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Ask Slashdot: How To Pick Up Astronomy and Physics As an Adult?
First time accepted submitter samalex01 (1290786) writes "I'm 38, married, two young kids, and I have a nice job in the IT industry, but since I was a kid I've had this deep love and passion for astronomy and astrophysics. This love and passion though never evolved into any formal education or anything beyond just a distant fascination as I got out of high school, into college, and started going through life on more of an IT career path. So my question, now that I'm 38 is there any hope that I could start learning more about astronomy or physics to make it more than just a hobby? I don't expect to be a Carl Sagan or Neil deGrasse Tyson, but I'd love to have enough knowledge in these subjects to research and experiment to the point where I could possibly start contributing back to the field. MIT Open Courseware has some online courses for free that cover these topics, but given I can only spend maybe 10 hours a week on this would it be a pointless venture? Not to mention my mind isn't as sharp now as it was 20 years ago when I graduated high school. Thanks for any advice or suggestions."
Honestly, one of the most exciting things that I did was to take an overnight tour at Kitt Peak. They've dedicated one of their older optical telescopes that's not really adequate for leading-edge science anymore to use for public outreach, and seeing the Jovian moons so clearly was very exciting and made it easier to want to continue.
It's probably safe to accept that you'll be a consumer of science rather than a producer of it, but that's okay. Go camping with a large telescope and enjoy the world. Buy books or programs that let you track the objects of the night sky. Look at what NASA, the ESA, and IAU release.
If you're lucky you'll identify a new asteroid or comet.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Look up "Galaxy Zoo". You can start contributing today.
As for classes, start reading. Find out which books are used for the courses and buy the books and read them even if you cannot take the courses.
Brush up on calculus. Without math, astrophysics, well, anything, really, is just playing with Legos. Khan Academy or a million other sites can assist your math textbook self-study. From there, get an Astrophysics "required courses" guide from a university and have at. Oh, be sure to skip the humanities and other useless classes. O:-)
I can't give you any specific advice, but maybe a local astronomy club?
I know one of the people who discovered Hale-Bopp is a gifted amateur, and I'm quite certain lots of stuff by amateurs happens which is pretty cool.
In fact, I get the impression lots of amateurs can give coverage which the "pros" can't really do just because of the sheer number of amateurs.
Good luck with it. Hopefully people can point you at more concrete stuff, but you'd hardly be the first amateur who contributed something to the field if you get there.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
1) Find your local planetarium and get involved. They may need/want volunteers to conduct shows, etc.
2) Find a local community college that offers an AA in astronomy or similar field.
Now, these may be unreliable for you, but the community college I work at has both an AA for astronomy, one for physics (both for transferring to a state university) but we also have a kick ass planetarium that is managed by one of the new Star Gazers. So, at least if you are in N Florida, it could work.
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
That's certainly something a lot of people are finding out. In times of economic troubles, fields like astronomy are the first to suffer.
As for the original question, I think you have more than enough time to learn physics and astronomy if you pick up some books and watch videos, to the point where you might be a pretty good amateur enthusiast. But contributing to the field? Maybe by doing some amateur astromy, you can help us spot objects. Lots of people are happy with that. I guess if you have good programming skills, you might spend some time learning physics to the point where you can run your own simulations, assuming you don't need a supercomputer to do so. 10 hours a week is definitely on the low side though, it's going to take a while to learn everything you need to know. Also, it's very unlikely you will get published unless you manage to be associated with a university. Maybe inquire into doing a part-time degree or something? The reality is that if you're not in the academic world, it's hard to contribute meaningfully.
I recommend "The Theoretical Minimum" books as a good starter to get you through to the level of mathematics needed to be able to read the quantum math and vector/tensor calculus used in field equations. Statistical calculus also.
Once you have these under your belt, comprehending the real physics textbooks and papers will be unlocked.
This stuff is not hard are impenetrable, but the language is if you don't know it. The language isn't hard or impenetrable. E.G. Vector calculus is much simpler that algebra. Just find a good book or teacher that doesn't blind you with procedure over concepts.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
PhD candidate here: are you in the 434 or 919 areas? If so, tell me and I we'll get coffee and see if setting up scheduled lunches gets us somewhere.
If not, Craigslist. Type "physics" or "physicist" in the meetup section of Craigslist and you'll find lots of budding graduate students or new professors that live to meet people like you.
I've been a physics professor at a large public university for 22 years, and have taught many introductory classes. (Yes, we are innovating our teaching with new techniques -- different question.)
You will never learn anything by reading books or watching videos. The only way to learn physics is by working problems. Hard problems, that make you sweat, and lots of them. But you can do this, and with the online resources you could be successful. Also you can pace yourself.
