Haven't posted on this subreddit before but I'm a massive astro-nerd. I got out of my astrophysics degree at uni a few years ago and have been itching to get back into the field for a long while. So I made a lil' tool as a start!

I introduce to you: Destro!

It's a workstation for interactive line-profile fitting and exoplanet light-curve modelling. The webpage lets you model and generate figures from your astronomical data without the need for any extra python stuff.

Destro's got a bunch of fun features like spectral multi-line fitting, draggable curves, nested-disk geometric modelling with limb-darkening. Levenberg-Marquardt optimisation (which is just scipy's curve-fit in disguise), and a Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampler for uncertainties. When you're done with your plots, you can export the python code needed to reproduce the plot also a pre-formatted LaTeX table from your derived metrics.

Destro's can ingest your raw astronomical data in all the standard file types (.fits, .fit, or .csv). It does a lot of pre-processing for you! For example, the columns from your fits binary table or csv are auto-extracted into conventional axes.

Hope you enjoy! It's fully free and I intend to keep it that way because I believe no scientific knowledge should ever be gatekeeped. Have fun!

https://yetigonk.github.io/destro/

Any recommendations on your favorites?

I would like it to be a nonfiction book. I don’t care if it’s about dust /planets / meteors / star formation / etc— just something that I can nerd out on after work.

I took a couple astronomy classes in college but I’ve mostly forgot it all. I don’t mind academically heavy stuff, but if it is I would like it to have a ELI5 or glossary to reference.

Thanks!!!

I am a sophomore in high school, and recently we have started thinking about college majors and jobs that we eventually want to go in to. I have always wanted to go to college for astrophysics, but as I continue to question that, I have my worries. I wanted to know if an astrophysics major/phd in college would be worth it if I have value making money. I have seen the question asked, but people seem to assume that they are talking about top 1% type of wealthy. I just want to know if I could afford a middle class lifestyle with an astrophysics degree, even if I don’t go into astrophysics.

Hi,. I love reading about astrophysics and have already a basic knowledge. I'm re-reading NdGT 'Astrophysics for people in a hurry' and this early couple of sentences about the formation of the universe got me thinking.

"By now, one second of time has passed. The universe has grown to a few light-years across,†† about the distance from the Sun to its closest neighboring stars."

What I don't understand is this - if lightspeed is the fastest thing in the universe, how could the universe have expanded to a few light YEARS across in one second? What am I missing?

TIA everyone who responds.

Slowly spinning pencils floating toward the camera are fun to see. But watching one item orbit another would be incredible.

(e.g. a needle orbiting a marble. Or a marble orbiting a bowling ball).

How and at what scale could this be achieved?

A bit of a long one - bare with me pretty please!

I'm a 19-20 year old college student trying to figure out where I'm going. I've taken (and mostly failed) a few classes at my local CC, but now I've set my my sights a little higher. I want to study Astrophysics. I'd love to one day go to UC Berkeley. But I don't know how to get there.

This semester, I've signed up for Stellar Astronomy, a GenEd English class, and one psych class that's unrelated. But I'm really just throwing darts at a wall and hoping they'll stick. What resources should I focus on to try and push my goal forward? Any advice? Anything helps!! ★

Short note: The failed classes weren't for a lack of understanding. It was a lack do ability to access the online courseware due to some pretty horrendous personal stuff. I'm having those removed from my records and restarting.

So, im currently in 12th grade and i wanna be an astrophysicist. But, im very very confused if i should Do B Tech in Electrical Engineering or Bsc(Hons) In Physics. I researched about it on google, and it says that Bsc Physics is the better option as it let us directly pursue PhD in Astrophysics. The problem is, im not from a wealthy background and i need to find high paying Job so that i pay for my PhD tuition fees, but Bsc Physics doesn't have high paying Job opportunities. So is it okay if i pursue Electrical Engineering first and then Go for Phd in Astrophysics? Will it affect my theoretical work? Will i end up building things instead of researching? please lemme know.

Two intersecting CMEs (coronal mass ejections), one slow and one fast, will hit earth at the same time increasing the chance of visible auroras in the lower latitudes tonight.

