PHAS0043 Practical Astronomy 1 - Technique

Undergraduate Level-6 course in observational astrophysics, taught at the UCL Observatory in Mill Hill, London. It is designed to teach contemporary research methods used in optical observational astrophysics, focusing on techniques for the acquisition, reduction and analysis of astronomical data for photometry and spectroscopy. Students gain experience in using computer-controlled (robotic) telescope systems and digital cameras, and software for image and spectroscopic analysis including Starlink GAIA, IRAF, and SAOImageDS9.

Duties

• Refreshing and examining students on in-person use of telescopes
• Training in use of software (IRAF, SAOImageDS9, Starlink suite)
• Assistance and checking of observing proposals
• Supervision during in-person observation runs, including night-duty
• Teaching and assistance during experiments: statistics and astronomical principles such as SNR, uncertainty propagation
• Marking formal reports of experiments
• Inspection and guidance of lab notebooks

Assessment

• 34% Problem sheet on instrumentation and techniques
• 33% Formal report of main observation project
• 33% Written account of other experiments

Module lead: Mr Stephen Boyle