PHYSICS 30111 - Fall 2005

Physics 30111
Experimental Astronomy
Fall 2005
Ad Astra

Class Announcements:

Please check here for information and updates >>>

Tuesday Sept 6 >>
 
 => Class meets at 5PM
 => Class web page is alive

Thursday Sept 8 >>

=> Weather looks good for tonight's night sky observing. Please
    check your email for directions.

Tuesday, Sept 13 >>
 => Class meets at 515 PM today, in room 313.  We will move to the
    lab and/or the store room during class.
 => Please check the online calendar, which I linked yesterday.

Tuesday Oct 4 >>
 => Problem set for Lab 2 posted, background notes are in the Phys 
    office

Tuesday Oct 11 >>
 => Lab 5 topic due

Friday Oct 21 
 => Problem Set 2-1 due

Tuesday Oct 25 
 => Class meets on the roof of Tucker, evening observing begins.
    
 Wednesday Oct 26 
 => I will be on the roof after 630 PM.  Clear skies are forecast.

Thursday Oct 27
 => I will be on the roof after 630 PM.  Skies will be clear
    Keys to 367 have been made, and will be available on 10/28
 
 Friday Oct 28
 => Keys to 367 are available in the Phys office.  The roof key
    will be found in the storeroom in 367.
 => Telescope Lab is posted, please look under Lab 1

Monday Oct 31
 => Tucker is open all this week.

Monday Nov 7
 => Lab 5 summary page instructions are posted.  Look under 
    Lab 5 on the webpage.

Monday Nov 21
 =>  Lab 3 posted

Tuesday Nov 29
 =>  Lab 5 presentation by the Instructor TBD
 =>  Lab 4 has been removed from the curriculum.

INSTRUCTOR:	Dr Mike Fanelli
EMAIL:	m.fanelli@tcu.edu
PHONE:	817 - 257 - 6387
LAB:	SWR 367, x6387
OFFICE:	Sid Richardson Building, Room 305
OFFICE HOURS:	Wednesday 1-3 PM
WEB Page:	personal.tcu.edu/~mfanelli
CLASS WEB PAGE:	personal.tcu.edu/~mfanelli/Experimental/p30111_main.html

Course Materials

Objectives for this class (also known as the syllabus).

Course Calendar

Lab 1: Night Sky & Telescope Fundamentals

This lab covers the patterns in the Night Sky and the fundamentals for using a small telescope. The lab consists of three parts: (a) a night sky tutorial, to be conducted in Parker County, (b) in-lab checkout of your understanding of telescopes, and (c) rooftop observing on Tucker (for which you will turn in a lab report).

The Lab 1 assignments are found here.

Directions to Willow Park for Night Sky Observing. Here is a map of Willow Park, with our house indicated. Completed 09/07/05.
We have two telescopes available for this class: an 8" Celestron, and an 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 links) can be found here. Please download the local version to your personal computer or print it.
Observing is completed on the roof of the Tucker Building. Please read the Tucker-specific information provided with this link.
Lab 1 Rooftop observing instructions. Please download & print. Due Nov 22 . Note that you must work in pairs for this lab, and each pair of observers turns in one lab report.

Lab 2: Principles of Astronomical Data

Download this problem set, which deals with magnitudes, distances, and angular size. To provide some background material, I have copied relevant information from two astrophysics texts, and placed that material in the Experimental Astronomy mail box in the Physics office. Please obtain your copy of these notes from the mailbox.
This problem set is due Oct 21.

Lab 3: Astronomical Imagery, Sources & Databases

Lab 3 is posted here. In this lab you will explore and utilize four major astronomical databases, to collect information and imagery about a set of celestial targets. As part of this experiment, you will use these resources to obtain data from four surveys, the Palomar Sky Survey, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, IRAS, and 2MASS. This lab will be due Dec 6.

Lab 4: CCD Imaging

Lab 4 has been excised from the curriculum. Any CCD imaging will be part of the McDonald Observatory lab, if that trip comes to fruition. Your targets will be the same objects proposed to be observed at McDonald Observatory.

Lab 5: The Universe of Experimental Astronomy

Part 1 of the instructions for Lab 5 are here. I request that you select a primary and secondary choice for your presentation by Oct 11.
As of 10/24, all students have been given the go ahead to begin developing their presentation. Note the deadlines assigned in the lab instructions.
Instructions for the Summary sheet can be found here (07-Nov). The template for the summary sheet is here (08-Nov).
Note that the deadline for presentation outlines is Nov 8.

Labs 6 & 7: The McDonald Observatory Observing Trip

McDonald Observatory
Example of McDonald proposal. This proposal was submitted in Jan 03, for the April-July trimester. We received 5 nights in April 03 for this program.
The marked-up LaTex template for this proposal, formatted in MS Word.
A brief guide to observing proposals.
Trip Preparations
A brief guide for creating FINDING CHARTS for your observing runs.
We received two nights, Feb 4 & 5 for this course.

Course Notes

Telescope Basics
Coordinate Systems in Astronomy

Experimental Astronomy Resources

Web Sites:

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.

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, which is a very useful source for solar system imagery.

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

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

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.

Texts:

Sky Charts & Observing Aids:

Nortons's Sky Atlas

Detectors & Imaging:

Astronomical Data & Databases

IRAS Source Catalog

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.

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

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

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.