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 on Moodle. 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