ASTR341 Haverford College
Advanced Topics in Astrophysics:
Optical Observational Astronomy - Fall 2010

Assignments

Course Materials and Links

Instructor: Beth Willman, assisted by Scott Engle
INSC L108 and Strawbridge Observatory
610.896.1201
bwillman at haverford dot edu

Class: M 7:30 - 10:00 pm in the observatory

Office Hours: M 2:30 - 4 pm, Tu 9 - 10:30 am, Th 1 - 3 pm.
M in Observatory. Tu/Th in KINSC L108.




Brief Class Description:

This course will give you first hand experience with what it is like to unlock mysteries of the universe with observations of the sky as planned, obtained, and analyzed by you. Technically speaking: the focus of this course is the acquisition and analysis of optical astronomical images using CCD cameras and the IDL programming language. Doing this will involve studying how to quantify light, statistical uncertainty, ccd cameras, digital images, and photometry. Along the way you will develop expertise in many areas, including:

1. The night sky;
2. Using modern astronomical facilities;
3. Computer programming;
4. Statistics;
5. The astronomical systems that you will study

We will be working through a large chunk of Fred Chromey's book To Measure the Night Sky, both in workshop-style class sessions and independently. This is a one unit course that meets formally for 2.5 hours, once per week during the Fall semester. You will also be required to obtain self-scheduled nighttime observations with lab partners and may be required to visit Kitt Peak National Observatory over Fall break to obtain observations to analyze (an alternative assignment can be arranged if necessary).

Assignments and Grading:

30% Homework sets: There will be 5 or 6 problem sets for this class assigned from the texbook. These traditional homework assignments will be taken from Chromey's book and will be strongly clustered toward the beginning of this course.

70% Lab exercises: There will be approximately 3 labs during the semester: 1 or 2 based on data obtained at Haverford and 1 based on data obtained at KPNO (or on archival data).

Work is due during the class period on the assigned due date, unless otherwise specified. Work not handed in during lecture is considered late. Late work will only be accepted without penalty in serious circumstances: religious holiday, death in the family, illness. Otherwise, late work will be graded down by 10% credit per day late. Between 5 and 10 days late, work will be penalized by 50%. Work that is more than 10 days late will receive no credit.

Honor Code:

The important guiding principle of academic honesty is that you must never represent the work of another as your own. Please request clarification of the following if you find yourself in any doubtful situations: Discussion and collaboration with other students on homework sets and labs is encouraged. However, all submitted work must be your own. While working together is permitted, merely copying the work of another student (whether a calculation or a sketch of a moon phase) without indicating that you have done so is clearly a representation of his or her work as your own and so is a violation of the code. You should always try all work by yourself before collaborating with classmates, posting questions on Blackboard, going to Blackboard to see the answers to other questions, or coming to discussion section.

Accomodations:

Students who think they may need accommodations in this course because of the impact of a disability are encouraged to meet with me privately early in the semester. Students should also contact Rick Webb, Coordinator, Office of Disabilities Services (rwebb@haverford.edu, 610-896-1290) to verify their eligibility for reasonable accommodations as soon as possible. Early contact will help to avoid unnecessary inconvenience and delays.