Question: What university course would you recommend if I wanted to pursue astrophysics?? Also, could you give me an idea of what work would be involved in that area?? thanks :)

Sara Imari Walker answered on 21 Jun 2011:

Hi Samantha! Astrophysics is a really exciting field! Great choice!!

If you are serious (or even if you’re just interested but unsure) about studying astrophysics the first thing I would recommend is taking an Intro level astronomy course (or sometimes these are marked as courses on history of the universe etc.). You should also take intro level physics. If you take those two courses and really like it, then you can have a good idea of the kinds of skills you will develop as an astrophysicist. Astrophysics is literally just that – physics of the stars – so their can be a lot of physics in it and a lot of math. But it is fun!

Most astronomers nowadays are astrophysicists, given the level of research one must conduct in modern science (there are few pure observational astronomers that collect data but don’t analyze it). Astrophysicist do all sorts of things!! They do everything from observational astronomy (manning those really big telescopes) and performing analysis of data collected to modeling astrophysical phenomena such as galaxy formation or even black hole mergers! (involving a lot of computational work), to studying planetary phenomena, to really intensive mathematical studies of cosmological phenomena – such as the physics of the early universe (which is really more cosmology). So basically its pretty broad!! Check out this NASA page for some info on the general field: http://science1.nasa.gov/astrophysics/

One more thing I could definitely recommend – intern! A lot of universities and research institutes will accept undergraduate interns for a term of summer of research. That is the best place to really learn a field. It gives a great intro to research and it gives you a leg up applying to PhD programs. Most university undergraduate research offices will have information about these programs. Or the astrophysics department bulletin board is a great place to check out opportunities too!