PHYSICS 30111 - Fall 2007

Physics 30111
Experimental Astronomy
Fall 2007
Dr Mike Fanelli
Ad Astra

INSTRUCTOR: Dr Mike Fanelli

EMAIL: m.fanelli@tcu.edu

PHONE: 817 - 257 - 6387

LAB: SWR 367, x6597

OFFICE: Sid Richardson Building, Room 305

CLASS MEETING: 9:30 AM, SWR 358 Room 305

OFFICE HOURS: Tues & Thur 215-4 PM

WEB Page: personal.tcu.edu/~mfanelli

CLASS WEB PAGE: personal.tcu.edu/~mfanelli/Experimental/p30111_f07_main.html

Class Announcements:

Next Class: Nov 8, at 9:30 AM, SWR 358. Lab 6 & 8 discussed.

Course Materials:

Course Syllabus

One page descriptions of the Lab Experiments

Instructions for Lab 1, posted Aug 30. The Lab 1 assignments are found here.

Instructions for Part A of Lab 2, posted Aug 28

Instructions for Lab 3, posted Sept 6, lab is due on Sept 27.

Powerpoint notes covering "Galaxy Properties", relevant to lab 3 can be found here.
Click here to link to a noteset (html format) describing the interstellar medium in galaxies. You will find information about extinction and how to correct magnitudes for this effect. Scroll down in these notes to find the appropriate information.

Instructions for Lab 4, posted Sept 27. Lab 4 is due Oct 25, but I will accept at no penalty up to Nov 1.
The individual object assignements can be found here.

Directions to Willow Park for Night Sky Observing. Here is a map of Willow Park, with our house indicated.

Instructions for Lab 5, posted Oct 15
These instructions include a guide to the telescope functions that you need to understand when you assemble the assigned telescope and are quized about its operation.
The Celestron is located in room 358. You are to practice assembly, then when you are prepared, schedule a telescope check out with me.

We have two telescopes available for this class: an 8" Celestron, and a 10" Meade. For each telescope we have a G-11 mount manufactured by Losmandy Astronomical Products. A user's guide for the G-11 mount, directly from the Losmandy webpage can be found here. A local version of this manual (stripped of web links) can be found here. Please download the local version to your personal computer or print it.

Lab 8, the Telescope Observing lab, details:

The lab instructions can be found here.
Specific information for Fall 07, can be found here.

Lab 6, Crafting an Observing Proposal, can be found here. Due, Monday, December 10.

A copy of a recent proposal which we submitted to McDonald Observatory can be found here . You may want to print this proposal to see the structure of a typical proposal.

Lab 7/9, Astronomical Imaging & Spectra , can be found here. Due, Friday, December 14.

A set of instructions for the Sun workstation and IDL can be found here.

Course Notes

Coordinate Systems in Astronomy
Time Keeping
Telescope Basics
A web site containing a nice description of telescope functions.
A noteset from Introductory Astrophysics covering stellar properties, including the magnitude system.
A web link describing basic UNIX system commands. Relevant for Labs 7+9 .
Astronomical Detectors .
CCD Basics .
Brief Intro to Astronomical Spectroscopy

Experimental Astronomy Resources

Sky Charts & Observing Aids:

NASA's Skyview Facility, a multiwavelength digital sky atlas

" Heavens Above", satellite visibility predictions for Fort Worth

Sky & Telescope Sky Calendar

An excellent site, titled "Astronomy Tools", containing a variety of observing tools, and
some interactive almanac software. Calculate sunrise & sunsets, lunar phase, airmass,
object observability, etc.

A Sidereal Clock

The USNO on-line Sidereal Clock

Planetarium Software:
These programs provide real-time data on the visibility of celestial phenomena, both in graphical and tabular format. They are electronic versions of the traditional star chart, plus all of the resources of the Web.

An excellent compilation of products with web addresses, maintained by Bill Arnett, who also runs
the "Nine Planets" website, a very useful source for solar system imagery.

A Web-based program, known as the Sky View Cafe.

Local Weather & Sky Conditions:

Weather Underground for Fort Worth

AccuWeather Infrared Satellite Image of Texas

AccuWeather Satellite + Radar Composite Image of Texas

Clear Sky Clock for Fort Worth

Web Cam of Fort Worth

Detectors, Imaging, & Image Analysis:

Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF) home page

Image Processing Resources for Teachers: An excellent web site listing amateur and professional
grade software for image acquisition, processing, and display.

A guide to IDL, the Interactive Data Language, for astronomers. Developed by Bob O'Connell
at the University of Virginia.

"CCD University", a web resource provided by Apogee Cameras, makers of CCD imagers for
the academic, amateur, and research markets.

Astronomical Data & Databases:

Handbook of Space Astronomy & Astrophysics by Zombeck

Astronomical CCD Observing and Reduction Techniques, ASP Conference Series, Vol 23

NASA's Extragalactic Database (NED)

SIMBAD Astronomical Database

Astrophysical Data System

Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Astrophysical Data System

Astronomical Observatories & Facilities:

University of Texas - McDonald Observatory

Kitt Peak National Observatory

Dr Mike's "New Frontiers in Astrophysics" web guide, listing observatories, telescopes
and space-based facilities forexploring the panchromatic universe.

NASA's Solar System exploration page, with links to all past, present, and possible future
planetary exploration missions.

INSTRUCTOR:	Dr Mike Fanelli
EMAIL:	m.fanelli@tcu.edu
PHONE:	817 - 257 - 6387
LAB:	SWR 367, x6597
OFFICE:	Sid Richardson Building, Room 305
CLASS MEETING:	9:30 AM, SWR 358 Room 305
OFFICE HOURS:	Tues & Thur 215-4 PM
WEB Page:	personal.tcu.edu/~mfanelli
CLASS WEB PAGE:	personal.tcu.edu/~mfanelli/Experimental/p30111_f07_main.html

NASA's Skyview Facility, a multiwavelength digital sky atlas
" Heavens Above", satellite visibility predictions for Fort Worth
Sky & Telescope Sky Calendar
An excellent site, titled "Astronomy Tools", containing a variety of observing tools, and some interactive almanac software. Calculate sunrise & sunsets, lunar phase, airmass, object observability, etc.
A Sidereal Clock
The USNO on-line Sidereal Clock

An excellent compilation of products with web addresses, maintained by Bill Arnett, who also runs the "Nine Planets" website, a very useful source for solar system imagery.
A Web-based program, known as the Sky View Cafe.

Weather Underground for Fort Worth
AccuWeather Infrared Satellite Image of Texas
AccuWeather Satellite + Radar Composite Image of Texas
Clear Sky Clock for Fort Worth
Web Cam of Fort Worth

Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF) home page
Image Processing Resources for Teachers: An excellent web site listing amateur and professional grade software for image acquisition, processing, and display.
A guide to IDL, the Interactive Data Language, for astronomers. Developed by Bob O'Connell at the University of Virginia.
"CCD University", a web resource provided by Apogee Cameras, makers of CCD imagers for the academic, amateur, and research markets.

Handbook of Space Astronomy & Astrophysics by Zombeck
Astronomical CCD Observing and Reduction Techniques, ASP Conference Series, Vol 23
NASA's Extragalactic Database (NED)
SIMBAD Astronomical Database
Astrophysical Data System
Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Astrophysical Data System

University of Texas - McDonald Observatory
Kitt Peak National Observatory
Dr Mike's "New Frontiers in Astrophysics" web guide, listing observatories, telescopes and space-based facilities forexploring the panchromatic universe.
NASA's Solar System exploration page, with links to all past, present, and possible future planetary exploration missions.