Program Description

Introduction

SOAR @ MWO is an intensive two-week residential workshop in observational solar and stellar astrophysics, taught at the level of a college or university course in physics. The program combines classroom instruction with hands-on solar and stellar observing to introduce participants to methods for making astrophysical measurements of the properties of the Sun and other stars. During the first week, participants attend classes and complete observing and data processing projects to learn observational techniques including CCD imaging, photometry, and spectroscopy. In the second week, each participant completes a mini­-project in which they propose, collect, analyze, and explain their own observations of some phenomenon in solar or stellar astrophysics. 

Aimed at people interested in careers in astrophysics, telescope and detector engineering, or physics teaching/outreach, participants may include U.S. and international undergraduate students (including students admitted to a two- or four-year undergraduate institution for the fall), former undergraduates looking to explore re­entry into a possible career path in astrophysics, and educators from high schools and public outreach settings. The program is open to applicants 18 years and older who have completed an introductory physics course (AP or college), preferably including some modern physics or general astronomy.

Program Outline

• In the first week, participants learn to use instruments and techniques including:

  • the Snow Solar Telescope and high-resolution spectrograph

  • a 16-inch Meade LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with SBIG CCD and spectrograph

  • image processing software for color imaging, broadband photometry, and solar and stellar spectroscopy

• In the second week, participants pursue individual observing projects they have chosen, by:

  • reading research literature detailing earlier observations of the target object

  • taking original observations of the target object with one of the instruments above

  • processing and analyzing the data acquired

  • reporting results to the group

Additional Activities

• introduction to ongoing research at Mount Wilson Observatory

• tours of research facilities at the Observatory

• special lectures by Mount Wilson staff members and volunteers

• field trips to one or more of the following astronomical institutions in the Los Angeles area: Griffith Observatory, the offices of the Carnegie Observatories, and/or the Caltech astrophysics department

Typical Daily Schedule: