Are there any IIT institutes for astronomy/astrophysics?
I would say that this is the right time to make a brief sketch of your future career if not make the exact decision. Since you are in 9th standard, in India, and seem to have interest in Astrophysics, you might want to look at this: Career In Astronomy . But certainly, your base of Mathematics and Physics need to be strong if you really want to make it count.Indian Institute of Astrophysics is the prime authority for the subject in India. Their website will provide you almost all details on the subject and career in India.As for IITs, none of them provide Astronomy as a major/minor course, since its not a mainstream subject. But IISc Bangalore does provide some related course. Outside India, however, there are institutes which provide such courses. Their fees are usually high, but you can manage that with scholarships, by clearing a few entrance exams. Some people take up part time jobs, but those are redundant.Regarding whether IITs are compulsory for good future career , the answer is both YES and NO. It depends on what are you trying to achieve in life ?A high paying job with little emphasis on research, or an academically/scientifically challenging task with maybe, a low salary ? If you are looking for the first one, IITs, NITs, or other Engineering institutes should be your target. The curriculum at these institutes are more technical (or job oriented) and somewhat less research oriented. Otherwise you should look enrol in a Science course. There are brilliant institutes in India such as IISc, IISER etc, which are at par with the popularity of IITs (sometimes better too), though their course structures are substantially different. Doing Class 11 & 12 from outside India will make almost no difference actually. When you have cleared your Higher Secondary, do some background check and enroll in a reputed institute in India/abroad (make sure to enrol in the right course too, depending on what are YOUR goals, do not blindly copy others). Today's world demands talent and capability, hence if you have the "thunder" within, you will surely achieve your goal in due time. There is one technical jargon you need to correct: you do not say "IIT institutes" rather just IIT, since the word "institute" is already included in the abbreviation of IIT.
Does astronomy/astrophysics benefit society and if so how?
I find space fascinating, but is there any practical benefit to society gained from studying it? Might society be better off if the brilliant minds that have chosen careers in astronomy and astrophysics had chosen to be medical researchers, engineers, material scientists, etc? NOTE - I'm not question the space program. The space program has provided a great number of technological breakthroughs. I'm questioning the fields that deal with objects mankind could not hope to reach for hundreds of years. NOTE - Let me elaborate on where I am coming from with this question. One doesn't build the second floor of a home before the foundation. Similarly, one might say humans shouldn't waste resources and careers researching topics before they are even remotely useful. Humanity would progress further if those people had devoted themselves to designing bigger and better rockets to get us into space instead of studying binary star systems thousands of years before we ever have to worry about mining and colonizing objects orbiting them. NOTE - This question boils down to "practical application of science" versus "science for the sake of science", but I'm focusing on space with this question.
I'm playing Space Engine, a 3D astronomy program. What does a "selena" mean?
Well, from the words of the website itself, a selena is “a rocky planet without an atmosphere.” Common examples include Mercury, the Moon, and Io.You can find more information in this website: Creating a planet - Space Engine(I am well aware that this answer is, like, 4 years late, but considering that all previous answers have collapsed, I’m just going to answer this as well, hoping that this one won’t have the same fate.)
Impact on astronomy in our daily life?
I told people that I was going to be an astronomer when I grew up, but didn't quite make it. I watch the stars all night, and I look for the moon and Venus in the day. My magnet on the In/Out chart at work is a little moon to track of the moon phases through the month. I have an astronaut on my key chain. I got really excited when they announced the discovery of water on the moon. Sometimes, I navigate by the stars at night, even if I am driving on the interstate highway. In your life, what's the impact? Probably not much. But I like to think and dream and explore, not just eat and sleep and talk on the telephone.
What could i do with a masters in astronomy/astrophysics?
With a bachelors in astronomy or astrophysics, you could teach high school in some states (although most won't hire someone just to teach astronomy), work for a museum, or do some sort of research assistant/outreach coordinator job for a large university or NASA (very few of those jobs exist). With a masters, you can do all that and teach community college. But if you want to teach at a 4-year college or university and/or do research in the field, you'll need a PhD (major in physics in college, then go for a PhD in astronomy or physics). There aren't a ton of those jobs, so there's a lot of competition, and you have to be willing to move anywhere to take the job. None of these jobs tend to pay very well, but pay comfortably (with a PhD, most people just out of grad school make between 40k and 60k a year, goes up after a few years but not a lot). No one does it for the money.
What are the BEST ivy league schools for astronomy?
I'm going to list the top graduate schools. They all have good undergrad programs as well, but remember, you don't stay in the same school for graduate and undergraduate degrees. And you DO need a PhD to do anything in astronomy. Harvard, Berkeley, CalTech, Princeton, Yale, U of Toronto, Cornell, Columbia, U of Chicago, U of Arizona, U of Hawaii, U of Washington (Seattle), UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, U of Colorado (Boulder), UT Austin, U of Virginia, Penn State, MIT, U of Michigan, Clemson U, U of Maryland, Ohio State.
Is there lots of math in a college Astronomy Lab?
Astronomy without math is just looking at pretty images. And you need enough math to figure out where to point the telescope, even to do that. But the good news is, there is a limit to the amount of math in astronomy. The math content can never be more than 100% ;-)