Snezana Stanimirovic: Banner

AST 460 - Experiences in Astronomical Observing, Fall 2008


Course Introduction:

The main goal of this course is to provide you a basic introduction into astrophysical research. Some of the topics we will discuss include: good research practices, understanding the astronomical literature, how to write articles for professional scientific journals, how to write a project report using LaTeX, how to present your results using PowerPoint. But, we will address all these topics within a real research environment, by undertaking a small observing project with the world largest radio telescope located in Puerto Rico.

We were granted two hours of Arecibo observing time on Oct 9 (16:30-17:30 AST) and Oct 16 (16:00-17:00 AST) to conduct observations remotely from Madison. After initial introductions, we will start with the preparation of observing files (covering basic computing skills), an investigation of astronomical literature to find suitable sources to observe, we will then conduct our observations of several spiral and dwarf galaxies, and then learn basics of data reduction. It is expected that you will write a short report about your observing experience and results using LaTeX.

Literature:

Various articles and documents will be assigned for reading. Most of them will be provided in electronic form. I also envision using two short (20-30 pages) booklets by Edward R. Tufte: "The cognitive style of Powerpoint" and "Visual and statistical thinking". Both are available from Amazon and cost $7 each.

Course Schedule:

  1. Course introduction, computers accounts etc.
    Readings: "A short Unix Primer" (by Carl Heiles)
    "A beginnergs guide to Emacs" (by Nicholas Hakobian) both available from http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~sstanimi/students.html.
    Writing about Physics (and other Sciences) (from the University of Toronto web page)
    Assignment 1 (due on Sep 10)


  2. "On Being a Scientist" (National Academy Press) + Some good research practices
    Assignment 2 (due on Sep 17)


  3. Astronomy literature, and how to find your galaxy
  4. Guide to Arecibo and spectral-line observing
  5. CIMA and how to prepare observing files
    The CIMA Homepage (check "The CIMA manual for spectral line observations" -- note this is a 15MB file)


  6. (Remote) Observing with the Arecibo radio telescope (1st session)
  7. (Remote) Observing with the Arecibo radio telescope (2nd session)
    An IDL Cheat Sheet for Arecibo observations (Chris Salter)
    IDL Basic Tutorials (Carl Heiles) [read idltut1.ps and idldatatypes.ps]


  8. Learning basics of IDL; Data reduction
  9. Data reduction
  10. LaTeX and how to write a project report
    In-class LaTeX Notes
    LaTeX Tutorials (UC Berkeley Undergraduate Astronomy Computing)

  11. (SS at UCB): Ayesha's lecture + data/report


  12. Remote Observing with the Arecibo radio telescope


  13. Thanksgiving


  14. About Presentations: "The cognitive style of Power point"


  15. About Presentations: "The cognitive style of Power point"