is astronomy a good class?

Topia

I have no room this year, but next year in University I have to pick a lot of option courses to fill my load. I for some reason had the urge to wikipedia Jupiter today, and enjoyed what I learned, and continued on to learn a lot more about the solar system.

My question now is, is astronomy a fun class in University? The idea behind it peaks my interest, but is there concept of it that might not be as interesting?

I think maybe a better question may be "what exactly do astronomy classes cover, in general?"

Casually Hardcore

Depends on the professor. Maybe you'll end up doing cool shit, or maybe you'll end up drawing a sky map every day for the whole semester.

Bionic Monkey

Astronomy was awesome when I took it, but it involves a lot more advanced math than I was prepared for.

Daedalus

When I was in college, Intro to Astronomy was the course that everyone took when they needed a lab science credit and didn't want to do actual work. I could sleep through lecture and still ace every test, but I sort of regret taking it rather than something that would have been a bit more challenging and interesting.

But colleges vary, y'know? Find someone at your school who's already taken it with the same professor and ask them.

Sentry

Yeah. Make no mistake, Astronomy is a science class to be sure. You aren't going to be just sitting in a planetarium. There's some fucking math involved there.

That being said, I loved it. The lab was awesome and not just looking at the moon. You actually learn that, from an astronomy perspective, the moon is freaking boring, and a detrement to actual star gazing.

Well, the above was my experience. I actually found Astronomy a bit more difficult then chemistry. But then, I'm not a science guy.

Improvolone

Haha, my undergrad has Astronomy as the only science without a lab.

Sentry

Improvolone wrote: »

Haha, my undergrad has Astronomy as the only science without a lab.

gah... man, without the lab, what's the point?

I took my class in Flagstaff though, which is labeled a Dark City (yeah, they have that designation and it's awesome) and is thus perfect for star gazing.

Awk

My astronomy classes in college also had no lab.

Some of my favourite courses though.

Sentry

I guess a lab could be pretty expensive. We had some awesome telescopes for our lab, not to mention Lowell Observatory to use (where they discovered Pluto) so I guess other colleges might not want to put up the cost of that setup.

SoCo_and_Lime

Check RateMyProfessor and ask around. At my college Astronomy was no joke. Lots of maths to be done.

ethicalsean

Lets see what I can remember about my freshman astronomy classes

1) The professor was usually not there and off doing astronomer shit in Hawaii and stuff.

2) Labs were late at night and it was always really cold

3) My TA for the labs had some sort of disability and would drool and slur his speech terribly. One time he brought a Playboy to class to point out that he *knew* he had seen one of his students in the class from somewhere!

4) There was actually Math involved

5) Did I tell you how fucking cold it gets at night while looking at stars?


I don't think I got much out of it and wish I would have taken a harder Science Lab that would have benefitted me more in the long run.

Improvolone

Sentry wrote: »

I guess a lab could be pretty expensive. We had some awesome telescopes for our lab, not to mention Lowell Observatory to use (where they discovered Pluto) so I guess other colleges might not want to put up the cost of that setup.

I went to school in FL. We had an observatory on campus and could drive to a shuttle launch in a couple hours.
Fuck if I know why the requirements were what they were.

Sentry

Improvolone wrote: »

Sentry wrote: »

I guess a lab could be pretty expensive. We had some awesome telescopes for our lab, not to mention Lowell Observatory to use (where they discovered Pluto) so I guess other colleges might not want to put up the cost of that setup.

I went to school in FL. We had an observatory on campus and could drive to a shuttle launch in a couple hours.
Fuck if I know why the requirements were what they were.

man.. and you would have been warm at night too! Looking into a metal telescope at 11:30 at night in the middle of winter in Flagstaff is not a good fucking time, let me tell you...

Improvolone

We were fucking flooded by light, it was depressing really. I love a desert night.

Kingthlayer

Learning about stars and planets and how they form and work = fucking win.

Sky maps and memorization of constellations = fucking fail.

find out which of these your class is, because my astronomy class was the best and most interesting class that I've ever taken.

It helps that my teacher was a crazy old rich dude with a tendency to accidentally flip off the class while waving his hands wildly in the air due to an old lawnmower injury.

Topia

First let me say "wow, you guys fucking rock." Quick, helpful responses. Pretty much answered my questions, and now to find out what our astronomy classes consist of. I got a year to talk to the counselor/professors.

Kingthlayer wrote: »

Learning about stars and planets and how they form and work = fucking win.

Secondly this is what the fuck I wanna do. Oh how I hope this is a possibility, without the math (or, with minimal calculations) and star map memorization (seriously, I don't care about constellations, what the shit is that gonna do for me? I want real knowledge).

cooljammer00

For my astronomy class, it was basically learning structures and heavenly bodies and whatnot. It was...alright. But you seem to be into that, so good luck!

Klorgnum

It's going to depend a lot on your school. You'll get more conclusive answers asking other students there.

For what it's worth, Astronomy 101 at my school is considered a bird course. Whether that's a good thing for you or not, I don't know.

Wezoin

It was good when I took it for the most part, but got a little boring about half way through when you're learning little nit-picky details you don't really care about. But oh well, you've gotta take the bad with the good I guess. Wasn't particularly difficult, just got boring once you've learned the big concepts and had to focus on details.