ASTR 306/406 - Astronomical Techniques

None. Books will be on reserve in the library, and supplemental web links will be on the webpage. Common books include:

• Observational Astronomy, by Birney, Gonzalez, and Oesper (BGO)
• Astronomy Methods, by Bradt (Bradt)
• Handbook of CCD Astronomy, by Howell (Howell)
  

Individual Homework & Writing (65%): Every 1-2 weeks there will be a short assignment geared towards the development of technical skills. Typical assignments could include conducting a simple photometric analysis of astronomical image data, writing a short program to analyse numerical simulations, or finding, downloading, and analysing appropriate astronomical datasets off of the web. In addition, there will be several individual writing assignments throughout the semester which might include

• an observing proposal
• a technical "white paper" for computational simulation work
• a grant proposal for research using an on-line database
• referee's reports of the group projects

Group Work & Writing (35%): For three assignents, the class will be broken up into small groups to complete a larger research project. Projects might include age-dating star clusters through isochrone fitting, simulating the survival of satellites orbiting around disk galaxies, or quantifying the clustering properties of galaxies as a function of Hubble type using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For each project, the group must submit a final project report written in the form of an Astrophysical Journal paper. These reports will be peer-reviewed by the other groups in the class.

You get one "free" late homework, which must be turned in no later than one week past the due date. After that, late work will not be accepted without either a prearranged agreement. Group projects will not be accepted late except under the direst of circumstances.

The homework assignments and projects will involve computer programming. The specific language you choose to program in is up to you -- for some purposes, a scripting language (e.g., Perl) or graphics environment (Supermongo) may be appropriate; for others, a compiled language (C/C++ or Fortran) will likely be preferable. If you do not have an account on our linux workstations, please see Charley Knox (Sears 568) to get set up ASAP.

For graduate students enrolling in ASTR 406, the requirements are slightly different:

• Homework assignments & writing (60%): Graduate students will typically receive 1-2 additional homework problems per assignment, at a more advanced level.
  
• Major projects (30%): Graduate students will  do the group projects as individual efforts.
  
• Oral Presentation (10%): Graduate students will additionally do one 30 minute oral presentation during the semester, on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor.