AST325/326: (Introduction to) Practical Astronomy
Term: 2008 Fall and 2009 Winter
New Announcements
Exam preview is available. (April 2)
Information for the Final Report of the Practical Assignment is available. (March 30)
Solution for HW8 is available. (March 30)
Practical Assignment Presentation on March 31.
Final Exam on April 7.
The due of the practical assignments is April 9, not March 27 (Feb 3)
Class Hours: Tuesday 10-12 AM (lecture and lab session at AB 107/105) and Monday evening (telescope session using the campus telescopes on the roof of the MP building)
Instructor: Dae-Sik Moon (moon at astro.utoronto.ca, 978-6566, AB128); Nominal Office Hours: 3-4 pm, Monday (or can be arranged).
Teaching Assistants (mainly for lab session): Duy Cuong Nguyen (nguyen at astro.utoronto.ca, 978-6259) & Erin Mentuch (mentuch at astro.utoronto.ca, 946-5832); Office Hours: TBA (or can be arranged).
Campus Observers (for telescope session): Ivana Damjanov (damjanov at astro.utoronto.ca, 978-7123) & Richard Chou (chou at astro.utoronto.ca, 978-3148); Office Hours: TBA (or can be arranged).
Textbooks: There is no textbook.
References: 'Observational Astronomy' (2nd edition, 2006) by Birney, Gonzalez, & Oesper; 'Handbook of CCD Astronomy' (2nd edition, 2006) by Howell; 'Astrophysical Techniques' (4th edition, 2003) by Kitchin. (References are available at Gerstein Science Information Centre.)
Course Overview and Topics
The course will present students with practical experience for astronomy,
ranging from the hands-on experience of the campus telescope to
research-oriented data analysis, as well as computer-based data analysis tools.
Sessions using the undergraudate computer laboratory are essential part of the course
where students are required to learn necessary computer skills.
Students need to show that they can operate the campus telescope.
The lecture part will include the introduction to telescopes, detectors and CCDs,
measurement of radiation and light, photometry, spectroscopy, and the clestial sphere.
Special emphasis will be placed on performance of research-oriented projects.
- Telescopes and Basic Optics
- Detectors and CCDs
- Statistics and Error Analysis (including the Poisson distribution)
- Measurement of Radiation and Light
- Photometry
- Spectroscopy
- The Celestial Sphere
- (Time Series and Polarization)
- ......
- UNIX and Linux
- Web-based Tools for Modern Astronomy
- Photometric and Spectroscopic Analysis using IRAF
- Real Telescope Operation and Observations with Campus Telescopes
- Detector Characterization
- ......
Assignments and Exams
- Telescope Operation (You need to show the campus observer that you can operate the campus telescope.)
- Practical Research-oriented Term Projects
- Four Lecture Problem Sets (Eight for AST326)
- Four Lab Assignments (Eight for AST326)
- Exams (One Final for AST325; One Mid-Term and One Final for AST326)
- Bonus Projects
Evaluation
- Telescope Operation (5%, Success or Fail); If failed, no points on relevant assignemnts (up to 10%).
- Term Project on Practical Astronomy (28%)
- Lab Assignments (16%)
- Lecture Problem Sets (16%)
- Test Results (25%)
- Class Participation and Activities (10%)
- Bonus Project with the Campus Telescope (up to 20%)
Rules and Regulations
- Each student will be assigned different homework whenever it's possible.
- Due dates for assignments are two weeks after their distribution, but at the beginning of the class.
- Penalty of Late Submission of Assignments: 20 % per day.
- Late submission of assignments without any penalty should be approved at least one week ahead of the due for justifiable cases. If it's shorter than a week but still justfiable, students will only get 75 % of the full scores. For emergencies that cannot be foreseen, it can be any time.
- Discussion of problem sets is allowed, but copying or seeing other's solutions is strictly prohibited. It will be considered to be plagiarism.
Lecture Notes and Problem Sets (2008 Fall)
Lecture Notes and Problem Sets (2009 Winter)
Archive for Past Announcements
- HW8 is available, due on March 27 (5pm). (March 17)
- Solution of HW7 is available with an example IDL program. (March 17)
- Lab8 is available, due on March 17. (March 10)
- Solution of HW5,6 is available. (March 4)
- HW7 is available, due on March 10. (March 3)
- Chi-square probability distribution table is available. (March 3)
- Reference on the (Poisson) statistics is available. (March 3)
- The due of the lab assignment 7 is extended to 5pm, March 5 (Feb 24)
- Homework 5 and 6 will be grades together to form two problem sets. (Feb 3)
- Homework 6 is available: Due on Feb 24 (Feb 3)
- Practical assignments are available (Jan 30)
- Lab assignment 7 is available. Due on March 3 (Feb 13)
- Homework 5 is available: Due on Feb 3rd (Jan 20)
- Solutions for 3rd and 4th homeworks are available below (Nov 24)
- Exam on Dec 2nd (in class; no laptop is allowed) (Nov 4)
- Exam preview on Nov 25 (Nov 4)
- Practical Assignment Help Session on Nov 11 (Richard Chou) (Nov 4)
- 4th assignment is available (Due on Nov 18) (Nov 4)
- Solution for the 2nd assignment is available (Oct 28)
- Solution for the 1st assignment is available (Oct 22)
- 3rd assignment is available (Due on Nov 4) (Oct 21)
- Telescope Operation List is uploaded. (Oct 19)
- Practical Assignment is uploaded. (Oct 18)
- Lecture note on "Statistical Analysis' is uploaded. (Oct 14)
- 2nd assignment is available (Due on Oct 21) (Oct 14)
- 1st assignment is available (Due Oct 7th). (Sep 23)
- Lecture note on "Detectors and CCDs' is uploaded. (Sep 23)
- Lecture note on "Telescope Optics' is uploaded. (Sep 18)
- There will be a telescope session on September 16 (Monday)!
Useful Links