Physics with Astronomy

Tiroskan

just wondering if there's any past or present students who can give me an insight/opinion on this course? I haven't spoken to anyone else who's doing it since the last DCU open day and while I was excited, as d-day approaches I'm worrying more about whether I'll be fit for it/like it. I'm not expecting it to be easy or anything, but it would be nice (and calming) to hear what other people think.

--LOS--

I'm on this course. What people probably struggle with most is the maths, if you've done honours maths and physics before, you'll be pretty well set, having said that, plenty of people come in with pass level maths and do fine and better than fine. 1st year maths is basically the same as leaving cert maths but taught in a different way, which is something you just accept and get used to, as with all the classes, they are all very approachable and manageable and are very much separate subject areas which you study from scratch, as in, in 2nd year it is like studying a whole new set of subjects on which your performance really relies nothing on what you've done in first year, thats my opinion anyway. Having said that, I still think it is nearly improbable that you'll manage the course if you have never done physics before as no time is going to be spared for you to pick up the basic notation, units etc, you would really have to apply yourself. But you probably have studied it before? Most important thing is probably to keep up with the continuous assessment, you'll make life so much easier for yourself when exam time comes around. And also dont miss labs and hand up all your lab reports. And do use books, you dont have to buy them, you can get them from the library but do use them.

As to whether you'll like it or not......well you like it now dont you? What i like least about it is the labs, not for the content, more for the amount of time you have to spend (two 3hour labs the same day in first and 2nd year as well as programming labs) and the annoyance of faulty equipment and human error and writting up lab reports. I dont like programming, just find it boring, just find its one of those aspects of the course they throw in to make you more "rounded" but you'll only do it up to 2nd year and its fairly easy to get by/even to do well without having a clue about it after you've done it and it may well benefit you some day. I wasnt too keen on electronics either, its probably one of the toughest but more so coz there's just so much of it in 2nd year, analogue electronics in the 1st semester, digital in the 2nd semester, 1 and then 2 electronics labs a week, electronics project....electronics, electronics, electronics.......but again, no more electronics after 2nd year.

It is also probably good to know that it may be called "physics with astronomy" but there really isnt a whole lot of astronomy on the course which you can tell yourself from the programme academic structure if you look it up on the web, they barely satisfy the second half of the title in 1st and 2nd year with the odd astronomy proj/astronomy lab and you'll be made up if you get to look through a telescope once in that time. But i guess it makes more sense not to make the course too specific, leave that to your postgrad study which you'll probably do if you want a good job in that area anyway.

All in all, you're probably more likely to dislike the timetable, lecturers, exams than the classes. No harm in trying it either! Sorry that was so long!! And it is only my opinion and I am only speaking for the first half of the course!

lithiumoxide

I was one of the first graduates of Physics with Astronomy in DCU, so I have slightly different perspective, as I was something of a guinea pig! I also got to work with 1st and 2nd year physics students last year in the labs so that gave me an opportunity to do the course, and then in a way go back to basics and refresh my memory of it

Personally, I loved it. I always wanted to do astronomy anyway so this was an ideal course for me. As was mentioned, maths is a large part of it, but in first year it's very similar to what you would have done for the LC. If you still have some trouble with it - a lot of people do - there are plenty of tutorials for the courses, and there's also a Maths Learning Centre in DCU, so you can drop in whenever it's open, ask questions, try a few problems and basically build up your maths skills.

The physics part itself, in first year, is also similar to LC physics: you'll deal with some mechanics, heat, sound, etc. Again, there are tutorials and opportunities to ask questions and clarify stuff (make sure you do this if you're ever stuck on something). You'll also be introduced to the concepts of some slightly more advanced physics, but these are just concepts and some straightforward calculations, so nothing to be worried about.

In second year you hit electronics. Brian Lawless who has taught electronics for years until now has retired, so he won't be teaching electronics to you. He taught me, and while I understood parts, other parts were completely mind-numbing! You wonder if you'll ever manage to scrape a pass... But you will; at the end of the semesters you'll sit the exams and sail through them. But as I said, you'll have a different (probably easier!) lecturer for electronics. You'll also be introduced to Einstein's special relativity in second year. It sounds scary, but it's not. The most advanced thing in it is finding a square root. With some simple algebra you'll be able to work with time warps and all sorts of crazy sh!t. There's also the likes of more quantum physics, optics, programming (it's easy and logical, don't mind what other's say ) and so on.

