Physics with Astronomy

It’s all about how physics can help to answer the puzzles of the universe. Astronomy is the oldest of the sciences, but you’ll discover how it’s evolving incredibly quickly in the 21st century, with more and more sensitive instruments yielding more and better data.

By the time you graduate, you’ll know the latest techniques used to observe the sky at different energies, and why multi-wavelength observations are crucial to understanding the true nature of cosmic sources. You’ll learn through lectures and by doing lab work, where you’ll get to explore the nature of sources using real X-ray data collected by the XMM-Newton observatory.

Broad-based skills and real-world experience
Along with studying physics and mathematics, you’ll gain basic programming skills and significant practice in data analysis. In third year, you’ll do an INTRA work placement, which could be in a business, scientific or industrial organisation operating in physics, astronomy or space science. Furthermore, you should get to visit an observatory or major European data centre.

Throughout the course, you’ll build your communication skills and nurture your ability to work both independently and as part of a team. Typical careers for graduates include research and development in astronomy, astrophysics and space science, image processing and analysis (for example, for medical physics companies and organisations), and statistical analysis.

To do this course, you must first complete the first year of Physics General Entry at DCU.