Studying Interested in Astronomy as a Freshman

[mezzo-piano]

TL;DR: How can I begin to gain an understanding of astronomy?

Hello there, and thank you in advance to anyone that might answer this. I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post a question like this, as I am new to this website and also very nervous about making a post that others might see/reply to.

I am a freshman in high school and I am interested in astronomy. I want to learn about space, but I am not quite sure where to begin. Is there anything that I can do to seriously expand my understanding of space at my level, both in and outside of school? Are there any classes that I can or should take? What can I do to work towards a space-related career from where I am right now?

I am honestly very nervous to pursue something like this and try to learn about it. I have always found math difficult, so I worry that I would fall behind in a class like Physics. Is it possible to be successful even if math isn't quite my forte? I am also autistic, and tend to become overwhelmed with my school work (maybe that is part of the reason why I struggle with math). Often, I feel like things are moving too fast for me to grasp them, and it is a lot, so, many times my priorities have shifted from genuine understanding to simply passing a class because of how stressful it can get. Thus, I worry for my capability to even understand something this complicated. Even so, I still want to try, I'm just at a loss for what to do. I guess I'm just anxious over it. I'm afraid that someone like me shouldn't try to understand astronomy. Is there anything that I can do to help myself succeed or not fall behind? Is it possible to succeed even with something like autism making it more difficult to?

Apologies if my questions are too vague or if this was hard to follow. I love space and have been fascinated by it since I was little, but I have always been nervous about seriously pursuing a career related to it. I would love to know what I could do right now to improve my learning and knowledge.

Thanks,
Ed

 

[jedishrfu]

Dear @mezzo-piano,

Where there is a will, there is a way. To prepare for your journey, you must overcome your math anxiety.

The best analogy here is that without the proper musical training, you want to play the Flight of the Bumblebee like Yuja Wang (she is awesome):



If you want to succeed, you must develop your math sense; there is no other way to really understand Astronomy and Astrophysics without it.

It was once said that only 10% if the Astronomy majors ever get a job in Astronomy. Here's the latest Indeed job postings for astronomy majors:

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/jobs-for-astronomy-majors

There are a lot of related fields that capitalize on the skills you learn in Astronomy, like math, programming, writing, and communication, and jobs that require analytical skills, like a patent agent.

If you're okay with that, then you'll need to focus on your math. There are many fields of math, but Astronomy majors study the following ones:

• Required core
• Calculus I–III (single- and multivariable)
• Linear algebra
• Ordinary differential equations (ODEs)

• Strongly recommended
• Partial differential equations (PDEs)
• Numerical analysis
• Scientific computing
• Data & uncertainty
• Probability theory
• Statistics

• Only if needed / just-in-time
• Complex analysis
• Dynamical systems
• Optimization
• Stochastic processes
• Machine learning / data science

• Usually skip unless specializing
• Abstract algebra
• Topology
• Measure theory
• Functional analysis
• Logic / foundations

I'll stop here for now.

Jedi

 

[symbolipoint]

I am a freshman in high school and I am interested in astronomy. I want to learn about space, but I am not quite sure where to begin. Is there anything that I can do to seriously expand my understanding of space at my level, both in and outside of school? Are there any classes that I can or should take? What can I do to work towards a space-related career from where I am right now?

( I did not read everything else yet. )
Early in highschool is a good setting to start.

Ninth and Tenth graders would, I am guessing, go through an "Earth Science" course and Astronomy is included. Also the time is right for opportunity for the typical "College Preparatory" set of courses, including Algebra, Geometry, and some Trigonometry. Engineering kind of direction would also be a good way to go. Too much more to say,...,. Experiences with Photography? Beginning familiarity in using telescopes?

 

[jedishrfu]

There's an excellent math website called

Www.mathIsPower4u.com

It's a vast collection of videos from middle school to first year college. Each video is about 10 minutes long and focused on a specific problem in the selected course.

The problem is stated and the teacher works thru the problem. It's very visual with less of the fanciness of Khan Academy which by the way is also good to check out.

One further point, taking notes while good is not sufficient. You must do active learning where you continuously test yourself.

As an example, you watch a video problem statement and stop it right there. Now from memory write down the problem yourself and make a real attempt to solve. Take notes on what stopped you and why.

If after 5 or 10 minutes you feel you’ve a brick wall then watch a little of the video, stop and try again. You will make it thru step by step. Keep track of your progress and where you went astray.

A lot of students take the easy hit or miss way, watching the video, taking notes and moving on. But if you ask them to teach how to solve the problem are stopped in their tracks.

Another strategy students use is to strengthen what they already know, believing that they will be able bash thru a course. But if course, they only learned the easy stuff.

An analogy here, in WW2 bombers would go out on a mission and come back with holes from shrapnel and bullets. The mechanics would patch up and reinforce those areas that got shot up.

However, they were still suffering terrible losses in bombers until a mathematician said wait.

Spoiler

These bombers made it home because they were shot in areas that didn't affect the planes chances of flying home.

