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Astronomy courses/colleges?

  • 07-11-2014 1:11am
    #1
    arleitiss
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,515 ✭✭✭


    Hey, I am about to graduate from college, finishing my 4th year in BSc Computer Science, but for past few years I've been really fascinated by space and astronomy in general, I constantly read about planets, space physics, black holes etc...
    I was wondering, are there any proper colleges/courses in Ireland that are doing part time too? I would love to learn about astronomy in academic way.


Comments

  • #2
    Turtwig
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,578 ✭✭✭✭Turtwig


    If it's only learning you want. You could start with a MOOC they're free and give you a taste of what the material is like. Astronomy is actually a very vague term. It can be anything from positional astronomy to nuclear physics.


    Suggestions:
    Edx Australian National University - Astro Series part 1 : Greatest Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe. 10 weeks. First part is self paced.
    Haven't completed this (yet!). Have heard very good things about it. Gave the first week a trial run. Liked it, didn't have time to stick with it though.

    Duke: Introduction to Astronomy.
    Don't let 'Intro' fool you. It's may be an introductory course that glosses over the more advanced stuff. It's still by no means easy and completing the homework and final exam requires a hefty workload. The community is absolutely fantastic though for when you get stuck. You will get stuck!

    As for career stuff. Don't know the specifics of each course. Probably best to email the astro/physics dept's of each college and find out exactly what they offer. Astrophysics isn't necessarily what some folk consider to be astronomy. (Though it most certainly is). You may find that some courses focus heavily on optics or some other aspect that may or may not be what you're actually interested in .

    HTH


  • #3
    arleitiss
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,515 ✭✭✭arleitiss


    Turtwig wrote: »
    If it's only learning you want. You could start with a MOOC they're free and give you a taste of what the material is like. Astronomy is actually a very vague term. It can be anything from positional astronomy to nuclear physics.


    Suggestions:
    Edx Australian National University - Astro Series part 1 : Greatest Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe. 10 weeks. First part is self paced.
    Haven't completed this (yet!). Have heard very good things about it. Gave the first week a trial run. Liked it, didn't have time to stick with it though.

    Duke: Introduction to Astronomy.
    Don't let 'Intro' fool you. It's may be an introductory course that glosses over the more advanced stuff. It's still by no means easy and completing the homework and final exam requires a hefty workload. The community is absolutely fantastic though for when you get stuck. You will get stuck!

    As for career stuff. Don't know the specifics of each course. Probably best to email the astro/physics dept's of each college and find out exactly what they offer. Astrophysics isn't necessarily what some folk consider to be astronomy. (Though it most certainly is). You may find that some courses focus heavily on optics or some other aspect that may or may not be what you're actually interested in .

    HTH


    Well, I am not familiar with all proper names for these, but am really interested in planets. I guess planetary?


  • #4
    ps200306
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,630 ✭✭✭ps200306


    arleitiss wrote: »
    Well, I am not familiar with all proper names for these, but am really interested in planets. I guess planetary?

    The Open University has a module called "S283 Planetary science and the Search for Life". There is also a more regular astronomy module called "S282 Astronomy". The "S2" part of the name means Level 2 Science, so it is an intermediate graduate level module. In Level 3 advanced modules there is "S382 Astrophysics" (which devotes one third of the course to the topic of transiting exoplanets), and "S383 The Relativistic Universe" which includes topics like extreme environment astrophysics and observational cosmology.

    I can vouch for them being very high quality but unfortunately these have become extremely expensive in the last year, and each of them is likely to set you back about GBP£1,200 now. They are single year, 30 credit modules -- to give you an idea, you'd need 360 credits to get an honours science degree.


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