765640S

Observational Astronomy

an advanced course (5 credits)

at the Space Physics and Astronomy research unit, University of Oulu

The course period is September 2 – October 28, 2024.

Lectures take place usually on Tuesday at 14-16 and Wednesday at 12-14,

exercises and practical sessions on Thursday at 14-16, see Peppi for detail.

The course is lectured in English

Teacher: Vitaly Neustroev, MA 308, vitaly[-at-]neustroev.net
Assistent: Paula Kvist, paula.kvist [-at-] oulu.fi


Course content:

  • Methods of Observations with modern Space- and Ground- based Telescopes
  • Observational Techniques in Gamma, X-ray, UV, Optical and Infra-Red astronomy
  • Observational Experiments, Calibrations And Data Reductions
  • Data Analysis

Theoretical and practical considerations will be supplemented with the home exercises which constitute the important part of the course.

Literature:

  • Astrophysical techniques (5th Edition – 2008) – C.R. Kitchen: Taylor & Francis / CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-8243-2.
  • Observational Astrophysics (3rd Edition – 2012) – P. Léna, D. Rouan, F. Lebrun, F. Mignard, D. Pelat, Translated by S. Lyle: Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-21815-6.
  • Can be useful:

  • An Introduction to Astronomical Photometry Using CCDs (October 22, 2006) – W. Romanishin: the latest version of this book can be downloaded from here
  • ISSI Scientific Report Volume 9 (SR-009): Observing Photons in Space (2010) – Edited by M.C.E. Huber, A. Pauluhn, J. Len Culhane, J. G. Timothy, K. Wilhelm and A. Zehnder. ISBN 978-92-9221-938-3.
  • Observational Astronomy (Second Edition – 2006) – D. Scott Birney, Guillermo Gonzalez & David Oesper: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85370-5.

Practical manuals:

  • An Introduction to Astronomical Photometry Using CCDs (October 22, 2006) – W. Romanishin: the latest version of this book can be downloaded from here
  • IRAF-1 by S. Larsen
  • IRAF-2 by T. Coenen and Y. Grange
  • Spectral Reduction Procedures by Mike Bolte
  • Schedule