Astrophysics?

What does a person with a Degree in Astrophysics do?|||Well, you can be a physical education coach for the Houston Astros! Play ball! =%26lt;)|||Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties, the luminosity, the density, the temperature, and the chemical composition) of objects like stars, galaxies, and the interstellar medium, as well as their interactions.





The study of cosmology is theoretical astrophysics at the largest scales where Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity plays a major role.





Because astrophysics is a very broad subject, astrophysicists typically apply many disciplines of physics, including mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, nuclear and particle physics, and atomic and molecular physics. To be frank, modern astronomical research involves a substantial amount of physics. The name of a university's department ("astrophysics" or "astronomy") often has to do more with the department's history than with the contents of the programs. Astrophysics can be studied at the bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. levels in aerospace engineering, physics, or astronomy departments at many universities.





HTH





Charles|||Most of them go to grad school to get a Ph.D, since there really aren't any jobs in astronomy if you don't have a Ph.D.





When you get your Ph.D, you can work for a college or university doing research and teaching, or you could work for a national lab (NOAO, NRAO, NSO) doing research, or you could work for NASA doing research or building instruments and satellites.|||The lucky few get to work for NASA and JPL. Others work for universities and a good share work at McDonalds. This is a very demanding field because of the math and the built-in culling process and the payoff at the end is questionable. If you are willing to invest this level of effort in education go into electrical engineering - that profession is the future... until computers start doing it. Of course once computers get that sophisticated they will be replacing ALL technical professions and humans will be relegated to observer, then victim status.|||That's a line from The Hitchhikker's Guide to the Galaxy. The answer is: Go on down to the dole que on monday morning. (Unemployment)|||The first answer, by 'Michael da Man,' is peculiarly loaded. Some of us would disagree strongly with his sweeping assertions of the relative benefits of working for NASA, JPL or in a university setting.





Many of us would say that it is the FORTUNATE ones who get to work in Universities. The teaching of others can be very rewarding, and in addition, one gets to do research in the areas that interest one personally, often collaborating with graduate students and postdocs who respresent the brightest people of the next generation.





There are also PURELY RESEARCH jobs available at places like STScI, the Space Telescope Scince Institute, or Cambridge's Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, etc. Even these outstanding institutions have close university ties.





That such university or pure research jobs are the plums is shown by the INTENSE competition for them, often HUNDREDS of applicants for each available job.





It is NO COINCIDENCE that MOST of the MAJOR theoretical advances in astrophysics are made in university settings.





One can also have a satisfying career at NASA or JPL, but one has to realize that these are GOAL-ORIENTED organizations. Most of one's time will be spent on a mission already decided by someone else. Important though that might be, some will chafe at the restrictions "the mission" places upon them.





One advantage of having a Ph.D. from a top school in astrophysics, however, is that it requires the mastering of so many useful techniques and sub-disciplines of physics that one will be in demand in jobs requiring such abilities in a wide range of modern scientific areas.





Live long and prosper.