How do I go about learning astrophysics?

[Ottahhh]

Hi,

Im 13 and I'm wondering how I can go about learning getting into astrophysics.

What should I learn before hand? Where can I learn the aforementioned?

I'm no where near the educational year where we learn astrophysics and physics in general so I don't have a massive understanding of a lot of things and my teachers are often to lazy to help me learn this advanced stuff and they tend to suggest I 'Revise my knowledge of atomic structures' which I already know about anyway. Im just starting to do GCSE's and I'm already ahead of my class. While they're trying to comprehend the basic idea of Protons, Neutrons, Electrons etc. I have a solid knowledge of ionisation, isotopes etc. So this is why instead of spending my time revising the chemistry I already know, I want to move onto something that I have a much greater interest in.

I may of rambled on a bit, but nevertheless, I hope you can understand my position and my frustration with these limitations in school so I hope you can help!

Many thanks,

Josh.

[elfmotat]

I suppose it wouldn't be too difficult to learn Newton's law of gravitation, centripetal forces, orbital and escape velocities, etc. You'll need to be familiar with some physics basics first, such as Newton's three laws, energy conservation, and how to solve problems using those concepts.

 

 

The math background needed for modern astrophysics (namely General Relativity) is well beyond what the average 13 year-old has under his belt. You'll need to be fluent with algebra, trigonometry, basic calculus, vector calculus, classical mechanics (Lagrangian formulation), special relativity, etc., before you'll get anything out of reading a modern textbook. You've got a long road ahead, but don't give up .

Edited June 21, 2012 by elfmotat

[J.C.MacSwell]

I suppose it would be too difficult to learn Newton's law of gravitation, centripetal forces, orbital and escape velocities, etc. You'll need to be familiar with some physics basics first, such as Newton's three laws, energy conservation, and how to solve problems using those concepts.

 

The math background needed for modern astrophysics (namely General Relativity) is well beyond what the average 13 year-old has under his belt. You'll need to be fluent with algebra, trigonometry, basic calculus, vector calculus, classical mechanics (Lagrangian formulation), special relativity, etc., before you'll get anything out of reading a modern textbook. You've got a long road ahead, but don't give up .

 

The basics of this are certainly no more difficult than the basics of the science he is studying. The key is to find the right book at the right level in the right area of interest. Too bad his teachers can't help out with that. (any suggestions?)

 

Josh, make sure you cover your course material first but go ahead and challenge yourself otherwise. If you have the interest the start of the "long road" might be fun, and if so I bet you will learn it very quickly.

[JohnStu]

Hi,

Im 13 and I'm wondering how I can go about learning getting into astrophysics.

What should I learn before hand? Where can I learn the aforementioned?

I'm no where near the educational year where we learn astrophysics and physics in general so I don't have a massive understanding of a lot of things and my teachers are often to lazy to help me learn this advanced stuff and they tend to suggest I 'Revise my knowledge of atomic structures' which I already know about anyway. Im just starting to do GCSE's and I'm already ahead of my class. While they're trying to comprehend the basic idea of Protons, Neutrons, Electrons etc. I have a solid knowledge of ionisation, isotopes etc. So this is why instead of spending my time revising the chemistry I already know, I want to move onto something that I have a much greater interest in.

I may of rambled on a bit, but nevertheless, I hope you can understand my position and my frustration with these limitations in school so I hope you can help!

Many thanks,

Josh.

 

 

I also faced tremendous limitations in my school though it was a pretty smart one.

 

To study astrophysics I recommend go to hubble telescope site to stir interests. And watch shows like NOVA to know about string theory briefly and how blackholes, light speed, and space-time, Big Bang Theory ties in together.

[elfmotat]

The basics of this are certainly no more difficult than the basics of the science he is studying. The key is to find the right book at the right level in the right area of interest. Too bad his teachers can't help out with that. (any suggestions?)

 

Josh, make sure you cover your course material first but go ahead and challenge yourself otherwise. If you have the interest the start of the "long road" might be fun, and if so I bet you will learn it very quickly.

 

Sorry, I mean't to say it *wouldn't* be too difficult.

[A Tripolation]

I think the first step to properly understanding astrophysics is indeed classical mechanics. Newtonian gravitation, Kepler's laws, orbital dynamics, stuff like that.

 

If you're more interested in stellar death, black holes, cosmological events, high-energy stuff, etc, it's best to read entry level textbooks on astronomy (they are accessible for a smart 13-year old). You won't understand a lot of the background, but it's still a good start. Lots of these topics necessitate basic quantum, relativity, and some weird math.

 

Best of luck.

[Ottahhh]

Thanks for all the fast replies.

If I were to look in to buying some books, are there any books you'd recommend, I want make sure if I spend some money on a book it would be at least somewhat suitable for me.

Thanks again!

Josh

[CherryTarantino]

Hi there,

 

You said you just started GCSE. To be perfectly honest, you do not really learn much at all about Astrophysics in the course I have found! Although you do learn the basics so for example The Life Cycle Of A Star and the very basics of Fusion and maybe sometimes galaxy formations.

 

Since you said you are doing GCSE I'm going to assume youl ive in the UK!

 

Although he can be quite tedious at times, Brian Cox's shows are quite good also to watch as it shows graphically the universe and says the basics quite quickly and in ways you will remember. We used ot in GCSE to learn about the Stars.

 

Also his book is very good, I suggest you get it. It is this one here : http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Quantum-Universe-Everything-happen/dp/1846144329/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340265482&sr=8-1

 

 

What I would also say is to go onto iTunes and search up phrases such as "Astrophysics" "Stars" etc. You will find plently of Podcasts and some iTunesU (University lessons) on the various subjects.