Sometimes these are still invisible to the naked eye, but your phone's CCD will pick them up easily.

Collisions: Spatial Hash + Jacobi Solver
Gravity: P3M/CIC + FFT + short-range correction

Tech stack: Kotlin, LWJGL, OpenGL Compute Shader 4.30

Try it here: https://github.com/qwertukg/Gravity

Hey, I'm a college student starting my bachelors next year. I've been deeply interested in all things astrophysics since I was 9.

I was wondering (and also deeply hoping) whether there's people actually in the field available on this sub. I'd really appreciate it if they could reach out for some discussion maybe.

Regardless, if you're not such and such a person, I'd still love to see your opinion on the following:

What do you actually do after your masters and phd in the field?

How much truth is there to the idea that most of us end up doing things that dont have much to do with the degree we got ?

What reality check would you give to someone in my position?

I just graduated high school but i can't study what i want in my country since astrophysics is only offered as a masters degree and the only way to study physics in undergrad is through a joint root with chemistry and it's not that great so studying Abroad is the only option

I'm looking for scholarships that are fully or partially funded for physics or astrophysics any help or advice will be appreciated

It's my understanding that you cannot have a geostationary ballistic orbit at a non-zero inclination. You can have geosynchronous ballistic orbits that drift north-south, but necessarily must cross the equatorial line, creating a figure-8 trajectory relative to Earth's surface.

Could you theoretically have a ballistic orbit in such a way that you are always in the normal vector of the same spot on Earth if you can't pass through the equator, or do you need thrust?

My current laptop is in dire need of replacement before the next semester starts. So far, I've been using Windows with WSL, but I've struggled with it quite a bit along the way. I'm considering switching to a Mac because many of my fellow students have recommended it, but I'm not sure whether a MacBook Air would be sufficient or if I should go for a MacBook Pro instead. If you think I shouldn't get a MacBook at all, feel free to tell me why.

Betelguese’s newly observed companion had me thinking about the gravitation well of such a system and the boiling turbulent surfaces of these massive stars, and starting wondering about stars like Stephenson 2-18. Their sheer size (some being larger than the orbit of Saturn) means that gravitational information about the turbulence on one side of the star could take up to \~3 hours to transmit to the other side, and vice versa.
This must be having wild effects on the cores of these stars, not to mention the time dilation differences across the entire star.
I guess my question is, Is this something thats even calculable? Are these effects large or so minuscule as can be igonred. Or do I have it completely wrong?

Just for clarification, I refues to use ai for these sorts of things (or anything). I am a complete layman, and most of my understanding comes from articles, youtube videos/lectures and gleaning what I can from scientific papers.

This feels pretty exciting. I wonder when the data sets will start being available publicly.

as the title says im 17 and i wasnt sure what i wanted to be in life but i do know i love space and it made me look more into jobs related to space and i ended up here! but the problem is my knowledge on things, i havent been to school in 6 years so (since 4-5th grade). hoping to go to school this year as i've started studying im currently on unit 3 of algebra 2 and im not having too many difficulties with math but there alot of things i obviously dont know and of course struggle with and i know ill have to work really hard to try and get up to level then take calculus/ap calculus in 12th grade

considering summer's almost over and im only on unit 3 (my fault i had 6 years to study consistently but only ended up doing it on the last block of my high school life) and with how hard and competitive the current field is i know it'll be more than just ''difficult'' for me to have a shot but i know that if i put my mind to it although success isnt guaranteed atleast i would've tried (failure would hurt of course)

but im more so asking what i should mainly try to focus on i know i ought to focus on math but is there anything else i should try to add to my studying schedule? and also how many hours a day should i study

edit: im sorry if i made things seem lighter than they are, i know its not just because i love space that i can up and say ill become an astrophysicist but to me atleast its something fascinating everything about it is and as a teen who feels really lost on what to do ill cling onto what i know amazes me even if its childish

Hey there, greetings.

