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Full Year

Observational Astronomy (PHYS09059)

Subject

Physics and Astronomy

College

SCE

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Course Summary

This 20-pt course consists of a 10-pt lecture course (~16 lectures, ~5 tutorials) and the 10-pt astrophysics laboratory. The lecture course (one lecture per week, over two semesters) will introduce the students to the basics concepts of the quantitative measures of light, astronomical coordinate systems, telescope design, optical/near-IR instruments, multi-wavelength astronomy (Far-IR, X-ray and Radio) and statistical techniques in astronomy. In the astrophysics laboratory the students will undertake a series of three experiments. The first provides the students with practical experience of operating an optical spectrograph, including calibration, data acquisition and data analysis techniques. The second series of experiments provides the students with expertise in astronomical data analysis software through a series of experiments dealing with astrometry, photometry and spectroscopy. The final series of experiments provides students with hands-on experience of analysing 8m-class telescope imaging of brown dwarf stars.

Course Description

Lectures Syllabus:1. Observing Basics- celestial sphere, coordinate systems2. Quantitative measurements of light- Inverse square law, specific intensity, flux density- Apparent magnitudes, absolute magnitudes 3. Reddening and atmospheric extinction4. Adaptive optics and telescope design 5. Imaging detectors - CCDs, electron band structure, doping and p:n junctions 6. Imaging - data reduction and analysis 7. Spectroscopy - instruments 8. Spectroscopy - reduction/calibration 9. Space Astronomy techniques 10. Far-IR and submm astronomy 11. X-ray astronomy 12. Radio Astronomy 13. Signal, noise and distortion 14. High resolution astronomy 15. Statistical techniques in astronomyAstrophysics Laboratory Syllabus:1. Practical spectroscopy- Set-up and calibration of an optical spectrograph - alignment and focusing- Determining the refractive index of a prism- Identifying unknown elements from their emission-line spectra- Determining the transmission function of a set of colour filters2. Computer based exercises- Determining membership of a galaxy cluster - multi-band aperture photometry- Determining the redshift of a quasar - data reduction and emission-line fitting- Determining the distance to a near-earth asteroid - astrometry3. Data Analysis Project- Analyse imaging data of brown dwarf stars

Assessment Information

Written Exam 50%, Coursework 50%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Assessment Information

The lecture course will be assessed via a 2-hour written exam. The astrophysics laboratory exercises will be assessed via two written reports. The data analysis project will be assessed via a hand-in.

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