What was the answer?

Spoiler

Add more plating to the areas that were unhit like around the motors or fuel tanks or cockpit. The planes that never returned got hit in those places and it's why we lost them.

How would you approach this problem?

Spoiler

You have bombers that came back and you can map their damage to get an idea of the density of shrapnel. Look at the damaged parts and then the undamaged areas and what's behind them.

It takes some insight to see the true cause and to convince others to change their ways.

Maybe you can team up with some like minded friends to teach and test each other though this can be distracting.

Personally, I would do my homework while watching TV and it took me twice as long and that was a missed opportunity. Today games hold the same distraction and you must overcome it as well until you find a study scheme that works and you can see the results.

I stumbled across all me if these ideas through laziness. I didn't take notes in math. I would just listen. My friend who did well in social studies, floundered in math.

He took down everything the teacher said and wrote. It was tough to use notes to take down blackboard solutions because the teacher would write something and then go back and erase it to make more room. You just can't take notes fast enough.

Bottom line, test yourself as you study. If you can't reconstruct what you learned, if you can't teach it to your dog then you haven't learned it. It's the only way to become a formidable math heavyweight.

 

[CrysPhys]

I am a freshman in high school and I am interested in astronomy. I want to learn about space, but I am not quite sure where to begin. Is there anything that I can do to seriously expand my understanding of space at my level, both in and outside of school? Are there any classes that I can or should take? What can I do to work towards a space-related career from where I am right now?

I am honestly very nervous to pursue something like this and try to learn about it. I have always found math difficult, so I worry that I would fall behind in a class like Physics. Is it possible to be successful even if math isn't quite my forte?

Where there is a will, there is a way. To prepare for your journey, you must overcome your math anxiety.

Too much more to say,...,. Experiences with Photography? Beginning familiarity in using telescopes?

OP: Although I agree that a good grasp of math is essential should you choose to pursue astronomy, at your current stage (freshman in high school), I would recommend that you get some actual hands-on experience to see what excites you. Do you have a telescope or access to a telescope (it doesn't have to be scientific grade)? Or even binoculars? One with an adapter for a digital camera would be great, but not essential. Is there an astronomy club at your high school? Where you live, is there a science museum with a planetarium?

Do you get excited at following (and recording, with the right equipment) the phases of the moon? Can you identify various planets and constellations (in the actual night sky, not on a sheet of paper)? Are you amazed by lunar eclipses and solar eclipses? Other celestial phenomena? Is your curiosity sufficiently piqued that you want to learn details of why these phenomena occur? You need some underlying passion (a word often overused and mis-used, but appropriate here) to motivate you to study, e.g., celestial mechanics and to slog through the requisite math (even if the requisite math per se doesn't excite you).

 

[mezzo-piano]

OP: Although I agree that a good grasp of math is essential should you choose to pursue astronomy, at your current stage (freshman in high school), I would recommend that you get some actual hands-on experience to see what excites you. Do you have a telescope or access to a telescope (it doesn't have to be scientific grade)? Or even binoculars? One with an adapter for a digital camera would be great, but not essential. Is there an astronomy club at your high school? Where you live, is there a science museum with a planetarium?

Do you get excited at following (and recording, with the right equipment) the phases of the moon? Can you identify various planets and constellations (in the actual night sky, not on a sheet of paper)? Are you amazed by lunar eclipses and solar eclipses? Other celestial phenomena? Is your curiosity sufficiently piqued that you want to learn details of why these phenomena occur? You need some underlying passion (a word often overused and mis-used, but appropriate here) to motivate you to study, e.g., celestial mechanics and to slog through the requisite math (even if the requisite math per se doesn't excite you).

There is a level of passion there for me that makes me want to get serious and learn more, to the point that I do want to conquer my nervousness regarding math to do so, I'm just not exactly sure how to. I frequently go out to look at the sky, and with (probably not the most high quality) apps on my phone, I've been slowly learning where things are and how to identify them, at least on a very simple/basic level. But it excites me when I see something I recognize. I get genuinely hyped when my favorite constellations pass where I can see them and I'm always pestering my parents to come outside with me and observe the things that I find exciting (most recently, a conjunction of Pollux and the moon—Gemini and Castor and Pollux are probably actually some of my favorite things to see in the sky, the story behind the constellation and its stars really warms my heart and I get excited to see them whenever I can, although my parents don't seem to be quite as enthusiastic as I am when I'm hurrying outside to snap a photo because I think it's cool that I can see it from where I am). The vastness of everything is also extremely appealing to me, thinking about how much is out there. Often, I find myself feeling mesmerized by what I can see when I can go outside and just stare at the night sky. It makes me want to understand the what's and why's of all of it. It's just so cool that all of that exists. It might sound silly because I haven't really gotten involved in the technical side of things, but that's the best way that I can put it into words right now. I just feel a lot of wonder thinking about all of these things. That, at least, motivates me to want to understand it on a deeper level.

I'm sorry if that didn't make much sense, and thank you for the reply.