A211T Syllabus

  • last updated 11/3/17

    Faculty

    • Professor Karen Kwitter
    • Office: 110 TPL; Office Hours: TBA
    • Extension: 2272
    • Instructor/Observatory Supervisor: Dr. Steven Souza
    • Office: 117 TPL
    • Office Hours: TBA
    • Extension: 3210

    Orientation to Observing Facilities: As part of our first class on Friday, 9/8, Dr. Souza will briefly describe the observatory and the available equipment, and then, for students who are NOT TA’s, he will schedule an observatory orientation session.

    Text: “To Measure the Sky,” by F. Chromey (2nd edition). 
    There will also be additional resources on 4-hr reserve in Schow, including, but not necessarily limited to:

    Bradt, “Astronomy Methods”
    Howell, “Handbook of CCD Astronomy,” 2nd edition
    Norton, “Observing the Universe”
    Taylor, “An Introduction to Error Analysis, 2nd edition” also available online.

    Weekly Tutorial Assignments: These will include problem sets and presentations exploring concepts from class and labs as well.

    Workload: In addition to tutorial sessions and Friday lectures, students should expect to devote a minimum of 10-15 hours per week to this class. This includes time spent on reading, homework, labs, and observing projects.

    Exams and Grading: 
    Midterm Exam: There will be one closed-book take-home midterm exam, which will be distributed via e-mail on Thursday, 10/19. It will be due in your next tutorial session.

    Makeups for the midterm or labs will be scheduled for those who request to be excused beforehand, or for those with excuses from the Infirmary. Grades will be calculated as follows:

    • Tutorial Presentations/Participation: 40%

    • Midterm Exam: 20%

    • Labs: 20%

    • Observing Projects: 20%

    Honor System: Students are strongly reminded of the honor system as described in the Student Handbook. No collaboration at all is allowed on exams. You may work together in small groups on homework; however, all homework handed in must represent individual, not group, effort. All partners must participate in the observing projects at all stages. If you are in any doubt about how the honor system applies to a particular activity in this course, please consult me or Dr. Souza.

    Disabilities Statement: Students with disabilities of any kind who may need disability-related classroom accommodations for this course are encouraged to contact G.L. Wallace at 597-4672.  Also, students experiencing mental or physical health challenges that are significantly affecting their academic work are encouraged to contact me and to speak with a dean.  The deans can be reached at 597-4171. 

    Lectures: There will be one weekly lecture on Fridays from 1:00 until 2:15 PM or so. The syllabus below lists the topics to be covered, which will form the material for the following week’s tutorial sessions. Some or all of the material in the indicated chapters will be relevant to your weekly assignments. Ideally, you will do the assigned reading before each Friday’s lecture covering it; in any case, It’s imperative to do the reading before your tutorial session; that way you have time to ask about the material in advance of being responsible for it. What follows is a tentative schedule of topics and dates; we may deviate as circumstances dictate.

    DATE

    CLASS TOPICS

    READING

    CHAPTERS IN C(HROMEY); N(ORTON)
    F 9/8 Light, Magnitudes, Distances C 1
    NASA website about the EM spectrum
    Review material on blackbodies, flux, magnitudes, spectra from Astronomy 111 or other sources.
    F 9/15 Place, Time & Motion

    IMAGING PROJECT ASSIGNED (proposals due in lab 9/25; presentations 10/23 in lab)

    		 C 3 ; N 1 (skip 1.8)
    play with online planetarium
    F 9/22 NO CLASS – ROSH HASHANAH
    F 9/29 Signals & Statistics (Dr. Souza) C 2; N 13

    Read Taylor 1-3, 11
    F 10/6 CCDs; Working with Digital Data

     

    		 C: skim 9.1-4; N 4-5; Howell 2.1, (skim 2.2); 3.3-3.9; 4
    download Jeff Thrush’s useful “CCD Astronomy.ppt” from here
    F 10/13 MOUNTAIN DAY
    F 10/20 Photometry

    MIDTERM EXAM distributed: 90-minute, single-session, closed-book, take-home exam, due at your next tutorial meeting. Formulas provided.

    		 C10 through 10.4; N 6; reread N 13.3-13.7; review Howell 4 through 4.5
    F 10/27 Spectroscopy  C 11.1-2, 11.4, 11.8-9; N 3, 7
    F 11/3 Telescopes C 6 (skip 6.6 for now); N 2
    F 11/10 The Atmosphere & Adaptive Optics  C 6.6; 10.5-8, ; Bradt pp. 119-128
    Claire Max website — read color pdf of first lecture (about halfway down the page); also view the cool movie links on the right
    F 11/17 Non-Optical Astronomy McLean, “Electronic Imaging in Astronomy” 2nd ed. Ch. 11.1-11.3.1
    IR from CWRU website
    NASA’s JWST website
    Radio Basics
    Radio Emission Mechanisms
    Bob O’Connell’s UVa high-E page
    high-E from CWRU website
    F 11/24 NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING
    F 12/1 Cleanup (if needed)

    DATE

    LAB TOPIC

    READING FOR LAB
    M 9/11 Introduction to unix, IRAF, ds9 and AstroImageJ Handouts and AstroImageJ User Guide
    also this book
    M 9/18 Planetarium Show /
    Starry Night     		 Review C 3
    M 9/25

    Online Resources

    Hubble Legacy Archive; MAST

    		 C 4

    Handout
    Astrobetter: the MAST portal
    M 10/2 Take CCD Data for Lab
    M 10/9 NO LAB: READING PERIOD
    M 10/16 NO LAB
    M 10/23 Do CCD Labs

    SECOND PROJECT ASSIGNED (proposals due in class 11/3; presentations 12/4 in lab)

    		 Handouts
    M 10/30 IMAGING PROJECT PRESENTATIONS Handout
    M 11/6 Detecting Exoplanet Transits AstroImageJ User Guide
    also this book
    M 11/13 Work independently on homework & projects
    M 11/27 Work independently on homework & projects
    M 12/4 SECOND PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

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