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General Information

Credits: 3 (PHY 517) or 4 (AST 443)

Instructor: Anja von der Linden (anja.vonderlinden 'at' stony brook.edu, ESS 453)

Office hours: TBD

TAs:

• Kedarsh Kaushik (kedarsh.kaushik 'at' stonybrook.edu), office hours TBD or by appointment
• Huangfei Xiao (huangfei.xiao 'at' stonybrook.edu), office hours TBD or by appointment

Suggested texts:

• Measuring the Universe, G. Rieke (Cambridge University Press, 2012)
• Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences, P.R. Bevington & D. K. Robinson (McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2003)
• Practical Statistics for Astronomers, J.V. Wall & C.R. Jenkins (Cambridge University Press, 2008)

Prerequisites: AST203 (Astronomy), PHY277 (Computation for Physics and Astronomy), WRT102 (Intermediate Writing Workshop)

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Class times are Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:40-5:30pm and will be scheduled either as lectures, tutorials, or data analysis help sessions, i.e. the possibility to work on the data analysis in the presence of the instructor / the TAs. In addition, the labs need to be scheduled with the TAs. Lab 1 is to be completed during day-time, independent of the weather. For Labs 2 and 4, expect to schedule 3 night-time observing sessions each - you need to be flexible for the weather!

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Description

Astronomers explore the universe by detecting and analyzing light from all over the electromagnetic spectrum. We concentrate on a subset of techniques for detection of photons at visible wavelengths.

This is a lab course, focused on obtaining and analyzing astronomical data with optical telescopes. Students will work in groups of two or three to conduct three distinct observational experiments. In Lab 1, students measure properties of astronomical cameras and develop a calibration scheme for optical imaging. In Lab 2, students will acquire time-series photometry of an exoplanet transit using the rooftop telescope. For Lab 3, students will analyze optical spectra of a Planetary Nebula (on available data). For Lab 4, students will write a telescope proposal for a project of their own choosing with the rooftop telescope; each group will then conduct their highest-ranked project. The students will be responsible for setting up and calibrating the telescope equipment, obtaining their own data, analyzing the data, and reporting their work in lab reports written in the style of scientific papers.

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 and spectroscopic techniques, and methods of error, statistical, and time-series analysis. A limited number of homework sets will be assigned to facilitate comprehension of the lecture material.

Data analysis will be performed using standard astronomy software packages, as well as one general-purpose programming language such as python. In addition, students will need to familiarize themselves with standard Linux tools (such as bash scripting). Tutorials will be provided during class-time and/or as homework.

Towards the end of the course, the students will prepare a final oral or poster presentation on one of the projects.