Ten hours per week is one class. Start with calculus based mechanics, (kinematics, Newton's laws, work-energy theorem, conservation of momentum, energy, and angular momentum.) If you can do the problems in a standard university physics book, then move on to electricity and magnetism. If you get through that and you don't think Maxwell's equations are the most awesome thing ever, then stop.
Also, never be afraid to learn your math in a physics course. It's the best way.
Good luck! You could really enjoy this if you will truly work at it for 10 hours per week as you suggest. But like dieting, you have to commit.
—George
Wrong! Unless you have early onset Alzheimer's, your brain can be as sharp or sharper than it was in high school. I'm 49 and doing 2nd year university math, physics and statistics and I'm MUCH better at any of them than I was when I graduated high school.
Suggestions:
1. Join an astronomy club (mentioned above, but I'd reinforce it). See the wonder, gain experience and confidence from others.
2. Buy a small telescope with a motorized mount and learn to do some astrophotography
3. Do a course or two on edX or coursera - the way to get better at running is to run, the way to get better at science is to do science.
4. Reading books is good. Doing what the book says is much better.
Your mind is saying "feed me" so go feed it. You won't regret it.
Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question
Don't do it, man! You'll have a hard time finding a good (read interesting) job without a PhD and with a PhD, you'll be out of work at 50. And you'll be bitter. Oh, and that PhD needs to be from a top ten university and you need to work for a big name and you'll have to work a lot harder than you think unless you're real smart. Oh, you'll also have to do a post-doc at an even better university and with an even more famous professor. If you're real smart and lucky you can make six-figures. Maybe, till you turn 50. Then you have to find something else to do. Or maybe you can get an academic job and you'll have to work 80 hours/week for 5 to 7 years after that post-doc till you get tenure, if you do. If you don't then you start over. And you may never make six-figures. It's a lot harder to be a happy chemist these days.
The best place to start is by connecting with other people who share the same passions as you. I've similarly been fascinated by astronomy since I was a young child. A few years ago I rekindled my interest by buying a telescope and joining a club in Pittsburgh. I learned more from a few casual conversations with members than I had in months and months of reading and practicing on my own. Now I practice astrophotography and engage in lots of educational and community outreach events, and I owe just about everything to the club I joined. Best of luck, and clear skies!
tl;dr version: How do you make a million dollars in astronomy? Start with ten million dollars.
John
I was an astronomer until I left the field last year after I graduated with my PhD. First, I definitely think it's great you want to contribute to research. My personal suggestion is to find a local astronomy club and see what they're doing. Find some books, news articles, etc... to read. That will hopefully give you a decent introduction. If you live near a university with a decent astrophysics program, you can also see if they have any public lectures or, if you want something more intense, attend seminars (though they're typically during the day). They're typically open to the public, but you should probably e-mail first just to double check. There are also things like Galaxy Zoo and similar projects that let you get involved without any commitment.
If you want to get more serious, you should think about what you want to do. Do you want to do any research? Participate in volunteer activities? Just go observing? For the latter, local astronomy clubs (or star parties) would be a good first start. Some of the big observatories also have programs for amateur observing. Mauna Kea is absolutely amazing for this - every night at the visitor center they bring out some decent sized telescopes (decent sized for seeing with your eyes) and there's usually a bunch of volunteers to help understand what they're pointing them at. Oftentimes dedicated amateurs will come up as well with even bigger telescopes and are happy to share. You also sometimes get professional astronomers who hang out there (like I did a few nights) though the amateurs are usually better at describing what you're seeing (professional astronomy is all about physics - not pretty images).
If you live near a big observatory (mostly southwest US, California, or Hawaii) you can also try to volunteer to be a docent there or something similar. Many of the observatories have some program for volunteers to help lead tours, attend public talks by researchers, and similar. The more dedicated volunteers get some perks, like joining for observing runs, seeing some of the behind-the-scenes things at the telescopes, and similar.
On the research side, it's a lot harder and a lot more investment (time, money, or both). To be able to do semi-independent research in astronomy you'd need to basically do a PhD. That's 40-50 hours a week (at least) for 5-7 years. It's hard. You can do more limited things though. For example, the AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers) is a great organization that organizes observing of variable stars and provides some support to write up the results. Amateur data has been used in many papers. But, this requires having your own telescope that can take scientific quality images. You can also work on data analysis, but this will definitely require some time to understand how to do it. I'd also point out that most people underestimate how hard it is to write a scientific paper. Especially your first one.
As for going into it professionally, I agree with others who have said there are few jobs in the field. Especially if you have a family, it would be very hard to start from scratch.