UCL
Bloomsbury, London, UK
Full-time or Part-time Study
The MSc programme in Astrophysics aims to provide students with a sound knowledge of the underlying principles which form a thorough basis for careers in these and related fields, enable students to develop insights into the techniques used in current projects and allow an in-depth experience of a particular specialised research area.
In addition they are meant to develop the professional skills for students to play a meaningful role in industrial or academic life, and give students the experience of teamwork, a chance to develop presentation skills and learn to work to deadlines.
The programmes include a number of lecture courses relevant to the discipline such as Planetary Atmospheres and Cosmology in the Astrophysics course, though some flexibility is built in so that courses can also be taken on topics removed from the immediate subject.
A research topic is included so that 50% of the marks are made up by completing an individual task. These are built around cutting-edge topics from the Department’s research programme. The supervisor will provide a topic in which the student has a real chance to make a contribution to the research. In Astrophysics in recent years, for example, this has meant topics such as re-analysing extrasolar planet orbits to improve their characterisation, looking at datasets that inform the cosmology of Dark Energy and investigating the possibility that life could exist on a recently discovered “super-Earth” orbiting a nearby red dwarf star.
These projects give a real feel for what it is like to do postgraduate research, or work in a project team in an advanced industry.
Course
structure:
Core modules
4 courses to be chosen from:
- Cosmology
- Galaxy Dynamics, Formation and Evolution
- High-energy Astrophysics
- Mathematics for General Relativity
- Planetary Atmospheres
- Solar Physics
- Space Plasma and Magnetospheric Physics
- The Physics of Stars
- Advanced Physical Cosmology
Options:
2 courses to be chosen from:
- Advanced Quantum Theory
- Atom and Photon Physics
- Cosmology
- Galaxy Dynamics, Formation and Evolution
- Graduate level Physics and Astrophysics courses
- High-energy Astrophysics
- Intercollegiate 4th year courses
- Mathematics for General Relativity
- Medical Physics MSc core courses
- Molecular Physics
- Order and Excitations in Condensed Matter
- Particle Physics
- Planetary Atmospheres
- Plastic and Molecular (Opto)electronics
- Solar Physics
- Quantum Computation and Communication
- Space Plasma and Magnetospheric Physics
- Space and Climate Science MSc core courses
- The Physics of Stars
Research essay:
An extended literature survey on a topic related to your research project.
Research
dissertation:
An independent research project based in one of the Departmental research
groups,
culminating in a dissertation and oral presentation.
Entry requirements
A minimum of a 2:1 Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline (normally Physics, Maths or Electrical Engineering) from a UK university or an equivalent overseas qualification.
Further information
There is further information on UCL’s information for prospective students page, MSc Astrophysics Prospectus, including:
- International equivalent qualifications by country
- English language requirements for international applicants
- Latest tuition fees
How To Apply
Apply via the UCL online application system.