Studying Astronomy

[Dan]

Hey everyone, I need a bit of advice and I was wondering if anyone could give me some.

 

I really want to study astronomy but I’m not sure how to go about it. I live in England and I don’t know how education works in other countries but all advice would be much appreciated.

 

I was wondering if anybody knows if I can study astronomy at and A level or BTEC, or would I have to do and A level in physics and then study astronomy and university?

 

Also, what kind of job opportunities do the qualifications offer?

 

And encase your wondering I’m only 17 and about to finish my current college course and still don’t know what I’m going to do next academic year.

[Klaynos]

Hi, just a bit of background on me, I'm a physics student in the UK atm, at a uni that does astrophysics degrees.

 

Most universities will call this astrophysics, or possibly cosmology, all 3 are a bit different so you'll really need to decide exactly what you wanna study before applying to university.

 

I know of no astrology courses at the a-level level, but for most astrophysics degrees you will be required to have an a-level in physics and maths. Some courses for physics have an astro module, some do not, ask at your local 6 forms/colleges.

 

Although a quick google tells me:

 

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.20273

 

I suspect this is NOT very physicy, as it seems to be astronomy -> cosmology -> astrophysics, for increasing amounts of physics in the courses, rather than just hand waveing... So what is it you want to learn and understand?

[Dan]

My main interest is the life cycle of stars but i'm really interested in space in general. every evening i research different aspects of space, usually about something i only heard about from the previous nights researching.

 

i knew it was time to think about studying astronomy when i was sitting in my music class researching black holes when everyone else was doing recording coursework.

 

i've all ready done two years of further education so if i study astronomy it will be what i want to go in to as a job, i just don't know what kind of jobs i can get from it.