Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy?

Question

How much physics and mathematics is involved in astronomy?

Is there a good book for me to read in this regard?

Answer 1

It's pretty much all math and physics...though specialized fields delve into geosciences, chemistry, and biology (among other fields).

Bottom line, if you want to be an astronomer, you're going to have to master calculus.

Answer 2

I don't quarrel with the answers you have received, but with a smart telescope and a fundamental understanding of what is going on, you can enjoy a great deal of observational astronomy, and acquire a better knowledge of the constellations, brighter stars, and Messier objects than most of the general population.

Somone, I forget who, in response to modern physics said "God is a mathematician," meaning that an understanding of the universe requires math. So it does. But you can enjoy the heavens without becoming an astronomer. Remember Walt Whitman's poem, "The Learned Astronomer:"

When I heard the learn'd astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and
measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

I do not know if the learn'd astronomer still possessed what Whitman told us is a free gift to all. It might be what you have to sacrifice.

Answer 3

The difference between physics and astronomy is 6 classes, at least at San Diego State University, where I was able to get a 2nd bachelor's degree in physics by taking 6 more classes after completing my bachelor's in astronomy. That school also requires astronomy majors to complete a math minor.