Professional Astronomy?

[Earl]

There's a lot of time spent reducing spectra and doing analysis (e.g. one of my current projects covers more than 100 OB stars each observed with the VLT between 6 and 13 times over 14 months - a lot of spectra) but I don't see it as 'monotony' at all. It's a kind of giant puzzle with the pieces slowly coming together as you proceed. Then you start to see the big picture emerging from the data and it becomes really rather fun - sometimes it can surprise you along the way too.

As an aside, going out to Paranal 13 times over 14 months is somewhat impractical, so that's all "service mode" - the Paranal staff get the data and a few weeks later I get a DVD from Garching, so I don't go anywhere near a telescope for it. Part of the reason I have a Dob in the back garden

This is the two edged sword of technology and of course creates new subdivisions.

Data Gatherers

Data Processors

Data Presenters

11010100010001010100100001000111001010011000101001

is somewhat dull until the above 3 do there job

[Manok101]

Hmm, maybe i should change my question, and ask... how do i get to be the one who decides, and snaps those fun deep space photos?

[Capricorn]

Suspect that most of those fun deep space photo's are actually dull and grey.

They will all have been digitally processed and then had colour interpreted and added by a graphics/illistration house before being made public.

Many are in the x-ray band and the infra red, so invisible. So someone has had to sit down and add the colour you see in the picture. It is their artistic skill that makes them good.

And snap isn't a good description, I think that the hubble deep sky picture took 10 days to get.

Hubble is coming to the end of it's life soon, if you had a few billion you could buy it. :D:D:D

[Manok101]

I'll start a lets buy the hubble fund lol.

[brianb]

lets buy the hubble fund

For what purpose?

NASA will use it until it's too busted to be useful. At which point it will cost less to replace than repair, not that repair is ever going to be possible without the active assistance of NASA.

[Earl]

Hmm, maybe i should change my question, and ask... how do i get to be the one who decides, and snaps those fun deep space photos?

Buy a scope and the gear and do it yourself.

It probably the most hands on that can be done.

You will be amazed at what amateur astrophotographers can do with DSO's, I sure am!

I would imagine that most professional astrophotography on big scopes is programmed in and let to do its thing then the gigabytes of data get shipped off to someone else to study etc. and of course thats if its in visible light also.

[brianb]

You will be amazed at what amateur astrophotographers can do with DSO's, I sure am!

You'd probably also be amazed at the "crappy" quality of most research images ... photometry works better when the stars are out of focus, exposures are just sufficient to get the required signal-to-noise ratio for measurements rather than making a nice smooth image, no-one cares about colour ...

[Hypernova]

Hi everyone, I come to you needing some advice on how to proceed towards university and get myself on a degree course in physics/astrophysics.

I seem to have hit a bit of a brick wall and need a bit of help.

I have been today for an interview at South Cheshire College for the Access to Higher Education course which I was hoping to start in September. I was told in the interview that the course will not include any science, physics or maths modules and that it would be very unlikely to get into any university with that qualification. At the moment I am kinda confused on where to go from here, I have no GSCEs to speak of so I will need to start from scratch and most likely take them again and then progress onto A-Levels. I am not too sure if I would have to pay the course fees for the A-Levels as I will be over 19 in September but my family is currently on benefits.

I am 18 at the moment, 19 in February, I have Keyskills level 2 in maths, ICT and communication and a BTEC First Diploma and NVQ Level 1 in Horticulture (yes a bit of a direction change I know )

I have been advised by the interviewer to speak to the college's career advice team to sort a solution out.

I would like other people's advice if possible on a possible direction to take or who to speak to.

Cheers,

Tom

[Jove]

I would like other people's advice if possible on a possible direction to take or who to speak to.

Cheers,

Tom

Have a look at what the Open University has to offer, if you think you could get on with distance learning. The level one courses (I guess you'd want to look at science and maths) are designed for people with no background knowledge in the subjects.

[Hypernova]

It is an option but I don't think that I could afford to pay the tuition fees upfront, I understand that I may be eligible for financial support but I don't know how much I'd have to pay for any given course.

And also would an OU course of a certain level give me enough to gain entry to a proper university. The OU seem to have their own points system which is different to UCAS and I don't know if OU points can be exchanged for UCAS ones.

[Hypernova]

I have spoken to a connexions career advisor and I think now I have got a clear path to uni. Stoke College which, isn't too far from me, offer an Access to Higher Education course with science which is what I was looking for in a course and is what South Cheshire don't offer.

I quick chat to the foundation department at Keele uni and I find out that I would be able to get myself onto a foundation science year course with an Access to HE qualification

That foundation year would then allow me go on to a higher degree course to study anything that I want, looking at astrophysics or just physics at the moment.

Science Foundation Year - Keele University

http://www.stokecoll.ac.uk/courses/ViewCourse.aspx?CourseCode=F1015&ID=246

[Hypernova]

I have moved up one step since December and been invited to taster course at Stoke College for the access course which I applied for months ago. It is a small step forward and I hope that I get accepted to the course and start on my trip to Uni.