 

Also, I do hate to bring up Brian Cox again but "The Invinate Monkey Cage" is quite good to listen to. Its on Radio 4 and you can also download it, it talks about many subjects to do with science including Space.

 

I do not know what part of country you live in but if you are near the Midlands/ South, Cheltenham has a science festival every year with some VERY good speakers too on topics, for instance, last week I went to a lecture about Dark Matter, it was brillient! (Although you have just missed the festivals!)

 

Other books I would recommend are the Stephan Hawking books, they are meant for people without a history in physics so explain things rather well! Here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brief-History-Of-Time-Black/dp/0857501003/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340265510&sr=1-3

 

 

 

A word of warning.

 

The problem I faced while doing my Physics and Chemistry GCSE was, even though I was putting a correct answer about topics, These answers seamed to be TOO right for GCSE... if you know what I mean. GCSE dumbs things down so everyone can understand. The things you learn are not nessisarily true! Do not try to complicate things... yet, otherwise you will get marked down! Which I personally thought was stupid... but hey, its not me making the Mark Scemes!

[Ottahhh]

Hi there,

 

You said you just started GCSE. To be perfectly honest, you do not really learn much at all about Astrophysics in the course I have found! Although you do learn the basics so for example The Life Cycle Of A Star and the very basics of Fusion and maybe sometimes galaxy formations.

 

Since you said you are doing GCSE I'm going to assume youl ive in the UK!

 

Although he can be quite tedious at times, Brian Cox's shows are quite good also to watch as it shows graphically the universe and says the basics quite quickly and in ways you will remember. We used ot in GCSE to learn about the Stars.

 

Also his book is very good, I suggest you get it. It is this one here : http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Quantum-Universe-Everything-happen/dp/1846144329/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340265482&sr=8-1

 

 

What I would also say is to go onto iTunes and search up phrases such as "Astrophysics" "Stars" etc. You will find plently of Podcasts and some iTunesU (University lessons) on the various subjects.

 

Also, I do hate to bring up Brian Cox again but "The Invinate Monkey Cage" is quite good to listen to. Its on Radio 4 and you can also download it, it talks about many subjects to do with science including Space.

 

I do not know what part of country you live in but if you are near the Midlands/ South, Cheltenham has a science festival every year with some VERY good speakers too on topics, for instance, last week I went to a lecture about Dark Matter, it was brillient! (Although you have just missed the festivals!)

 

Other books I would recommend are the Stephan Hawking books, they are meant for people without a history in physics so explain things rather well! Here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brief-History-Of-Time-Black/dp/0857501003/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340265510&sr=1-3

 

 

 

A word of warning.

 

The problem I faced while doing my Physics and Chemistry GCSE was, even though I was putting a correct answer about topics, These answers seamed to be TOO right for GCSE... if you know what I mean. GCSE dumbs things down so everyone can understand. The things you learn are not nessisarily true! Do not try to complicate things... yet, otherwise you will get marked down! Which I personally thought was stupid... but hey, its not me making the Mark Scemes!

 

Thanks for the really helpful reply! I actually live in the South East, a county called Hertfordshire to be exact, but the festivals you mentioned sound awesome, I may have to go next year. The books you suggested also look good, I may buy both of them, by all means, pleae suggest more, I will probably spend up to 30-40 pounds on books as I am going to Cornwall for a week which is a lot of driving, so books are good! Regarding GCSE questions being dumbed down, I know what you mean, I've the liberty to look at some past chemistry papers, and they're indeed simplified. Seems as if I were to go in depth regarding a question asking the about the process of ionisation by saying about electronegaitvity/electropositivity relative to the periodic table would render useless an infact be considered unrelated! It's silly!

[CherryTarantino]

Thanks for the really helpful reply! I actually live in the South East, a county called Hertfordshire to be exact, but the festivals you mentioned sound awesome, I may have to go next year. The books you suggested also look good, I may buy both of them, by all means, pleae suggest more, I will probably spend up to 30-40 pounds on books as I am going to Cornwall for a week which is a lot of driving, so books are good! Regarding GCSE questions being dumbed down, I know what you mean, I've the liberty to look at some past chemistry papers, and they're indeed simplified. Seems as if I were to go in depth regarding a question asking the about the process of ionisation by saying about electronegaitvity/electropositivity relative to the periodic table would render useless an infact be considered unrelated! It's silly!

 

Ahh yes, I hated the Chemistry Papers for that reason... I found all I really needed to do was to memorise the mark-sceme off by heart! That is truely the best way in learning Science at GCSES it seems... I do not know about A Levels as I am in Year 11... but I'm sure to find out in September what Physics and Chemistry are like at A Level!

 

With the Brian Cox book its good, but at first it is hard read so I found that I read each chapter twice sometimes to really take in everything.

 

*Tries to think of some more books*

[Ophiolite]

Ottahhh, you might also want to try dipping into some research papers. I thoroughly recommend this link here: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/index.html

 

Search for a topic and see what it turns up. While for many of the papers only the abstract is available, in some cases the entire paper can be downloaded.

 

While many (most) of these will be pretty heavy going, try reading the abstract, introduction and conclusion only. You can extract most of the meaning that way, without being bogged down in detail. Now to properly understand some of them you need a post-graduate degree in the speciality, but there are also review papers you can track down with some effort that are much more digestible.

 

Let me know if this works for you and good luck with your studies.

 

Edit: As an example I just searched on sunspots, sorted by date, scanned down the titles and my eye was caught by number 52 on the list, Helioseismology. This is a good example of the kind of review paper I was speaking of. See what you think.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Ophiolite