Question How to study astrophysics at home

[Sage.In.Space]

Hello. I am a freshman in high school and I was wondering how I could go about studying some astrophysics. I'm assuming I should read up some books about the math and science basics behind it because I only have Algebra 1 and Honors Bio 2 under my belt. Any books or online courses or websites that I would be able to access for free would be very helpful.

 

[Catastrophe]

I have been working on Astronomy/Cosmology for about 70 years (I am 85) so maybe I can help.
My background is B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemical Engineering, which needs a lot of maths.

You can buy syllabuses (and syllabi are acceptable and commonly used plurals of syllabus) on eBay.
I have Open University (in UK) which I find very useful as home study is intended.
After that I have dozens of books and take Astronomy, Astronomy Now (UK), and All Abou6 Space magazines. Obviously all these options are not essential - depends on how you like to work.

As for books, I found Astronomy Explained (Gerald North, Springer) useful, though getting a little dated (1997). As well as very good explanations it has some remarkable you would not expect to find, such as occultation of star SAO 158687 by Uranus, showing presence of rings. Always the Internet of course.

If you like, I will sort out more book suggestions. If you want to browse, try Searching Astronomy and or Cosmology books on eBay.

Cat


P.S. I found the below, but have no knowledge of it:

​

The 8 Best Astronomy Books For Beginners - Atlas Obscura - Google Suche

You might find incredible differences in price for the same book. Take Care.
You will find the same book at $120 here and $4.50 there.

 

[COLGeek]

....and then there is the local public library for more books.

 

[Sage.In.Space]

I have been working on Astronomy/Cosmology for about 70 years (I am 85) so maybe I can help.
My background is B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemical Engineering, which needs a lot of maths.

You can buy syllabuses (and syllabi are acceptable and commonly used plurals of syllabus) on eBay.
I have Open University (in UK) which I find very useful as home study is intended.
After that I have dozens of books and take Astronomy, Astronomy Now (UK), and All Abou6 Space magazines. Obviously all these options are not essential - depends on how you like to work.

As for books, I found Astronomy Explained (Gerald North, Springer) useful, though getting a little dated (1997). As well as very good explanations it has some remarkable you would not expect to find, such as occultation of star SAO 158687 by Uranus, showing presence of rings. Always the Internet of course.

If you like, I will sort out more book suggestions. If you want to browse, try Searching Astronomy and or Cosmology books on eBay.

Cat


P.S. I found the below, but have no knowledge of it:

​

The 8 Best Astronomy Books For Beginners - Atlas Obscura - Google Suche

You might find incredible differences in price for the same book. Take Care.
You will find the same book at $120 here and $4.50 there.

Thank you so much. These seem like great starting points. I’ll look into them!