What is this field or job called?

[nobelium102]

what is this field or job called??

someone who studies space, black holes, dark matter, theory on bigbang, death and birth of new star, finding out the chances of life in other planets, origin of our solar system, galaxy, predicting when a new meteor would hit earth,

and what would i need to study in graduate school for this? ( i want to study physics in uni)

 

[Kevin_Axion]

Cosmology - the study of the universe itself i.e it's origins, structure etc.
Astrophysics - the study of the structures within the universe i.e stars, galaxies, black holes etc.

 

[101physics]

Hi,

I think what you are looking for is 'astrophysicist' in general. To be specific, then lots of different fields study the topics you listed, and there is a fair bit of cross over in astrophysics.

Cosmology - dark matter, big bang, origin of the Galaxy(ies)
General Relativity - black holes
Stellar astrophysics- black holes, stellar birth and evolution, origin of the Solar system(s).
Astrobiology - chances of finding life (or radio astronomy if you're interested in SETI)
Solar System Physics- origin of the Sun, planets, how they interact, meteors.

It depends how much astronomy you get to study as undergrad. If you do a lot then you will know which field you like the most and you can head to a grad school with a strong department in that field. If you are unsure then you can choose a school with a good astrophysics department in general and then take some classes before choosing a research area. I am not from the US, but I think the IFA in Hawaii has a very good general astronomy department (though someone may wish to correct me on this).

You might also want to try getting some astronomy related research under your belt through REUs (in fact the IFA have an REU program).

I wouldn't worry about this too much yet, as you learn this type of thing when you are in University and your lecturers/professors know how to help- (im assuming you're in high school since you said you are going to study physics in Uni).

 

[nobelium102]

ahhh, thanks everybody and have a nice day!