studying astronomy

[hobbit]

Hey gentle people of IIS.

I realize this is primarily a forum for amateur astronomy but lately I've been thinking of actually going to uni and studying it properly hopefully going through to an Mres..

I live in south Sydney so CDB or Wollongong would be best.
I already have a fulltime job so it would have to be part time only.
I have a graduate certificate but I'm not sure if they're acceptable to get into post grad so it would probably have to be an undergraduate course. Other than Macquarie are there any other uni's that offer astronomy? or are they the only one?

Thanks.

[pfitzgerald]

You can check out the Masters course offered by Swinburne University. They offer a course that can be done online. Just be aware that you'll be looking at a cost of about $20k to do do so.

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/sao/

Paul

[Terry B]

There are a number of courses available.
UNSW http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/astro/student_info/courses.html
Sydney uni http://sydney.edu.au/science/physics/about/astronomy.shtml
ANU also as a degree.

[mathewb]

I'm doing my masters in science (astronomy) through USQ. Its fully online, costs alot less than swinbourne too :-)

[hobbit]

Is that coursework or research based?

had a look at usyd and unsw. they seem to be very light on actual astronomy.

[mathewb]

Its 5 subjects worth of coursework, with one subject of research.

You do however get to play with a nice 51cm scope at Mt Kent in Queensland :)

I will tell you now however, don't think its a walk in the park. I've got a science degree, with a good grasp on maths, and I only managed 18.5/25 for my last assignment. Integration with substitution on an equation that looks like a bowl of spilt spaghetti was not a lot of fun.

The tutors are however awesome, and the tutorials are all live online, so if your the only person on its like a 1 on 1 tutorial. The forum had around 3 or 4 regulars as well as the tutor, we all got on well. Class size wasonly 13 students online so it was quite personable.

The textbook was Carroll and Ostlie's, 'Introduction to Modern Astrophysics' which you can google and have a look at.... or gizoodle it if you want to read a really funny version...

Exam is Monday :sadeyes: - I can send you some PDF's of the coursework and a trial exam if you'd like to see what they look like. Just send me an email addy :)

Cheers,
Matt.

[pfitzgerald]

Hi Matt

First up all the best for your exam on Monday. Once it's over I'd be interested in seeing some of the coursework if that's OK. I've been toying with taking on the MSc here at Swinburne.

Paul

[mathewb]

no problems ... :)