MKEP5 Astronomical Techniques

Core course for Master students, listed on Moodle and LSF

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

Tutors: Dr. Markus Hundertmark, Dr. Silvia Martocchia and Christian Sorgenfrei

Time and location:

Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday 9:15 - 11, Grösser Hörsaal (gHS), Philosophenweg 12
Tutorials by Christian Sorgenfrei: Monday 9:15 - 11, ARI, SR1
Tutorials by Dr. Markus Hundertmark: Tuesday 11:15 - 13, Philosophenweg 12, R056
Tutorials by Dr. Silvia Martocchia: Tuesday 11:15 - 13, Philosophenweg 12, R058

Lectures will start on Thursday April 18th 2023. Tutorials will begin on Tuesday May 2nd.

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: Tuesday, July 25th, 9:00 - 11:00

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

Course content and planned schedule:

01 April 18th: Lecture organization; Coordinates and time
02 April 20th: Atmospheric extinction and airmass; Geometric optics: focal length and image scale
03 April 25th: Optical aberrations and telescope design
04 April 27th: Instrumental diffraction and Airy-PSF
05 May 2nd: First part of optical detectors and CCDs
06 May 4th: Second part of optical detectors and CCDs
07 May 9th: The night sky; S/N calculation
08 May 11th: Spectroscopy 1: gratings-grisms-prims, basic mathematical relations
09 May 16th: Spectroscopy 2: scientific information at different wavelength and resolution: SED and population models, redshift, rotation/dispersion; IFUs
10 May 23rd: Imaging data: flux, magnitudes, noise
11 May 25th: Imaging data reduction, spectroscopic reduction
12 May 30th: Imaging data analysis: photometry; Spectroscopic data analysis: line centers, equivalent widths; Flux calibratios
13 June 1st: Atmospheric turbulence and seeing
14 June 6th: Active Optics, Adaptive Optics
15 June 13th: Observation and analysis of the Sun
16 June 15th: Web-based access of data and measurements; Observational tools
17 June 20th: Near-, mid-, and far-infrared Astronomy (detectors and instrumentation, science)
18 June 22nd: Radio astronomy (detectors and instrumentation, science)
19 June 27th: Interferometry: concepts, optical/near-infrared, radio
20 June 29th: UV astronomy
21 July 4th: X-ray astronomy: detectors and science
22 July 6th: Gamma-ray astronomy and particle astronomy
23 July 11th: Neutrino astronomy; Gravitational wave astronomy; Gravitational lensing; Observational cosmology
24 July 13th: Questions and answers
JULY 25th: Exam: 9:00-11:00