<p>I'm an aerospace engineering major (astronautics track) and I've been filling my elective slots with the theoretical courses within the astronomy department as opposed to the observational/instrumentation courses. I was hoping they were going to offer Galaxies, Cosmology, or High Energy Astrophysics next semester, but the only 400 level class offered is Radio Astronomy. I'm debating whether to take that or take Intro to Statistical Thermodynamics (other course within astronomy major sequence).
Here are the two different course descriptions from the syllabi:</p>
<p>PHYS404: Physics 404 is an introductory course on thermodynamics, statistical mechanics and a bit of kinetic theory. It is designed for physics majors but also suitable for advanced undergraduate students in astronomy, biology, chemistry, engineering, and space sciences. Unlike most upper-level courses for physics majors, PHYS 374 is not a prerequisite. 3 Credits (though many students think it should be worth 4 credits!).</p>
<p>ASTR410: This course is an introduction to radio astronomy covering the basic techniques, the types of measurements and telescopes, and the science. There is some focus on the basic physics and the mathematics of Fourier Transforms because they are so central to understanding radio astronomy. We expect a background knowledge of the physics of wave and mathematics at the level of calculus, vector analysis, and simple differential equation.</p>
<p>Is radio astronomy better for practical knowledge and thermo better for theoretical? Thoughts?</p>
<p>As an AeroE I imagine you’ve taken a bit of thermo already. Statistical mechanics is basically instead of working with “large” systems that are at a given thermodynamic state, you instead suppose a set of particles with a certain set of restrictions on them. For a basic idea of what you’ll see check out the microcanonical ensemble, canonical ensemble, and the grand canonical ensemble. You’ll probably learn how to connect those things to the more “traditional” properties you learned about in thermodynamics such as entropy, free energy, heat capacity, etc. It’s a neat class if you’re into those things.</p>
<p>Radio astronomy would probably be interesting if you’re interested in getting into instrumentation or learning how those things work.</p>
<p>Well I’m doing my PhD in radio astronomy right now, so I might be biased, but… well for what it’s worth, a lot of radio astronomy would actually be interesting to an engineer because it’s the closest sub-astro field to “experimental engineering.” Lots of discussion on how your telescope works, signal processing, software, etc.</p>
<p>So I know which one I would find more interesting and useful, but then as I said I’m biased.</p>
<p>After giving it some more thought I’m going to try for the radio astronomy class. I think it was fate that I happened to be reading an article this past weekend about ALMA down in Chile and it piqued my interest :-)</p>
<p>I can always take the physics course later (offered every semester) whereas the specific 4xx astro courses are only offered every couple years.</p>