Astronomy Lab I: Photometric Experiments for Physics Students

As physics laboratories are an integral part of the physics education across the globe, astronomy laboratories are also a necessary part of the astronomy education. However there have been only theoretical astronomy and astrophysics in Iranian universities. We present for the first time a new labora...

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Main Author: Reza Rezaei
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Damghan university 2023-12-01
Series:Iranian Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ijaa.du.ac.ir/article_388_7d61b631ede34535b3b26827003fa623.pdf
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author Reza Rezaei
author_facet Reza Rezaei
author_sort Reza Rezaei
collection DOAJ
description As physics laboratories are an integral part of the physics education across the globe, astronomy laboratories are also a necessary part of the astronomy education. However there have been only theoretical astronomy and astrophysics in Iranian universities. We present for the first time a new laboratory course on observational astronomy for bachelor and master students. In this course, students performed observational experiments and learned how to analyze astronomical data. Data are transformed from the camera RAW to the FITS format and later analyzed using Python AstroPy packages. In Astronomy Lab I, students learned to polar align equatorial mounts, measure the read and shot noises, estimate the spatial resolution in long exposure images, measure the solar limb darkening, stack a number of images to get a high signal to noise final image, calculate magnitude using aperture photometry, retrieve the absorption coefficient for each filter, correct for the atmospheric extinction and draw a Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram for open clusters.
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publishDate 2023-12-01
publisher Damghan university
record_format Article
series Iranian Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
spelling doaj-art-4d3ef89bd4f942f2bc703356e4ccb2ea2025-01-12T10:03:51ZengDamghan universityIranian Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics2322-49242383-403X2023-12-0110435736410.22128/ijaa.2023.739.1172388Astronomy Lab I: Photometric Experiments for Physics StudentsReza Rezaei0Sharif University of TechnologyAs physics laboratories are an integral part of the physics education across the globe, astronomy laboratories are also a necessary part of the astronomy education. However there have been only theoretical astronomy and astrophysics in Iranian universities. We present for the first time a new laboratory course on observational astronomy for bachelor and master students. In this course, students performed observational experiments and learned how to analyze astronomical data. Data are transformed from the camera RAW to the FITS format and later analyzed using Python AstroPy packages. In Astronomy Lab I, students learned to polar align equatorial mounts, measure the read and shot noises, estimate the spatial resolution in long exposure images, measure the solar limb darkening, stack a number of images to get a high signal to noise final image, calculate magnitude using aperture photometry, retrieve the absorption coefficient for each filter, correct for the atmospheric extinction and draw a Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram for open clusters.https://ijaa.du.ac.ir/article_388_7d61b631ede34535b3b26827003fa623.pdftelescopedetectorsphotometryseeing
spellingShingle Reza Rezaei
Astronomy Lab I: Photometric Experiments for Physics Students
Iranian Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
telescope
detectors
photometry
seeing
title Astronomy Lab I: Photometric Experiments for Physics Students
title_full Astronomy Lab I: Photometric Experiments for Physics Students
title_fullStr Astronomy Lab I: Photometric Experiments for Physics Students
title_full_unstemmed Astronomy Lab I: Photometric Experiments for Physics Students
title_short Astronomy Lab I: Photometric Experiments for Physics Students
title_sort astronomy lab i photometric experiments for physics students
topic telescope
detectors
photometry
seeing
url https://ijaa.du.ac.ir/article_388_7d61b631ede34535b3b26827003fa623.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT rezarezaei astronomylabiphotometricexperimentsforphysicsstudents