Help Please: online Astrophysics - Astronomy courses

[el_draco]

I've created a monster...
I have been mentoring a 16 y.o. girl in astronomy and with the amazing help of members I have been able to provider her with some half decent kit.

She's now imaging using a DSLR and has taken some pretty decent shots for a beginner; about to start using Deep Sky Stacker.... and it seems the more I put in, the more she wants....

Latest request: Online astronomy and astrophysics courses pls... :eyepop:

Can you lot save me the searching and point at some likely stuff? Her parents cant believe how she has latched on to astronomy and I suspect I have started something that is going to lead somewhere serious. :D

[LewisM]

Tell her Google is her friend and she can look it up! She'll have to do research anyway so get her to do it herself.

Research for courses start with the basic before it gets serious :)

[pfitzgerald]

Hi Rom

The following link may be of use to you and your 'apprentice'!

https://www.edx.org/school/anux

I did the 'Violent Universe' module a couple of years ago and found it very engaging and interesting. The modules are free and are roughly equivalent to their first year Astrophysics course.

I hope that this helps.

Paul

[Oddity]

Thanks for the link Paul, very interesting - signed up to all four and already starting to look around. :thumbsup:

[PeterM]

Indeed thanks for that link Paul.

[pfitzgerald]

Cheers Guys - you're all most welcome.

Enjoy!

Paul

[julianh72]

You can access a lot of courses from reputable institutions via Coursera: www.coursera.org
Many of the courses have identical content to their Undergraduate Degree programs, while others are offered purely for self-education, and you can pick and choose between multiple institutions as you wish.

A couple that I can highly recommend:

"The Science of the Solar System" by Mike "Pluto Killer" Brown of Caltech

"Astro Tech: The Science and Technology Behind Astronomical Discovery" by The University of Edinburgh

Hope this helps!

[PeterM]

There you go Rom lots of great responses...hope that's what you were looking for.

It's great you are inspiring a younger generation Rom, well done.

Here are a couple more.

I found a lot of Swinburne University free Astronomy lectures on Swinburne Commons.
Like this one Mapping the universe.

https://commons.swinburne.edu.au/items/d8437ad4-295a-4da4-8aa4-4607e3cb506a/1/

https://commons.swinburne.edu.au/hierarchy.do?topic=993ad8ec-92fa-45ba-a7e2-fdc97e4599e5

University of Southern Qld
https://www.usq.edu.au/study/degrees/sciences/astronomy?&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlKjalZC42gIVhAsrC h2EjAgOEAAYASAAEgKUZvD_BwE

Do you need any further equipment for her that we maybe able to help with? I have a few bits n pieces gathering dust.

[el_draco]

Thanks everyone for the links. I expect I'll get a tidal wave of questions over the next few weeks from her. I am amazed at how quickly this Padawan is catching on and I reckon she will go places. Her dad is also quite an inspiration by all accounts and has always tried to treat her like an intelligent being. Here's hoping. :thumbsup:

As far as gear is concerned, my next step is to hunt down a usable equatorial mount. She's using a Dob at the moment and I've just supplied her with a decent ALT-Az tripod along with a modded DSLR supplied by another ICEer. Kid nearly fell off her rocker when that arrived last week I can tell you, and I got test images of Crux and Orion within 24 hours.... Not bad! I'm working on a ED refractor for her to use atm but the mount is proving elusive. Anyone who can point me in that direction would be a godsend!

I am hoping my observatory will come online later in the year and she can then log in directly and use the scope for some "research" she wants to do, but I also want her doing the hands on stuff from her home, which is about 200km from me. Hands on wins hands down at her age.

Interesting times, that's for sure.:rolleyes:

Rom