Physics 373: Observational Astronomy (Spring 2024)

This material can be found online at URL

http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys373/phys373.html

Material from an older iteration (2014) of this course can be found at

http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys373.s2014/phys373.html

Instructor

Michael Richmond
Building 76, Office 1274
Office phone: 475-2538
E-mail: mwrsps@rit.edu

Outline for this course

Class hours


   Monday     2:00 -  2:50 pm        WAL-4510
   Wednesday  2:00 -  2:50 pm        GOS-1365
   Friday     2:00 -  3:50 pm        GOS-1365

We will also meet several times at night at the RIT Observatory, which is located at 645 John Street, near its intersection with Bailey Road. Look at map to the Observatory.

List of targets and groups

This course provides students with the tools they need to plan an observing run for an astronomical target, operate a telescope, acquire digital images with a CCD camera, reduce the images, and analyze the results. At the end of the course, students will carry out a project and write up their results in poster form.

Lectures

Week 1, Day A: No class today
Week 1, Day B: Celestial coordinate systems I
Week 1, Day C: Lab: Using Stellarium

Week 2, Day A: Celestial coordinate systems II
Week 2, Day B: Different kinds of time I
Week 2, Day C: Lab: Using Aladin and SIMBAD

Week 3, Day A: Some Project Possibilities
Week 3, Day B: Different kinds of time II
Week 3, Day C: Lab: Picking a target and making an observing plan

Week 4, Day A: Astronomical units: magnitudes
Week 4, Day B: Astronomical units: filters and "colors"
Week 4, Day C: Making a light curve with magnitudes

Week 5, Day A: Optical telescopes I
Week 5, Day B: Optical telescopes II
Week 5, Day C: Calibrating instrumental magnitudes

Week 6, Day A: Optical detectors -- old and new
Week 6, Day B: CCDs and CMOS -- how do they work?
Week 6, Day C: Combining data from different nights, computing phase

Week 7, Day A: Project selection day
Week 7, Day B: Preparing for your observations
Week 7, Day C: Introduction to AstroImageJ

Week 8, Day A: Problems with CCDs: darks and flats
Week 8, Day B: How to "clean" raw images
Week 8, Day C: No class today

Spring Break -- no classes

Week 9, Day A: Measuring stars via aperture photometry
Week 9, Day B: Creating "master" darks and flats using AIJ
Week 9, Day C: AstroImageJ: cleaning images and measuring stars

Week 10, Day A: Parallax, distances, apparent and absolute magnitudes
Week 10, Day B: The Hertsprung-Russell diagram
Week 10, Day C: In-depth analysis of the binary KIC 8736245

Class meetings from this point on will be in Computer Lab, and devoted to analyzing student data and working on final projects.

Week 11, Day A: Gathering data from other sources (Read on your own)
Week 11, Day B: Poster basics (Read on your own)
Week 11, Day C: (work on project, computer lab)

Week 12, Day A: Solar Eclipse Day
Week 12, Day B: Eclipse reports
Week 12, Day C: (work on project, computer lab)

Week 13, Day A: (work on project, computer lab)
Week 13, Day B: (work on project, computer lab)

Week 14, Day A: (work on project, computer lab)
Week 14, Day B: (work on project, computer lab)
Week 14, Day C: Final project previews

Week 15, Day A: (work on project, computer lab)

Poster Presentations: Wed, May 1, 10:45 AM - 1:15 PM, WAL-4510

Extra Credit Projects

These are optional. Students may hand in up to two extra credit projects during the semester. Each one can earn up to two percent (2%) of credit added to one's overall score.

Observing runs

There will be periods during which students will be required to work at the Observatory at night. Each student will devise a scientific project and figure out what sort of images must be acquired to carry it out. Students will perform most of the work at the Observatory to take the data, for themselves and their colleagues.

Take a look at the calendar for the RIT Observatory in order to reserve time for your project. All students enrolled in the course should be able to access this calendar using their RIT E-mail accounts.

For further information on CCDs, telescopes, and observing ...

Bill Romanishin's textbook for "Observatory Methods", a course he taught at Oklahoma University.
Norman Walker's guide to CCD photometry
CCD Observing Manual from the American Association of Variable Star Observers.