Astronomers explore the universe by detecting and analyzing light from all over the elecromagnetic spectrum. We concentrate on a subset of techniques for detection of photons at visible and at radio wavelengths.
This is a three-quarters lab and one-quarter lecture course. The laboratory component entails obtaining and analyzing astronomical data with optical and radio telescopes. Three distinct observational experiments will be conducted, focussing on optical photometry/time-series analysis, optical spectroscopy, and radio interferometry. The students will be responsible for setting up and calibrating their telescope equipment, obtaining their own data, and analyzing the data.
The lecture component is intimately intertwined with the experimental aspects of the course. The students will learn the basics of practical observational astronomy, such as determining the observability of select targets, telescope and detector technology, the use of photometric, spectroscopic, and interferometric techniques, and methods of error, statistical, and time-series analysis.
For one of the projects, the students will write a telescope observing proposal, and conduct a peer-review of all proposals. The observing proposal will emphasize the need for generating a testable hypothesis and justifying it through expected signal-to-noise or other appropriate statistical arguments. The peer evaluations will serve to assess the evaluator's ability to critically assess the quality of the other proposals.
The students will prepare journal-style written reports on each of their observational projects and a final oral or poster presentation on one of the projects.
This github repository will contain starter code for the data reduction, and its wiki pages will (eventually) replace the original course webpage: https://github.com/anjavdl/PHY517_AST443_Fall2016/wiki