? Where would I look to find information on the Relativity Theory?

[Mike Kovich]

I have received a reply from George Smoot, I inquired about what he does during a normal days work and any suggestions of websites or books he may have. Several minutes after I sent my email, he replied.

 

This is his reply letter, thought you might find it interesting:

---------------------------------------------------------

Dear Michael Kovich,

I am more senior now and a Professor. So I have a large and varied

number of things that I do.

Typically, during the school year I have teaching activities three or

four days per week of a total of about 4 hours in class, 6 hours of

office, and similar amount of time preparing lectures, demonstrations,

grading etc. I do research and administration with the rest of my time

and that includes lab work, analyzing data, training students and post

doctoral fellows, reading papers and attending lectures and seminars

(talks on recent research).

There are very many popular books on astrophysics and cosmology of

varying levels from popular to fairly technical. They depend upon your

level of preparation. You should also visit a web site we are

developing for high school (and sharp middle school) students at

UniverseAdventure.org

 

Best Wishes George Smoot

[deltanova]

to learn more about other fields of science, subscribe to a science magazine, i know australia has helix, which is on the level of young teens, though i would suggest new scientist or something, it gives you up to date news on every field of science, and anything you dont understand, lookup background info on the net. i have about five binder folders full of stuff from doing this. Theres also an annual space design competition. get your school interested in that, fantastic when you want to discover more about space. and what it takes humans to survive there. including psycological impacts, supplies and economics unsure of the URL, but its there on a google search.

 

as for popular science, simon sighn's book The big bang is really good. every title by him is easy to understand.

 

In Search of Schrodingers Cat is a very good one by John Gribbin.

 

and if you want a challenge try A breif History of time, im sixteen and managed to get through it last year. and won a bet by summarising it in one syllable, only a word trick but hey.

 

and for astrophysics, ive learnt the hard way now, get ahead on your maths as well, im doing my HSC and am going to have a long two years struggling to understand and keep up with three unit work.

[stsanthony]

i think you should actually do some problems about astrophysics before dealing with the harder ones...but i will support you, because i am also trying to apply a university course although i am 13...

[Mike Kovich]

I have researched this area a bit more, and decided that it just is not the thing I am looking to do...it is mainly observation, I think I am going to do something in Physics or Cosmology, maybe Engineering. Science is so broad, its hard to narrow it down to a good topic....

[gagsrcool]

Hi,

 

Many of them are 13 here. So am I.

 

gagsrcool

[s pepperchin]

I say this a lot but I would suggest starting by studying physics, this will give you a background that you could use when you choose one of these areas that you are interested in and it may give you some insight into somethings that you had not previously considered.