syllabus

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This course is split into three main parts, telescopes, instruments, and detectors, which are presented in the same order that a photon from an astronomical source meets them.


telescopes

1.   introduction
   
   
2.   telescope optics
   
   1. basic principles
   2. refractors
   3. reflectors
   4. catadioptric telescopes
   5. visual use of telescopes
   6. example problems
   
   
3.   telescope mountings
   
   1. equatorial mountings
   2. alt-azimuth mountings
   3. coudé and nasmyth
   4. tubes and trusses
   
   
4.   domes and sites
   
   1. the atmosphere
      
   2. observatory sites
      
   3. dome design
      
   
   
5.   corrections
   
   1. autoguiding
      
   2. active optics
      
   3. adaptive optics
   
   
6.   removed from course: interferometry
   

instruments

1.   introduction
   
   
2.   imagers
   
   1.  simple imagers
   2.  focal reducers and extenders
   3.  re-imagers
   4.  sampling theory
   5.  example problems
   
   
3.   photometers
   
   1.  single-pixel versus multi-pixel photometers
   2.  fluxes and magnitudes
   3.  photometric systems
   4.  extracting photometric data
   5.  calibrating photometric data
   6.  example problems
   
   
4.   spectrographs
   
   1.  the grating equation
   2.  basic spectrograph design
   3.  dispersion and spectral resolution
   4.  blazes and grisms
   5.  free spectral range and order sorting
   6.  echelle spectrographs
   7.  removed from course: integral-field and multi-object spectrographs
   8.  removed from course: atmospheric dispersion
   9.  removed from course: reducing spectroscopic data
   10.  removed from course: calibrating spectroscopic data
   11.  example problems

detectors

1.   introduction
   
   
2.   CCDs
   
   1.  the physics of semi-conductors
   2.  the structure of CCDs
   3.  charge coupling
   4.  output electronics
   5.  improving performance
   6.  example problems
   
   
3.   signal-to-noise
   
   1.  photon statistics
   2.  signal-to-noise ratio
   3.  the CCD equation
   4.  example problems

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©Vik Dhillon, 25th September 2013