Astronomy For Beginners

One of the great things about studying astronomy is that, from the very beginning, it appeals to something that almost everyone likes: looking at the night sky. Whether you're teaching a class on astronomy for kids or simply studying on your own out of curiosity, studying the stars is a fascinating, enjoyable, and intellectual occupation.

A lot of people make the mistake of starting astronomy for beginners with too serious an approach. They want to learn about the physics of stars, the motion of planets, relativity, and all that jazz. These are all fascinating topics, but the first thing you should do when beginning astronomy is to get a telescope and look at the sky. This isn't just a fun way to introduce yourself to the topic - it makes sense educationally as well. If you go into astronomy as a purely intellectual pursuit, you will make some gains, but if you go into it with a passion that comes from contemplating the heavens, you will truly have the motivation to succeed. Look at the glorious stars all around you!

Of course, not all telescopes are the same. People usually err in one of two ways: either they figure that any telescope will do since they are just beginning, or they decide that they need the most up-to-date, high-tech and expensive telescope possible. Neither approach is right for most beginning astronomy students. On the one hand, it never makes sense to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on a hobby that you are just starting. After all, if you lose your interest quickly, you've just wasted all that money! On the other hand, even astronomy for beginners telescopes need to have a certain degree of clarity and resolution. If you don't have enough magnification, you won't be able to study the night sky in detail.

Once you have your telescope, your education in astronomy can really begin. There are a surprising number of astronomy for beginners websites out there, so you can probably find all the information you need to start on the Internet. Many of these web pages will point you to other sources of information which can take you even more deeply into the subject. There are literally hundreds of excellent books on astronomy for beginners which can help you to start to understand the structure of the universe. As a matter of fact, any decent library will probably have at least a few.

When I graduated with a degree in astronomy, I thought that the world was my oyster. I believed that it would be no problem to find an astronomy job at one of the top research institutes and do what I had always dreamed of. I think in retrospect that I was just a bit to optimistic. Finding the perfect job in astronomy has been somewhat of a personal odyssey for me.

The real problem is that there is a lot of competition for the best astronomy jobs. It all depends where you want to go. Most of the astronomy and astrophysics work is done in universities all over the world. The best think that an astronomer can do is to get a position as a junior professor at a school with a great observatory, or contacts with some government astronomy satellite.

That way, he can teach classes and get a gig working on important research. There is nothing like working at a major research institution. Not only are the opportunities for intellectual exploration stupendous in university astronomy jobs, but the pay is pretty good as well.

Of course, many of the best astronomy jobs are with NASA itself. Working for the government, you will have access to some of the best technology there is. NASA Astronomers help design and test the next generation of unmanned probes for planetary exploration, look for new black holes with space telescopes, and do many other fascinating and interesting things.

Then again, you can not discount the number of astronomy jobs in the private sector nowadays. Perhaps the easiest private sector astronomy job to get is designing textbooks. One of the great things about this particular job is that it lets you pass on your own knowledge to the next generation of students.

Explaining astronomy to others can be a lot of fun, and writing textbooks is surprisingly easy. Then again, an even better private sector astronomy job in my opinion is working as a science reporter. Most science reporting is lousy, as it is done by people with little or no formal scientific training. If you understand how to write and understand the science itself, you can do a lot to help get science journalism back on track. Science writers get to travel all over the world and meet some of the best researchers out there. Almost without exception, successful journalists seem to really love the jobs that they do.