Office Hours: MWF 3:30-5:00 or by appointment
Required Textbooks:
Handbook of CCD Astronomy Steve B. Howell (CUP)
Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences (3rd ed) Bevington & Robinson
See the class website http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/faculty/wfw/CLASSES/ASTR680/astr680.html for additional suggested textbooks. The class website, with its many important links, is an integral part of this course. All homework sets will be posted on the website, along with important class news.
This course requires visits to SDSU's Mount Laguna Observatory, approximately 50 miles east of campus. We will be taking data at MLO so we will be there until late in the evening. Dates will be announced in class - they depend on the observing schedule as determined by the MLO Director.
As the first core course in our graduate program, this class is designed to allow students to:
(1) acquire a background in modern astronomy upon which they will build in the other core courses;
(2) begin developing the skills necessary to conduct research in observational astronomy.
- basic unix/linux environment;
- Fortran and numerical techniques;
- plotting tools: PGPLOT, xmgrace, etc.
- general software tools: ssh, scp, sftp; ghostview, acroread; xfig; LaTeX, OpenOffice/Staroffice, etc.
Basic Statistics
- probability distributions, error analysis,
x2 (chi square), parameter & confidence interval
estimation
- noise and S/N ratio in the astronomical context
Basic Astronomy Concepts and Definitions
- intensity, flux, magnitude, blackbody radiation;
filters, colors, extinction, color-color diagrams
- atmospheric phenomena (airmass, refraction, scintillation, airglow,
etc.)
- the equatorial coordinate system; precession; time systems
Introduction to Astronomical Software & Databases
- IRAF; ds9, ximtool; SkyView, NED, SIMBAD; skycalc, etc.
- ADS, arXive/LANL preprint server, ApJ on-line, etc.
Basic Telescope/Instrument Operation
- CCDs: design, bias, gain, data reduction, etc.
- Intro to facilities at SDSU's Mt. Laguna Observatory
(scheduled for Oct 1; second visit date TBD)
Introduction to Time Series Analysis
- Fourier transforms, power spectra; correlation and convolution
Grades will be based on homework sets (30%), a
midterm exam (30%), and a comprehensive final exam (40%).
You may work on homework sets together and I encourage you to learn and
share insights with your colleagues, but you must submit your own
independent work.
Homework is graded out of 50 points and late homework will incur a penalty
of 4 points the first day late and 1 point each day thereafter, to a
maximium of an 11 point deduction.
Guest lecturers may assign homework problems and submit final exam
questions, which they will be responsible for grading. Student are
required to give brief presentation on a research paper (journal club
style presentation).
Midterm: Wednesday October 27 (tentative)
* WED NOV 3 OFFICIAL DATE *
Final Exam: Wednesday December 15 (1-3 pm)
Guest
Lectures:
(Dates to be determined)
CCDs:
Dr. Bob Leach ;
Introduction to Spectroscopy:
Dr. Paul Etzel ;