Reddit mentions of Cosmochemistry

It depends on what you go into. If you want to do research, you'd pretty much have to get a PhD, and most astronomers/astrophysicists have a specialty. You could get a general degree and do something like public outreach, but to be honest, those jobs are few and far between. Sadly, astronomy is not required on any level in school so teaching is hard to get as well.

There is a bit of math, and a lot of physics. But there are varying fields within the astronomical community.

You could study stars (like James Kaler) and you'd probably want to look into helioseismology, magnetohydrodynamics, and nuclear physics to see if that's your bag.

You could study galaxy dynamics (which I'm given to understand is currently somewhat a hot topic) and you'd have to understand gravity. LOTS of gravity. There are enormous textbooks on gravity out there. Get one, and see if you like it.

Planetary geology is actually pretty fun, and doesn't typically require hairier math or physics above a high school AP course (basically, you have to like these subjects, but you don't have to be a genius at them). It's super fun, and I recommend starting there if you're interested in astronomy, but don't love math.

If you like chemistry, consider astro/cosmochemistry.

If you're an insane person, go into cosmology. It's really hard. Studying anything that's super theory heavy (like black holes, dark matter, string theory, etc.) is just math on PCP.

Not sure if you've played then, but haven't: Kerbal Space Program is the best way to get an intuitive understanding of orbital mechanics. If you like to play God you should also try the Universe Sandbox, and if you want a really really hardcore space sim you should play (or wait, it's still in alpha) for Rogue System.


As for actual books, OpenStax recently published their free astronomy book, and it's quite good for an introduction. From there, it depends entirely on what you're interested in, there's literally a universe's worth of information about
Astrophysics,
Astrochemistry,
Astrobiology,
Astrometry and
Orbital mechanics (for the aspiring galactic navigator),
Cosmology,
Planetary geology and
Cosmochemistry (careful, these last two lead to geology and meteorology which are equally disastrously addictive fields!)


Also, feel free to follow NASA's, ESA's, and JAXA's blogs. And spend a minute each morning checking the astronomy picture of the day.


Just don't end up llike me and annoy all your friends.