Physics and Astronomy
Introduction
Physics is the study of physical properties of matter and energy. Astronomy is the study of celestial objects and phenomena outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
Today, thanks to online resources, it’s easier than ever to learn about physics, astronomy or astrophysics. On this page, we hope to provide a comprehensive collection of resources (see the list below) to self-study physics or get more involved in physics/astronomy research and projects. These resources were compiled with high school students (ages 14-18) in mind, but advanced middle school students and college students may also benefit!
The only requirement to make use of most of these resources is a device with Internet access– for local resources or in-person programmes, check out our Regional Resources page.
Navigate to the resource you’re looking for by clicking on one (or many…or all) of the links below! Keep in mind, any opinions expressed are my own.
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YouTube Channels
Physics Videos by Eugene Khutaryonsky– These videos consist of geometric visualizations of several important concepts in math and physics; like special relativity, partial derivatives and more.
Feynman’s Lectures (also available in print)
CrashCourse (Physics)
CrashCourse (Astronomy)
Andrew Dotson– skits + useful advice for future/current physics majors!
Citizen Science and Research Opportunities
Pulsar Search Collaboratory– This is a Green Bank Telescope data analysis project which can help students discover pulsars! For a thorough introduction, you can get a teacher to sign you up and participate in a 6-week training course. On the other hand, you can participate completely independently and watch archived lecture videos to get a hang of how the analysis works.
International Asteroid Search Campaign– This allows individuals and teams to use the software Astrometrica to analyse real-time data from the PAN-Starrs telescope in Hawaii to discover new asteroids.
Remote Telescopes- You can submit your own observing requests and take your own images of space. One of the best ways to learn image processing and make other measurements. Here are a few: Skynet 20-meter telescope (requires paid user account), MicroObservatory, iTelescope.net, Las Cumbres Observatory, National Schools Observatory (only available to schools in the UK and Ireland). And here’s a handy course for learning how to use the Skynet telescope (it is a paid course).
DIY Planet Search– Follow up on the transit light curves of exoplanets.
The Zooniverse– This is home to several projects, of which there are some astro/physics projects as well. Here are some physics projects, and here are astronomy projects.
The Sungrazer Project– You need to download a simple image processing software to analyse SOHO and STEREO spacecraft missions’ images to search for comets. A comprehensive guide to the project is also available.
Mars Student Imaging Program (MSIP)- a structured program is only available to students in the US, but anyone can do independent research based off the MSIP curriculum and data.
Exoplanet Explorers– Simple interactive activities that will introduce you to the basics of exoplanet exploration. Might be a bit too easy for high school students.
Global Telescope Network– Following up on objects observed in the X-Ray and Gamma Ray bands from the ground. You will need a telescope.
Stardust@Home– Citizen scientists have the opportunity to discover and name the first interstellar dust particles brought to Earth by the Stardust mission.
Agent Exoplanet– Analyse images taken of stars with known planets by the Las Cumbres Observatory Telescope to study the properties of exoplanets.
Eratosthenes Experiment– Take your own measurements while collaborating with schools around the world to conduct the Eratosthenes experiment and calculate the circumference of the Earth!
Radio Astronomy Observing Program– Involves building your own instruments to observe radio sources in the sky and submitting reports to earn badges.
MeteorCounter– An app that lets you count and categorise meteors.
Classification of X-Ray Sources for Novices (CLAXSON) – Using observations taken over the last 20 years, identify celestial objects in the X-ray sky.
Panoptic Astronomical Networked Observatories for a Public Transiting Exoplanets Survey (PANOPTES) – Build a robotic telescope that can be used to detect transiting exoplanets.
Stellar Classification Online Public Exploration (SCOPE)– In this project, compare spectra of previously unclassified stars against reference spectra to determine the star type.
VSX Data Mining– The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) released a set of data mining citizen science projects recently. These involve classification of variable stars. (Pro tip: Subscribe to the AAVSO mailing list! They frequently share information about upcoming observing events and webinars that may interest the amateur astronomer.)
Magnetospheric Undulations Sonified Incorporating Citizen Scientists (MUSICS)– Run by Queen Mary University of London, the project involves analysing fluid plasma waves recorded in the Earth’s magnetosphere using audio software. The data and software can be downloaded on the site.
