Astronomy Observing Techniques

Lecturer: Prof. Bernhard Brandl

Associate Professor, Leiden University. Senior Research Associate, Cornell University. Research Associate (Spitzer ST), Cornell University. Research Associate (Palomar Instrumentation), Cornell University. Principal investigator of the METIS instrument for the E-ELT. Dutch deputy co-PI of JWST-MIRI. Coordinator of the joint UL/TUD specialization in astronomical instrumentation. 234 publications 6348 citations.

Summary

Astronomical observations are increasingly demanding in terms of sensitivity, image contrast, field of view, stability and calibrations, pushing telescopes and instrumentation closer and closer to fundamental limits. Meaningful results require a careful understanding of the technologies and equipment that is being used. This course provides a general overview of most aspects that are relevant to modern observational astronomy, covering both the underlying physical principles (telescopes, image formation, signal-to-noise) and the technical concepts (detector technology, adaptive optics, interferometry, spectroscopy).

Outline

Session 1 - Presentation - Monday 12 August, 2013

Session 2 - Atmosphere - Monday 12 August, 2013

Session 3 - Fourier Transform - Tuesday 13 August, 2013

Session 4 - Optics and Telescopes - Thursday 15 August, 2013

Session 5 - Detectors - Friday 16 August, 2013

Videos