ASTR341 - Assignments

Projects

Tutorials Specific for Astr341

Handout on CCD statistics

Basic Unix tutorial

Basic IDL tutorial

IDL tutorials provided by Exelis

ATV tutorial

Astronomy Essentials

ADS - Online service providing access to all astronomy journal articles ever.

Telescopes

Observing manual for the 16-inch telescope at Strawbridge observatory, written by Scott Engle and Steve Boughn.

CCD manual for the CCD used with the 16-inch telescope at Strawbridge observatory, written by Scott Engle and Steve Boughn.

WIYN 0.9m Observatory - This is the observatory Haverford now belongs to. You can find observing information on this page, including links to the instruments available. These instrument links detail the properties of the instruments and their filter sets.

Observer's Helpers

Astronomical Almanac online: Stars & Stellar Systems Can use this to identify Landolt or Johnson standard stars that you will use in your observations. Be careful to notice which epoch the stars' coordinates are presented in.

US Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications - Tables available for sunrise/set, moonrise/set, and astronomical twilight. The astronomical twilight table is helpful to figure out when the Sun is far enough belwo the horizon to obtain astronomical observations. (When the Sun first rises, it is already way too bright to observe and right after the Sun sets it is way too bright to observe).

Object Seasonal Observability - Enter an observing location, a range of observing dates, and the coordinates of your observing target, and you will be given its observability over that observing season. For Strawbridge Observatory, I have been using "Black Moshannnon Observatory" from the menu. It is located close to 41 degrees N latitude and 78 degrees West longitude, with an altitude of 738m above sea level.

Hourly Airmass Table - Enter an observing location, a date, and the coordinates of your observing target and you will be given its airmass as a function of time for that night.

Astronomical Magnitude Systems - This page defines several magnitude systems (Johnson, Gunn griz, and AB). Perhaps more valuable is that it provides the number of photons per second that hit the top of the atmosphere in the UBVRIJHKgriz filters for an m = 0 source.

The Clear Sky Clock - Look here to get the predicted observing conditions for the next day and a half.