Third year: the second easiest year after first year. This is where you start to get much more astronomy. You'll do some space science (very cool: satellites, spacecraft, orbits, rockets... I did a presentation using a space-flight simulator!) and stellar physics. Now, a recent thing is that you'll also do either general relativity or galactic physics (do one in 3rd year, the other in 4th year - when I did it, we did both in final year). Second semester is great: you get a job in your industry and work for a few months. I was lucky enough to work in Dunsink Observatory doing some good astronomy that also extended into my final year project.

But the best part of third year? THE FREE HOLIDAY!!! Well kinda free. My astronomy class went over to Italy for a week, we just payed for cheap flights, DCU pays the rest. In second year we also went to Spain for a week and a half. Great craic both times, but they were to observatories. In Italy (which I think is the one that's now the usual destination) you'll go to Loiano, lie in til all hours of the day, wake up, go to the village, pick up some wine, eat, then go to the observatory for the night. Fun.

Final year: it was tough for me (like I said, we were guinea pigs and we had relativity and galactic physics as well as electrodynamics in one semster - it's different now, it's spread out much better between years as well as semesters), but it was good for some others. You'll do general relativity or galactic astronomy. Galactic astronomy is really interesting and you get really involved in the classes, relativity is much trickier, but by final year you'll probably have the ability to deal with the maths anyway. You'll also do your final year project which is good: you get to do your own research and work, and you might get published in a journal (ultimate desire of any final year physics student, next to actually passing). My project was analysing the spectrum from a particular massive blue giant.

So that's a rough overview of the course; there are several other modules that I didn't mention but you'll like: quantum electronics, wave-guided optics, etc etc... In my experience the staff and lecturers were in general great, all very knowledgeable and approachable. Some of them have great senses of humour and wit that's often cracked out in lectures (watch out for the colour-blindness one in optics lectures). So overall, it was a great course, and I'd love to go back and do it all over again. Like I said, I graduated last year, and I worked in the labs last year, but throughout that employment I've been engaged in astronomical research of different types, and I'm currently a lead researcher/author on a number of papers that will be co-written by some of the staff at DCU Physics.

So yeah, sorry for the long post

Hendo

lithiumoxide wrote: »

I was one of the first graduates of Physics with Astronomy in DCU, so I have slightly different perspective, as I was something of a guinea pig! I also got to work with 1st and 2nd year physics students last year in the labs so that gave me an opportunity to do the course, and then in a way go back to basics and refresh my memory of it

Personally, I loved it. I always wanted to do astronomy anyway so this was an ideal course for me. As was mentioned, maths is a large part of it, but in first year it's very similar to what you would have done for the LC. If you still have some trouble with it - a lot of people do - there are plenty of tutorials for the courses, and there's also a Maths Learning Centre in DCU, so you can drop in whenever it's open, ask questions, try a few problems and basically build up your maths skills.

The physics part itself, in first year, is also similar to LC physics: you'll deal with some mechanics, heat, sound, etc. Again, there are tutorials and opportunities to ask questions and clarify stuff (make sure you do this if you're ever stuck on something). You'll also be introduced to the concepts of some slightly more advanced physics, but these are just concepts and some straightforward calculations, so nothing to be worried about.

In second year you hit electronics. Brian Lawless who has taught electronics for years until now has retired, so he won't be teaching electronics to you. He taught me, and while I understood parts, other parts were completely mind-numbing! You wonder if you'll ever manage to scrape a pass... But you will; at the end of the semesters you'll sit the exams and sail through them. But as I said, you'll have a different (probably easier!) lecturer for electronics. You'll also be introduced to Einstein's special relativity in second year. It sounds scary, but it's not. The most advanced thing in it is finding a square root. With some simple algebra you'll be able to work with time warps and all sorts of crazy sh!t. There's also the likes of more quantum physics, optics, programming (it's easy and logical, don't mind what other's say ) and so on.

Third year: the second easiest year after first year. This is where you start to get much more astronomy. You'll do some space science (very cool: satellites, spacecraft, orbits, rockets... I did a presentation using a space-flight simulator!) and stellar physics. Now, a recent thing is that you'll also do either general relativity or galactic physics (do one in 3rd year, the other in 4th year - when I did it, we did both in final year). Second semester is great: you get a job in your industry and work for a few months. I was lucky enough to work in Dunsink Observatory doing some good astronomy that also extended into my final year project.