International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA)- IOTA times and measures astronomical occultations. They have a wealth of data on the basics of observing occultations and what equipment is needed to do so.
Exploration of the Moon and Asteroids by Secondary Students (ExMASS)- The program itself has officially ended, but resources are still available on their site.
Research-Based Science Education for Undergraduates (RBSEU)- Hosts instructions, data and programs online for a variety of projects including searching for novae, asteroids, and variable stars.
Volunteering, STEM Outreach, Exchange Opportunities
NASA Solar System Ambassadors– An application form will be available on the site once a year from September 1 to September 30.
Sister Cities and Observatories– This is an exchange program for students of schools near the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, USA and Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile in collaboration with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). The program helps ‘foster project-based learning and authentic radio astronomy research’.
Astronomy in Chile Educator Ambassador Program (ACEAP)- Of ten positions total, four are open to anyone in the world (who can fund the trip either personally or through institutional funding). The other six are restricted to US citizens (educators and amateur astronomers specifically).
HiWISH– Use this site to suggest places on Mars that you would like the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) to observe next.
International Astronomy and Astrophysics Contest Ambassadors
Browse this site for additional educational materials.
Where to Find Raw Data (For Intermediate Users)
If you need to collect data (fresh or archived) from the Internet for a project, here are some databases where you can find them. Note that data download and processing can require some level of computational expertise.
NASA Exoplanet Archive— Hosts Kepler exoplanet data.
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) International Database— Hosts variable stars data collected by amateur astronomers.
GBNCC Discoveries Database— Pulsar data, collected at Green Bank Telescope.
Chandra X-Ray Observatory Educational Resources
Exoplanet orbit database– Not updated anymore, but makes visualising data easy with plots.
Radio Jove– Involves building your own Decametric Radio Telescope and analysing natural radio emissions from Jupiter, the Sun and our galaxy.
Tutorials, Programs, Workshops, and Hackathons
Image Processing Tutorials by Emily Lakdawalla
Introduction to Astronomy Research– A repository of resources you can make use of to begin formal astronomy research.
Systemic Live– An apparently highly-regarded software for visualising radial velocity datasets and attempting to fit them to a planetary system model.
lightkurve– A Python package for analysing Kepler, K2 and TESS light curves. Includes tutorials.
Innovators Developing Accessible Tools in Astronomy (IDATA) – If you are interested in making astronomy more accessible to blind and visually impaired (BVI) individuals, and have a knack for coding, this could be a great opportunity for you. Follow the link to contact a project administrator.
Project Array– They develop curricula to increase scientific literacy among the public and currently have college-level resources introducing the concepts of radio astronomy.
AstroHackWeek– A week-long summer workshop on astronomy and tech.
.Astronomy– Created for individuals passionate about merging technology and astronomy. They organise virtual events, hackathons, talks and tutorials.
Code/Astro– From their site: Code/Astro is a week-long astronomy software development workshop aiming to give participants fundamental software engineering skills and and best practices for building sustainable open-source packages for astronomy applications.
NASA Space Apps Challenge– An international hackathon helping to solve real-world problems using NASA data.
Sagan Exoplanet Summer Workshops– Annual summer workshop with talks and hands-on sessions related to exoplanet astronomy. May be a little advanced for high school students.
Astronomy Paper Seminar Participation Guide and Reading Walkthrough– This is exactly what the title suggests. Many academics participate in paper seminars, where people read research papers and discuss their methods and findings. As a high school student, gaining practice critically reading and understanding research papers can help you be better prepared for college and also learn exactly how a lot of cool science happened!
Wolfram Mathematica / Wolfram Alpha– Use these tools if you need to solve a complicated equation, or simplify unwieldy expressions. Note that Mathematica isn’t free, but Wolfram Alpha provides the same basic functionality online.
Online Courses
Courses are suitable for people who prefer structured learning about a specific topic, but keep in mind they take time and commitment to complete. This is only a small sampling of the kinds of free courses you can find online. Search on Coursera, or EdX for a more exhaustive list.
Note: Coursera courses are free but certificates must be paid for. Specializations (a collection of related courses) are not free.
