MKEP5 Astronomical Techniques

Core course for Master students, listed on Moodle and heiCO

Course content (short summary): Concepts, technologies, and physical principles of modern observational techniques, along with their scientific applications. Includes optical telescopes and detectors, imaging and spectroscopy, characterization of data, effect of the atmosphere, multi-wavelength and particle astronomy.

Lecturer: Priv.-Doz. Dr. Anna Pasquali

Time and location: Tuesday and Thursday 9:15 - 11, Grösser Hörsaal (gHS), Philosophenweg 12

Lectures will start on Thursday April 15th 2025. Tutorials will begin on Monday/Tuesday April 28th/29th.

Homeworks: Homework sheets become available every Tuesday on Moodle and have to be submitted by Tuesday of the following week to the lecturer before the start of the lecture. We encourage solving and submitting the homework in groups; the maximum is 3 people.

Prerequisites: Knowledge of the introductory astronomy lectures (MVAstro0 or WPAstro). Basic knowledge on electromagnetic radiation.

Credit points: 8

Literature:

P. Léna, "Observational Astrophysics", Springer
F.R. Chromey, "To Measure the Sky", Cambridge University Press
C.R. Kitchin, "Astrophysical Techniques", CRC Press

Additional recommendations for specific parts of the lecture:

S.B. Howell, "Handbook of CCD Astronomy", Cambridge University Press
I. Appenzeller, "Introduction to Astronomical Spectroscopy", Cambridge University Press
D.J. Schroeder, "Astronomical Optics", Academic Press

Exam: To be fixed

50% of homework points are required for participating in the exam.

Course content and planned schedule:

01 April 15th: Lecture organization; Coordinates and time
02 April 17th: Atmospheric extinction and airmass; Geometric optics: focal length and image scale
03 April 22nd: Optical aberrations and telescope design
04 April 24th: Instrumental diffraction and Airy-PSF
05 April 29th: First part of optical detectors and CCDs
06 May 6th: Second part of optical detectors and CCDs
07 May 8th: The night sky; S/N calculation
08 May 13th: Spectroscopy 1: gratings-grisms-prims, basic mathematical relations
09 May 15th: Spectroscopy 2: scientific information at different wavelength and resolution: SED and population models, redshift, rotation/dispersion; IFUs
10 May 20th: Imaging data: flux, magnitudes, noise
11 May 22nd: Imaging data reduction, spectroscopic reduction
12 May 27th: Imaging data analysis: photometry; Spectroscopic data analysis: line centers, equivalent widths; Flux calibratios
13 June 3rd: Atmospheric turbulence and seeing
14 June 5th: Active Optics, Adaptive Optics
15 June 10th: Observation and analysis of the Sun
16 June 12th: Web-based access of data and measurements; Observational tools
17 June 17th: Near-, mid-, and far-infrared Astronomy (detectors and instrumentation, science)
18 June 24th: Radio astronomy (detectors and instrumentation, science)
19 June 26th: Interferometry: concepts, optical/near-infrared, radio
20 July 1st: UV astronomy
21 July 3rd: X-ray astronomy: detectors and science
22 July 8th: Gamma-ray astronomy and particle astronomy
23 July 10th: Neutrino astronomy; Gravitational wave astronomy; Gravitational lensing; Observational cosmology
24 July 15th: Questions and answers
JULY ??: Exam: 9:00-11:00