Course Calendar
| Class Date | Lecture | Reading | Lecturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2 (M) |
1. Introduction History of Astronomy. Early observations: time keeping and navigation; The Greek tradition and the Geocentric Universe (PDF) |
HT, RB |
|
| Feb 3 (Tu) |
2. Scales of Space and Time Wavelength Electromagnetic Spectrum Flux; Magnitude System Particles vs. Waves (PDF) |
Chromey Chap 1 | HT |
| Feb 4 (W) |
3. Optics and Light Angular Resolution (PDF) |
Chromey Chap 1 |
HT |
| Feb 6 (F) |
|
||
| Feb 9 (M) | 4. Celestial Coordinates (PDF) Assigned: Problem Set #1 (PDF) Solution Set (PDF) |
Chromey Chap 3 | HT |
| Feb 10 (Tu) | 5. Radio: Beginnings of Radio Astronomy: Karl Jansky and Grote Reber; WW2 RADAR, Johannes Oort and the hydrogen line. | RB |
|
| Feb 11 (W) | 6. Radio Telescopes as Antennas: Collecting area, beam width, gain; Antenna temperature; EM waves; Polarisation | RB |
|
| Feb 16 (M) | 7. Receivers and noise: Signal detection and noise; Radiometer principles; Practical radiometers; Spectrometers Due: Problem Set #1 Assigned: Problem Set #2 (PDF) |
RB |
|
| Feb 16 (Tu) | 8. Single Aperture Radio Telescopes: Angular resolution; actual telescopes; Aperture illumination and Beam pattern; Feed systems; Millimetre/submillimetre telescopes; Beam smoothing | RB |
|
| Feb 17 (W) | 9. High resolution in Radio Astronomy: Principles of Intererometry; The two element interferometer; Simple Fourier transforms; | RB |
|
| Feb 23 (M) | 10. Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) Introduction to Aperture Synthesis |
RB |
|
| Feb 24 (Tu) | Practical: Field trip to HartRAO (photos) 9h30 - 16h30
|
RB |
|
| Feb 25 (W) | 11. Galactic Continuum Radiation: Stars, dust and gas; Galaxy types, Magnetic fields, Synchrotron radiation, Ploarisation, Other galaxies | RB |
|
| Mar 2 (M) | 12. Optics I: Lenses and Mirrors, Magnification, Apertures (PDF) Due: Problem Set #2 Assigned: Problem Set #3 (PDF) |
Chromey Chap 5 | HT |
| Mar 3 (Tu) | 13. Optics II: Telescopes (PDF) | HT |
|
| Mar 4 (W) | Camera Obscura & Pinhole Camera |
HT |
|
| Mar 5 (Th) | Practical: Observing [20h00]
|
HT |
|
| Mar 9 (M) | Tutorial | RB |
|
| Mar 10 (Tu) | 14. Optics III: Mirror Aberrations (PDF) |
Chromey Chap 6 | HT |
Mar 10 (Tu) |
15. Optics IV: More Aberrations (PDF) | HT |
|
| Mar 11 (W) | 16. Mounts and Tracking (PDF) | HT |
|
| Mar 16 (M) |
Expansion of the Universe. Guest Lecture, Prof. Zoubos Assigned: Problem Set #4 (PDF) Solution Set (PDF) |
KZ |
|
| Mar 17 (Tu) | Cosmos - Blues for a Red Planet (Sagan) No tutorial |
HT
|
|
| Mar 18 (W) | Cosmos - Knowledge Conquers Fear (deGrasse Tyson) | ||
| Mar 23 (M) | 17. Telescopes Wrapup (PDF) | HT |
|
| Mar 24 (Tu) | 18. Large Ground-based Telescopes (PDF) Tutorial: Exam revision |
HT |
|
| Mar 25 (W) | 19. Moon and Seasons (PDF) Quarter 1 Examination [17h30] Solution Set (PDF) |
HT |
|
| Mar 30 - Apr 10 (MTuW-MTuW) |
Easter Break - No Lectures | ||
| Apr 13 (M) | 20. Impact Craters (PDF) | HT |
|
| Apr 14 (Tu) | 21. Detectors and Imagers (PDF) | Chromey Chap 8 [Chap 7 optional] |
HT |
| Apr 15 (W) | 22. Filters and Multi-band Imaging (PDF) | HT |
|
| Apr 18 (Sa) | Field Trip: Tswaing Impact Crater Meet at 8h15 NW-1. Bring lunch, water, sturdy shoes, hat, insect repellent. Return mid-afternoon. (Photos) |
HT |
|
| Apr 20 (M) | 23. New Horizons Mission to Pluto (PDF) | HT |