The Science of the Solar System– Caltech
Journey of the Universe- A Story for Our Times (specialization)- Yale University
Origins- Formation of the Universe, Solar System, Earth and Life– University of Copenhagen
Introduction to Thermodynamics: Transferring Energy from Here to There– University of Michigan
From the Big Bang to Dark Energy– University of Tokyo
Astronomy: Exploring Time and Space– University of Arizona
Mechanics: Motion, Forces, Energy and Gravity, from Particles to Planets– The University of New South Wales
MIT OCW is another great, classic resource. They have courses on everything from physics to history.
Contests
If you’re interested in competing in physics and astronomy related activities, here’s a list of the resources you could use and the competitions you could take part in:
International Physics Olympiad– A knowledge- and concept-based contest that is renowned for its difficulty. You’ll have to clear multiple levels of exams to have a chance at participating at the international level.
Conrad Challenge– Students exercise their entrepreneurial skills by developing a solution to a problem in one of the following categories: “Aerospace & Aviation, Cyber-Technology & Security, Energy & Environment, Health & Nutrition, Transforming Education Through Technology, Smoke-Free World: Eliminating & Reducing Teen Vaping, and Smoke-Free World: Re-purposed Farmlands & Tobacco Crops.”
NSS Space Settlement Contest– Open to individuals and teams from around the world. You have to design a space settlement under a few constraints (that are explained on their website) or submit material related to future space settlement efforts. A really fun project, and it encourages you to use your creativity. You can find more contests (including art and writing contests) hosted by the NSS here.
International Astronomy and Astrophysics Contest– It’s an international contest of three rounds, held online for the first two rounds and with a fee of $8 to qualify for the pre-final round. Participants have the opportunity to win certificates and cash prizes.
A Beamline for Schools– With a team, design an experiment you would like to perform at a particle accelerator! The top two teams from around the world will be invited to CERN to run their experiment on a real beamline.
Recommended Books & Textbooks
Where can you get these books? If you have access to a library, you should be able to find some of them there. You can also find them online in pdf/Kindle/ePub format
Listed below is the name of the book followed by the author’s name in italics.
Astrophysics and Astrobiology
A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking
The Grand Design Stephen Hawking
The Universe in a Nutshell Stephen Hawking
The Theory of Everything Stephen Hawking
Cosmos Carl Sagan
Pale Blue Dot Carl Sagan
The Demon-Haunted World Carl Sagan
Billions and Billions Carl Sagan
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Packing for Mars Mary Roach
Fundamentals of Astrodynamics Bate, Mueller and White
Origins Carl Sagan
Black Holes and Baby Universes Stephen Hawking
Solid State Physics
Semiconductor Physics and Devices Donald Neaman
Solid State Electronic Devices Streetman
Physics of Semiconductor Devices Ng & Sze
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory Boylestad & Nashelsky
Electronic Properties of Crystalline Solids Richard Bube
Solid State Physics for Engineering and Materials Science John P. McKelvey
The Oxford Solid State Basics Steven H. Simon
Electromagnetism
The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. II Richard Feynman
Fundamentals of Physics R. Shankar
Electromagnetism John Slater & Nathaniel H. Frank
Principles of Electrodynamics Melvin Schwartz
Electricity and Magnetism P. F. Kelly
Introduction to Electrodynamics David Griffiths
Faraday, Maxwell and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics Nancy Forbes
Nuclear and Particle Physics
The Elegant Universe Brian Greene
Hyperspace Michio Kaku
Introductory Nuclear Physics Kenneth S. Krane
Statistical and Thermal Physics
Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics H Reif
An Introduction to Thermal Physics Schroeder
Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics Greiner, Neise and Stöcker
Other Cool Sites
Maybe you don’t know much about a topic, or don’t have access to a textbook. Websites are a great place to start testing the waters. I’ve compiled a list of useful links for physics and astronomy students that can help you at school and college. These are my go-to sites, along with YouTube videos, whenever I don’t understand a concept.
Bonus: Mailing Lists!
Congrats on making it all the way down here; treat yourself to a few subscriptions and stay updated on webinars, workshops and more!
AAVSO
Zooniverse
NanoSTARS
Golden Webinars in Astrophysics (past lectures are also available on YouTube)
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