And the good thing is that I have worked out an agreement between myself and my current employer that will allow me to take this course and reduce my overall hours in the office to two or three days a week depending on college study days I stated that I was applying for a course when I before I was accepted for the job and they were good in finding a workaround for me, you don't usually get that much flexibility from an employment agency.

[Hypernova]

Another update, I have taken part in the two scheduled intro/assessment days at Stoke College and have been offered a place for September, there are still formal interviews to come though but I am confident that I will there come next term.

The thing is though that my lack of proper qualifications has come back to haunt me and has forced me to reconsider my plans. As I lack any kind of GCSE I will need to take part in an adult retake course for english and maths to be able to get onto the course at Keele. I have been advised that to do both subjects alongside my access course may over-stress me and affect my grades considerably. It now seems that I will have to complete my access course first and then take the two GCSEs in the next year or vice versa (not sure which to do first so I would appreciate any advice on this please )

This all means though that my entry date for uni has been pushed back by a year to September 2013! A bit of a pain in the bum but I guess I should take a little easy and get better grades instead of burning myself out early on.

[NickH]

You want to see what a RAW FITS file supposedly processed for flat fields on a professional research grade 2m scope CAN look like...

We were finding magnitude 21 asteroids in this...you want tough, this is tough.. the arrow indicates the location of one of our finds

[Ben Ritchie]

...or if you *cough* mess up with the HST exposure time calculator you get this. Not me, I hasten to add...

[NickH]

Knowing what that object is, and just how short the integration times should be...that's just funny! :-)

[James Albinson]

A Reply to Tom, and anybody else contemplating astronomy as a career - come up to an open evening at Keele Observatory - preferably in the University Holidays - and I can talk about requirements and such.

I am an informally retired astronomer/computer manager, and can bring experience to answers... I am also a carer, and cannot do open evenings outside holiday times. In respect of Keele, it encourages cross crafting, so if you want to do Physics and Philosophy, you can. Most people who want to do astronomy/astrophysics do a physics/mathematics degree, and then an astro-something PhD. Your maths is important. As, it turns out, your English. It is very difficult to get onto the Lecturer ladder. Many people do a PhD, and then go outside astronomy to earn a crust.

See you all at the Observatory Christmas and Easter then...

Regards, JAmes Albinson, Support Group Keele University Observatory

[Hypernova]

A Reply to Tom, and anybody else contemplating astronomy as a career - come up to an open evening at Keele Observatory - preferably in the University Holidays - and I can talk about requirements and such.

I am an informally retired astronomer/computer manager, and can bring experience to answers... I am also a carer, and cannot do open evenings outside holiday times. In respect of Keele, it encourages cross crafting, so if you want to do Physics and Philosophy, you can. Most people who want to do astronomy/astrophysics do a physics/mathematics degree, and then an astro-something PhD. Your maths is important. As, it turns out, your English. It is very difficult to get onto the Lecturer ladder. Many people do a PhD, and then go outside astronomy to earn a crust.

See you all at the Observatory Christmas and Easter then...

Regards, JAmes Albinson, Support Group Keele University Observatory

I actually attended the open day at Keele University back in June to see what my options were for entering onto a degree course there. Whilst I was there I had a sit down chat with one of the astrophysics lecturers, Dean I believe his name was, to discuss my plans. He advised me to first get my GCSE qualifications out of the way, I require at least a C or above in both maths and english to be eligible for any course at the uni; currently I am attending night school at South Cheshire College doing just that and working full-time and I hope to get the grades I need by the summer, possibly in June 2012.

At the time of the open day I was planning to enrol on the Access to HE course at Stoke College as I wrote above, but whilst talking to Dean I was offered an alternative approach. Basically Keele are in partnership with the OU and helping mature students with few or no prior qualifications access to university course. The program is called "Open Plus" and I have attached a link to it below:

OpenPlus | Open University

Basically the plan is that I will enrol in this program starting September 2012 and undertake 2 years of home study with the OU, when completed this will equate to the first year of a degree. After which I will start study full-time at Keele for the final 2 years of the degree and at the end I will come out with a dual honours in maths and astrophysics.

That is my plan for now, I can't see it changing any time soon so I will stick to it and do my best to see it through. The only hitch I can forsee is that I will most likely have to give up my full-time job and look for part-time employment once I start study at Keele, hopefully the job market will have improved by then and my GCSEs will make me more desirable to a potential employer.

And BTW I believe I popped into the observatory on the open day to have a look around. I was chatting to a gentlemen there about the large refractor that is installed in the building and I was talking about my interest in amateur astronomy. Was it you I was speaking to? I sat it the large chair in the computer room below the reflector when a large group of us came in.

[ianaiken]

Or you could set up an astronomy B and B!!

Olly

Now that's a nice idea! I'm thinking the Canadian Rockies since Olly has France.

Tom - good luck with the GCSE's when it's time and your further education.