|
| Apr 21 (Tu) | 24. Data Quality (PDF) | Chromey Chap 9 | |
| Apr 22 (W) | 25. Exoplanets, Photometry, and SNR (PDF) Assigned: Problem Set #5 (PDF) |
HT |
|
| Apr 27 - Apr 29 (MTuW) | University Break - No Lectures |
|
|
| May 4 (M) | 26. Square Kilometer Array (SKA) | RB |
|
| May 5 (Tu) | 27. Propagation of radio waves: Absorption, Amplification, Reflection and Attenuation; Faraday rotation | Burke & Graham-Smith Chap 2-3 | RB |
| May 6 (W) | 28. Interstellar Medium: Neutral hydrogen, Ionised hydrogen; Continuum and line radiation, Supernovae | RB |
|
| May 8 (F) | Night-time Practical Meet at 19h00 NW-1. |
||
| May 11 (M) | 29. Radio Spectroscopy and applications: The hydrogen line and Galactic structure; Cosmic molecules and dense molecular clouds; Maser | RB |
|
| May 12 (Tu) | 30. Stars: Masers associated with stars, novae and supernovae | RB |
|
| May 13 (W) | 31. Pulsars: First detection and Little Green Men! Pulsars are neutron stars! Properties of Pulsars | RB |
|
| May 18 (M) | 32. Radio galaxies and Quasars: Spectra and sizes; Radio jets and lobes; A basic model for Active Galactic Nuclei; Superluminal motion; Weighing a Black Hole | RB |
|
| May 19 (Tu) | 33. Aspects of Cosmology: The microwave background, Discrete radio sources and gravitational lenses | RB |
|
| May 20 (W) | Introduction to Practical: Jupiter's Moons | HT |
|
| May 21 (Th, 9h30 5-55) | Practical: Jupiter's Moons (PDF handout) Solution set (PDF) ** This solution set (or rather, a well-written lab writeup) was submitted by someone in class. It's more clear than mine, so with permission I've posted it. |
HT |
|
| May 25 (M) | No lecture | ||
| May 26 (Tu) | Lecture: 34. Astrobiology (PDF) Tutorial: Exam Revision: Optical (PDF) |
HT |
|
| May 27 (W) | Exam Revision: Radio | RB |
|
| Jun 1 (M) | Final Examination (PDF). Room IT 4-2. 12h - 15h |
Weekly Schedule
| Day | Class | Time | ROOM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Lecture | 10h30 - 11h20 | NS1 5-31 |
| Tuesday | Lecture | 10h30 - 11h20 | NS1 5-69 |
| Tuesday | Tutorial | 14h30 - 15h20 | NS1 5-42 |
| Wednesday | Lecture | 9h30-10h20 | NS1 5-31 |
Thursday Friday |
Practical | Days and/or evenings | By arrangement |
Course Handouts
Problems Sets
You will be assigned 4-6 homework sets during the course.
Practicals
The practicals for this course will include a variety of projects, observing sessions, and field trips. Many of these will be scheduled outside of normal class hours (that is, not in the official Practical timeslot). Attendance is mandatory.
Practicals will include
- Night-time observing sessions, either on UP campus or other location.
- Computer laboratory work using DS9, Python, and other data reduction tools.
- Trip to Wits Planetarium
- Trip to Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO)
- Trip to Tswaing impact crater
Textbooks
FW Chromey, To Measure the Sky, 2010, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1st ed.
Available at BookWise (R900) or Kalahari (R308).
JJ Condon & SM Ransom, Essential Radio Astronomy, National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
An online book from which we will be reading selected chapters.
BF Burke & F Graham-Smith, An Introduction to Radio Astronomy, 1997, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1st ed.
Selected chapters will be distributed during class.