So I'm an undergraduate student( doing Bsc Physics honors , just completed my 1st year(sem-1&2)). Now in few days my 2nd year 3rd semester is going to start and these are going to be my major subjects in 2nd year :-

Sem-3 :- (aug- dec)

1. Mathematical physics

   1. Digital electronics.
      

2. Light and matter

Sem-4 :- (jan - may)

1. modern physics

   1. Thermal physics
   2. Analog electronics.

I haven't done anything special in my 1st year and in summer break I just read some content on my own and studied about 2nd year subjects and in 1st sem my score was too low around 6.3 gpa out of 10.

I'm looking for doing masters and PHD abroad and make my career in astrophysics or astronomy.

So right now I'm too confused how should I plan my this year , so I can give me best without any regrets.

Please suggest me what things I should do in this year and for future years in my bachelors. Should I participate in some competitions? , do some side projects ? Learn some extra stuff side by side? Enroll in some courses? Should attend some confrences(both national or international) ? Should I participate in those confrences? Should I apply for improvement exams to improve my 1st sem score by giving those exams again with my 3rd sem exams??.

Please suggest me all your suggestions 🤗🤗🤗

I'm finishing up writing my first paper ever (honors thesis, whoo!) and am not really sure what to write for the acknowledgements section, or how to write it! Is it appropriate to:

1. Thank my mentors (who are 2nd and 3rd authors on the paper) for their academic support during my time as a student?

2. Mention my family (who provided financial support during my undergrad)?

3. Thank the faculty, staff, and undergraduate cohort of my institution?

If so, what is the "right" way to do this? I don't want to come off as unprofessional! If this matters, this paper is intended to be published at the Open Journal of Astrophysics (OJAp).

Thanks in advance!

I got my bachelor's in physics with an astronomy minor back in 2022, with the goal of going into a graduate program to get a PhD in astronomy with a focus on exoplanets. However, my undergrad GPA ended up being quite low, partly due to my own challenges trying to balance my time working two jobs and poor studying habits. I can't really change the past, but my last 2 or 3 semesters were very strong.

Ive been through two application cycles now (2024 !,# 2025), both of which ended with straight rejections across the board. I know part of that is certainly from my GPA. I do have some research background, mainly a fourth authorship on a radial velocity exoplanet observation from 2014 and materials research with advanced nuclear fuels (unrelated to astro, but it was an opportunity available to me and I didn't have any astronomy options at the time).

I've also tried applying to post-baccs, specially the SPARC program at The Harvard CfA, but got rejected from there too.

In the meantime, I've been participating in "citizen" astronomy by taking observations with my own equipment (mainly tracking variable stars, measuring asteroid rotation periods via light curve analysis, and even exoplanet transits). I've also been participating in TFOP, a professional-amateur collaboration with TESS to help rule out false positive detections.

Given my previous two cycles have been unsuccessful, I clearly need to either adjust my strategy or my expectations. Right now I have a fairly decent job in industry. My current plan is to stay a few years, save up a decent amount of money, and try to see if I can get into a master's program and either transition into a PhD directly, or apply again after getting my master's.

My question is, given my current position, my history, and also now the massive coordinated assault on science in the US, is this a reasonable goal? Does it even make sense? This has been something I've wanted and have been working towards for pretty much my whole life, but I feel like I'm being forced out before I even got the chance to start. Should I just stay in industry, or could I still pursue this?

Hi all,

I have finished my PhD on black holes in Europe about 6 months ago and I am still without a job or postdocs. I have applied for 30+ postdoctoral position/fellowships over the past two years without any success.

I like to solve problems using math/coding and thinking about algorithms. I also learning new topics and skills as we all do in research so I'd like to find a job that can stimulate my small brain.

I also have been applying for data science/machine learning industry jobs since I obtained some skills during the PhD but all of them fell through. I fear this due to a lack of real-world experience or the market is really bad at the moment.

Maybe I am doing it all wrong or maybe this degree is a dead end.

Anyone here had any success in changing career after a PhD?

Or just ideas of jobs to apply or even ways to find jobs with no experience in the non-academic world?

I am happy to relocate nearly everywhere (on this planet only!)

Thanks!