SUBJECT

Title

Astronomical instrumentaion 1-2

Type of instruction

lecture

Level

master

Faculty

Faculty of Science

Part of degree program

Astronomy MSc

Credits

2+2

Recommended in

Semesters 1-2

Typically offered in

Autumn/Spring semester

Course description

Semester 1: Overview of astronomical databases. Observaional and pracical work, guided reading.

Topics: Ideniicaion of objects in astronomy; Evoluion of notaion, naming and catalogizaion of stars and stellar like objects; Stellar catalogs, their contents and usage; Pariion of the sky, the role of the constellaions; Sky maps, sky atlases; SAO Atlas, Photographic surveys, Carte du Ciel, NGS-POSS, SDSS

Semester 2: Introducion to observaional and data analysis techniques in astronomy. Basics of CCD technology and processing of the raw data from a CCD unit.

Topics: Astronomical coordinate systems; Introducion to the Izsák telescope and CCD camera; Principles of CCD cameras, photo efect, charge coupling; Sources of noise in CCD images: dark current, pixel nonuniformity, shot noise, CCD read noise. Linux and IRAF; Guided night observaions - star clusters, other objects; Individual telescope pracice, dark current and lafields; Spectroscopy

Readings

Kitchin: Astrophysical techniques. 5th ed., Taylor & Francis, 2009,ISBN 978-1-4200-8243-2
Freedman and Kaufmann: Universe. 8th ed., W. H. Freeman Publ., 2007, ISBN: 978-0716785842
Bradley et al.: Introducion to Modern Astrophysics. B. Cummings Publ., 2006, ISBN 978-0805304022