But the best part of third year? THE FREE HOLIDAY!!! Well kinda free. My astronomy class went over to Italy for a week, we just payed for cheap flights, DCU pays the rest. In second year we also went to Spain for a week and a half. Great craic both times, but they were to observatories. In Italy (which I think is the one that's now the usual destination) you'll go to Loiano, lie in til all hours of the day, wake up, go to the village, pick up some wine, eat, then go to the observatory for the night. Fun.

Final year: it was tough for me (like I said, we were guinea pigs and we had relativity and galactic physics as well as electrodynamics in one semster - it's different now, it's spread out much better between years as well as semesters), but it was good for some others. You'll do general relativity or galactic astronomy. Galactic astronomy is really interesting and you get really involved in the classes, relativity is much trickier, but by final year you'll probably have the ability to deal with the maths anyway. You'll also do your final year project which is good: you get to do your own research and work, and you might get published in a journal (ultimate desire of any final year physics student, next to actually passing). My project was analysing the spectrum from a particular massive blue giant.

So that's a rough overview of the course; there are several other modules that I didn't mention but you'll like: quantum electronics, wave-guided optics, etc etc... In my experience the staff and lecturers were in general great, all very knowledgeable and approachable. Some of them have great senses of humour and wit that's often cracked out in lectures (watch out for the colour-blindness one in optics lectures). So overall, it was a great course, and I'd love to go back and do it all over again. Like I said, I graduated last year, and I worked in the labs last year, but throughout that employment I've been engaged in astronomical research of different types, and I'm currently a lead researcher/author on a number of papers that will be co-written by some of the staff at DCU Physics.

So yeah, sorry for the long post

hi there lithium oxide,

i know this is a bit of an outdated post but i will be doing this course now next year. just interested about the trips away and wonderin if u can give me any more info on them and also on how u managed to get work expierence in dunsink and what ur duties were up there, oh and also if u were paid or were just doin volentary work.

cheers

lithiumoxide

Hendo wrote: »

hi there lithium oxide,

i know this is a bit of an outdated post but i will be doing this course now next year. just interested about the trips away and wonderin if u can give me any more info on them and also on how u managed to get work expierence in dunsink and what ur duties were up there, oh and also if u were paid or were just doin volentary work.

cheers

Hi there.

In my course, we went abroad twice to try out two different observatories. This has now been whittled down to Osservatorio di Loiano, outside Bologna in Italy. You can expect to spend approximately a week there: very nice picturesque little town, and the main observatory is lovely (there's a second dome with a smaller telescope). The guesthouse is nice, too: big bedrooms with blackout blinds (you'll be sleeping for much of the day), and well-kitted kitchens.

When I worked in Dunsink I was a summer intern and was paid. DCU offers INTRA placements in third year, and these are usually (always?) paid. I found my own job for INTRA that suited me, and didn't go with the offers from DCU.

My duties there were linked into the trips abroad: in Italy we acquired a lot of data of a particularly special star. The data was all raw, so my job was to use astronomical software to turn it into useable data, and do a little research on it. Consequently, my final year project was based on the star so I could use my own data.

Hope this helps.

Hendo

lithiumoxide wrote: »

Hi there.

In my course, we went abroad twice to try out two different observatories. This has now been whittled down to Osservatorio di Loiano, outside Bologna in Italy. You can expect to spend approximately a week there: very nice picturesque little town, and the main observatory is lovely (there's a second dome with a smaller telescope). The guesthouse is nice, too: big bedrooms with blackout blinds (you'll be sleeping for much of the day), and well-kitted kitchens.

When I worked in Dunsink I was a summer intern and was paid. DCU offers INTRA placements in third year, and these are usually (always?) paid. I found my own job for INTRA that suited me, and didn't go with the offers from DCU.

My duties there were linked into the trips abroad: in Italy we acquired a lot of data of a particularly special star. The data was all raw, so my job was to use astronomical software to turn it into useable data, and do a little research on it. Consequently, my final year project was based on the star so I could use my own data.

Hope this helps.

That helps a lot thanks for that. What type of stuff did you do studying the star in Dunsink and what star was it? Im intrigued to know.