5 ms·

Ask HN: How can I get basic astrophysics knowledge?

13 points by tolarianwiz 5y ago

I’ve always been passionate about it, so I would like to get a decent minimal knowledge on astrophysics, maybe to get into (amatorial) computational astrophysics.

neom 5y ago
Armchair astrophysics lover here. FWIW: I've always felt like PBS Space Time on youtube is one step short of a bachelors in astrophysics, at least, it's very good for picking up the abstract ideas around many of the major principles and then you can go research them deeper via reading papers.
errantspark 5y ago
KSP is invaluable for getting an intuition for orbital mechanics.
hackermailman 5y ago
Search youtube for the theoretical minimum https://youtu.be/iJfw6lDlTuA https://youtu.be/iJfw6lDlTuA its a whole playlist for quantum mechanics, Wilberger also has videos on hyperbolic geometry and relativity
- roystonvassey 5y ago
  In fact, there's a separate series just on Cosmology by Susskind that could be relevant for OP.
aaccount 5y ago
Read "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking
turbodami 5y ago
I would suggest “An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics” by Bradley W Carroll and Dale A Ostlie.
niccoloramponi 5y ago
I'm interested too!
deeths 5y ago
It's hard to know what your current knowledge level is without more information, but it sounds like you're trying to develop a good background more just to dive into areas that seem fun to explore as a hobby, rather than focused study-- so I'm suggesting things that lead to more exploration. A few of the resources below are good backgrounds, and Wikipedia is great for filling in your knowledge. Then to find interesting things to spark your hobby interest, I'd recommend following astronomers and astrophysicists on twitter, which will also help point you to interesting papers (which may take a lot of referencing Wikipedia to understand). You'll need at least a little quantum physics to have some things make sense, so it's worth getting that from some of the links people mentioned below if you don't already. If you don't know the topics below in detail, learn it from wikipedia to make sure you understand topics well enough to explore (in rough order): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophysics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophysics - links to all the rabbit hole topics you may want to explore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_spectroscopy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_spectroscopy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzsprung%E2%80%93Russell_diagram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzsprung%E2%80%93Russell_di... then look at all the "see also" topics on the last one to go over basic star physics Then for dramatic events: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_red_nova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_red_nova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_wave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_wave Some twitter folks for key topics (and you can find interesting papers and other twitter folks from there): @badastronomer (great for pointers/explanations for lots of topics) @astrokatie (cosmology) @nasaSun (the Sun) @jannaLevin (black holes, gravity astronomy) @matt_of_earth (host of PBS Spacetime, which someone else mentioned) @ajpizzuto (neutrino astronomy)
- tolarianwiz 5y ago
  This is what I was asking for, many thanks! By the way, my background is BSc in CS, so there surely are a good amount of things to learn.
  - 5y ago
Pfc_Parts 5y ago
Well, originally astrophysics involved staring at the sky for long periods and coming up with hypotheticals and maybe even theories about the movement of celestial bodies? it was very inexpensive and led to the fame of people like Galileo. Later, staring at the night sky was eclipsed a little. Folks like Gerard P. Kuiper used telescopes and made more detailed observations. The feild then rapidly became more complicated, but staring at the sky and eventually mastering the skill of designing and building your own detectors (what we in the feild refer to as "remote sensing") remains a proven method. I wish you all the good luck in the universe :)

13 points by tolarianwiz 5y ago

I’ve always been passionate about it, so I would like to get a decent minimal knowledge on astrophysics, maybe to get into (amatorial) computational astrophysics.

neom 5y ago

Armchair astrophysics lover here. FWIW: I've always felt like PBS Space Time on youtube is one step short of a bachelors in astrophysics, at least, it's very good for picking up the abstract ideas around many of the major principles and then you can go research them deeper via reading papers.

errantspark 5y ago

KSP is invaluable for getting an intuition for orbital mechanics.

hackermailman 5y ago

Search youtube for the theoretical minimum https://youtu.be/iJfw6lDlTuA https://youtu.be/iJfw6lDlTuA its a whole playlist for quantum mechanics, Wilberger also has videos on hyperbolic geometry and relativity

roystonvassey 5y ago
In fact, there's a separate series just on Cosmology by Susskind that could be relevant for OP.

aaccount 5y ago

Read "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking

turbodami 5y ago

I would suggest “An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics” by Bradley W Carroll and Dale A Ostlie.

niccoloramponi 5y ago

I'm interested too!

deeths 5y ago

It's hard to know what your current knowledge level is without more information, but it sounds like you're trying to develop a good background more just to dive into areas that seem fun to explore as a hobby, rather than focused study-- so I'm suggesting things that lead to more exploration. A few of the resources below are good backgrounds, and Wikipedia is great for filling in your knowledge. Then to find interesting things to spark your hobby interest, I'd recommend following astronomers and astrophysicists on twitter, which will also help point you to interesting papers (which may take a lot of referencing Wikipedia to understand). You'll need at least a little quantum physics to have some things make sense, so it's worth getting that from some of the links people mentioned below if you don't already. If you don't know the topics below in detail, learn it from wikipedia to make sure you understand topics well enough to explore (in rough order): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophysics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophysics - links to all the rabbit hole topics you may want to explore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_spectroscopy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_spectroscopy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzsprung%E2%80%93Russell_diagram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzsprung%E2%80%93Russell_di... then look at all the "see also" topics on the last one to go over basic star physics Then for dramatic events: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_red_nova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_red_nova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_wave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_wave Some twitter folks for key topics (and you can find interesting papers and other twitter folks from there): @badastronomer (great for pointers/explanations for lots of topics) @astrokatie (cosmology) @nasaSun (the Sun) @jannaLevin (black holes, gravity astronomy) @matt_of_earth (host of PBS Spacetime, which someone else mentioned) @ajpizzuto (neutrino astronomy)

tolarianwiz 5y ago
This is what I was asking for, many thanks! By the way, my background is BSc in CS, so there surely are a good amount of things to learn.
- 5y ago

Pfc_Parts 5y ago

Well, originally astrophysics involved staring at the sky for long periods and coming up with hypotheticals and maybe even theories about the movement of celestial bodies? it was very inexpensive and led to the fame of people like Galileo. Later, staring at the night sky was eclipsed a little. Folks like Gerard P. Kuiper used telescopes and made more detailed observations. The feild then rapidly became more complicated, but staring at the sky and eventually mastering the skill of designing and building your own detectors (what we in the feild refer to as "remote sensing") remains a proven method. I wish you all the good luck in the universe :)