Learning Astrophysics from home.

[BlueCaterpillar]

I am interested in learning astrophysics and all the associated sciences and math, though I cannot afford schooling and am not nessecarily interested in a degree in the field. I have been interested in science fiction and the prospect of exo-planets and space travel for many years and would absolutely love to learn all I can that is available to me.

What I need help with is finding the best resources in books, forums, blogs, websites and whatever else I can access from home or a short drive to bookstores.

If this is in the wrong place I apologize.

Thank you.

 

[fresh_42]

If this is in the wrong place I apologize.

No, it isn't.

What I need help with is finding the best resources in books, forums, blogs, websites ...

This is the easy part to answer:

you have found the right place to be taught math and physics!

Now, to the difficult part. Astrophysics itself is a large field and it touches many other neighboring areas of physics and other science. So like any of such questions: Where are you at and where do you want to get to? I have a bit of a feeling this could be quite a long path ahead, but I don't know for sure.

So let me again answer the easy parts:

Here is a collection of useful links about self study, mainly from our insights blog:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/self-teaching-gcse-and-a-level-maths.933639/#post-5896947
I think they all contain good tips despite of individual differences, as in your case astronomy. Just pick what you think it's worth reading.

The next easy answer is: Make use of our homework forums! If you have specific questions to statements or need tips for exercises, and I assume these will be the majority at the beginning, that's the place to go. Just fill out our (automatically inserted) template there, and especially the third part of it, where we ask about your own efforts so far. Please do not write "no clue", as this won't be accepted. Instead write how you tackled the problem before you made the trouble to write a post.

Now that the easy things are answered, I'm back to the question: from where to where? Basically the amount of physics determines the amount of mathematics. They are closely related and you should know, that you cannot read good textbooks about physics without a decent amount of mathematical knowledge - and the more detailed physics will get, the more sophisticated the mathematical tools become. Thus the question form where to where is accompanied by the question: how deep? School mathematics and a good telescope will get you were Kepler had been, Einstein and black holes involve a lot more.

 

[BlueCaterpillar]

I have very basic knowledge I have watched a lot of programs, I know some of the theories and history of space travel, but I am lacking in the hard science part of it. What I am specifically interested in is exo-planets and developments for space travel. Math came relatively easy to me but I previously didn't have to drive to get past Algebra 2. I will definitely check out the insights pages, and the STEM Bibles thread and a few others I have noticed, Putting it bluntly I want to start from the ground up, I want to be able to understand how it all works from the basics.

 

[phinds]

I have very basic knowledge I have watched a lot of programs, I know some of the theories and history of space travel, but I am lacking in the hard science part of it. What I am specifically interested in is exo-planets and developments for space travel. Math came relatively easy to me but I previously didn't have to drive to get past Algebra 2. I will definitely check out the insights pages, and the STEM Bibles thread and a few others I have noticed, Putting it bluntly I want to start from the ground up, I want to be able to understand how it all works from the basics.

An excellent goal. One thing to be careful about is pop-science. Books by Kaku and others, and programs on the Discovery Channel, and so forth, can be very entertaining but give you a totally false sense that you have learned something when actually a great deal of what they present is just wrong. It's entertainment, not science.

 

[BlueCaterpillar]

I do enjoy Michio's books, but they are far from the hard science, I look at them like potential interests and developmental theories. ( It helps that Michio Kaku is a Theoretical Physicist.)