Lent Term 2012 – Bojan Nicolic

This course will give a general overview of techniques commonly used in astrophyics and will cover telescopes, instruments, signal-to-noise ratios, observation planning etc. It complements a separate graduate course that covers interferometric techniques in detail.

Topics will include:

• The atmosphere and its effects
• Single-dish telescopes
• High angular resolution astronomy
• Optical and infra-red detectors
• Photometry and imaging
• Radio and mm-wave astronomy
• Spectroscopy

Books

• 'Astrophysical Techniques' by C. R. Kitchin