/sci/ - Science & Math

As an ex-astrophysics major, I can back up all that's been said here. Even most professors will warn you of all of these things when you talk to them. But you should get involved with your uni's chapter of the Astronomy Society or Society of Physics Students, as you will learn immensely more there than you will from some anons on the internet.

On a personal note, I'd recommend looking into optics/photonics/laser engineering if your university has such a bachelor program for the following reasons:

1) Astronomy (obviously) cannot be done without optics. You probably know by now that we're in a new era of discovery with exoplanets, but the discovery/analysis process is extremely limited because even the most advanced telescopes can gather a handful of pixels worth of data at a time. Optical/photonics engineers are the ones who research and design better such imaging systems, such as adaptive optics, and you can bet there's a huge frontier in this technology.

2) The field is VERY under-saturated and the demand is very high.

3) When (if not already) you get a qt3.14 gf you want to settle down with and, as crazy as it sounds, want to have kids, you won't have to worry about supporting them on the instability of an underpaying job in an over-saturated field where even after being hired you must worry about grant funding, which is what astrophysics sadly entails.

4) In most large cities, this field offers a median (MEDIAN, mind you) six-digit salary and noice benefits.

5) You can bet your sweet ass the demand for it won't change any time soon. Defense budgets are increasingly relying on optics technology, but if that's not your cup of tea you have easy mobility to many private companies, research, infrastructure, etc.

Hey /sci/, have any of you given this a good read?

http://www.earth.lsa.umich.edu/geomicrobiology/PDF/Mix_06.pdf

It seems like Astrobiology is pretty underrepresented at most research institutions, but I'd love to see it start gaining momentum. It's a shame that experimental data on exoplanet spectra is so difficult to collect / shit quality this day and age, but regardless, it looks like some interesting things will come out of this field.

"Astrobiology, the study of life as a planetary phenomenon, aims to understand the
fundamental nature of life on earth and the possibility of life elsewhere. To achieve this
goal, astrobiologists have initiated unprecedented communication between the disciplines
of astronomy, biology, chemistry, and geology, incorporating information and systems
theory methods."