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New and updated edition of advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate textbook on observational astronomy.
Astronomy is fundamentally an observational science and as such it is important for astronomers and astrophysicists to understand how their data are collected and analyzed. This book is a comprehensive review of current observational techniques and instruments. Featuring instruments such as Spitzer, Herschel, Fermi, ALMA, Super-Kamiokande, SNO, IceCube, the Auger Observatory, LIGO and LISA, the book discusses the capabilities and limitations of different types of instruments. It explores the sources and types of noise and provides statistical tools necessary for interpreting observational data. Due to the increasingly important role of statistical analysis, the techniques of Bayesian analysis are discussed, along with sampling techniques and model comparison. With topics ranging from fundamental subjects such as optics, photometry and spectroscopy, to neutrinos, cosmic rays and gravitational waves, this book is essential for graduate students in astronomy and physics. Electronic and colour versions of selected figures are available online at www. cambridge.org/9781107010468.
A Practical Guide to Observational Astronomy provides a practical and accessible introduction to the ideas and concepts that are essential to making and analyzing astronomical observations. A key emphasis of the book is on how modern astronomy would be impossible without the extensive use of computers, both for the control of astronomical instruments and the subsequent data analysis. Astronomers now need to use software to access and assess the data they produce, so understanding how to use computers to control equipment and analyze data is as crucial to modern astronomers as a telescope. Therefore, this book contains an array of practical problems for readers to test their knowledge, in addition to a wealth of examples and tutorials using Python on the author’s website, where readers can download and create image processing scripts. This is an excellent study guide or textbook for an observational astronomy course for advanced undergraduate and graduate astronomy and physics students familiar with writing and running simple Python scripts. Key Features Contains the latest developments and technologies from astronomical observatories and telescope facilities on the ground and in space Accompanied by a companion website with examples, tutorials, Python scripts, and resources Authored by an observational astronomer with over thirty years of observing and teaching experience About the Author M. Shane Burns earned his BA in physics at UC San Diego in 1979. He began graduate work at UC Berkeley in 1979, where he worked on an automated search for nearby supernovae. After being awarded a PhD in 1985, Professor Burns became a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wyoming. He spent the summer of 1988 as a visiting scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, where he helped found the Supernova Cosmology Project (SCP). He continued to work as a member of the SCP group while a faculty member at Harvey Mudd College, the US Air Force Academy, and Colorado College. The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to the leader of the SCP for the group’s "discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae." During his career, Professor Burns has observed using essentially all of the world’s great observatories, including the Keck Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.
With a lively yet rigorous and quantitative approach, this textbook introduces the fundamental topics in optical observational astronomy for undergraduates. It explains the theoretical foundations for observational practices and reviews essential physics to support students' mastery of the subject. Student understanding is strengthened through over 120 exercises and problems.
For the last twenty years astronomy has been developing dramatically. Until the nineteen-fifties, telescopes, spectrometers, and photographic plates consti tuted a relatively simple set of tools which had been refined to a high degree of perfection by the joint efforts of physicists and astronomers. Indeed these tools helped at the birth of modern astrophysics: the discovery of the expan sion of the Universe. Then came radioastronomy and the advent of electronics; the last thirty years have seen the application to astrophysics of a wealth of new experimental techniques, based on the most advanced fields of physics, and a constant interchange of ideas between physicists and astronomers. Last, but not least, modern computers have sharply reduced the burden of dealing with the information painfully extracted from the skies, whether from ever scarce photons, or from the gigantic data flows provided by satellites and large telescopes. The aim of this book is not to give an extensive overview of all the tech niques currently in use in astronomy, nor to provide detailed instructions for preparing or carrying out an astronomical project. Its purpose is methodologi cal: photons are still the main carriers of information between celestial sources and the observer. How we are to collect, sample, measure, and store this infor mation is the unifying theme of the book. Rather than the diversity of tech niques appropriate for each wavelength range, we emphasize the physical and mathematical bases which are common to all wavelength regimes.
Observing the Universe introduces a range of techniques and skills that will be useful for those wishing to undertake observational work in astronomy and planetary science. Observations have played, and continue to play, a crucial role in developing our understanding of the Universe, and the best way to get a feel for the role of observations is to do some. This comprehensive guide provides a sound basis for tackling astronomy and planetary science observations. It concentrates on generic aspects of observations, including the principles of telescopes and detectors, photometry and spectroscopy, microscopy techniques for analysing samples, teamwork skills, planning for a session at an observatory, keeping records of what you do, estimating uncertainties in measurements, analysing data numerically and graphically, and producing a written report. Including self-assessment questions with full solutions, this self-contained guide is suitable for undergraduate students of astronomy and planetary science, and serious amateur astronomers.
The ideal text for a one-semester course in radio astronomy Essential Radio Astronomy is the only textbook on the subject specifically designed for a one-semester introductory course for advanced undergraduates or graduate students in astronomy and astrophysics. It starts from first principles in order to fill gaps in students' backgrounds, make teaching easier for professors who are not expert radio astronomers, and provide a useful reference to the essential equations used by practitioners. This unique textbook reflects the fact that students of multiwavelength astronomy typically can afford to spend only one semester studying the observational techniques particular to each wavelength band. Essential Radio Astronomy presents only the most crucial concepts—succinctly and accessibly. It covers the general principles behind radio telescopes, receivers, and digital backends without getting bogged down in engineering details. Emphasizing the physical processes in radio sources, the book's approach is shaped by the view that radio astrophysics owes more to thermodynamics than electromagnetism. Proven in the classroom and generously illustrated throughout, Essential Radio Astronomy is an invaluable resource for students and researchers alike. The only textbook specifically designed for a one-semester course in radio astronomy Starts from first principles Makes teaching easier for astronomy professors who are not expert radio astronomers Emphasizes the physical processes in radio sources Covers the principles behind radio telescopes and receivers Provides the essential equations and fundamental constants used by practitioners Supplementary website includes lecture notes, problem sets, exams, and links to interactive demonstrations An online illustration package is available to professors
The touchstone for contemporary stargazers. This classic, groundbreaking guide has been the go-to field guide for both beginning and experienced amateur astronomers for nearly 30 years. The fourth edition brings Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer's invaluable manual completely up-to-date. Setting a new standard for astronomy guides, it will serve as the touchstone for the next generation of stargazers as well as longtime devotees. Technology and astronomical understanding are evolving at a breathtaking clip, and to reflect the latest information about observing techniques and equipment, this massively revised and expanded edition has been completely rebuilt (an additional 48 pages brings the page count to 416). Illustrated throughout with all-new photographs and star charts, this edition boasts a refreshed design and features five brand-new chapters, including three essential essays on binocular, telescope and Moon tours by renowned astronomy writer Ken Hewitt-White. With new content on naked-eye sky sights, LED lighting technology, WiFi-enabled telescopes and the latest advances in binoculars, telescopes and other astronomical gear, the fourth edition of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide is sure to become an indispensable reference for all levels of stargazers. New techniques for observing the Sun, the Moon and solar and lunar eclipses are an especially timely addition, given the upcoming solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024. Rounding out these impressive offerings are new sections on dark sky reserves, astro-tourism, modern astrophotography and cellphone astrophotography, making this book an enduring must-have guide for anyone looking to improve his or her astronomical viewing experience. The Backyard Astronomer's Guide also features a foreword by Dr. Sara Seager, a Canadian-American astrophysicist and planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an internationally recognized expert in the search for exoplanets.
As telescopes, detectors, and computers grow ever more powerful, the volume of data at the disposal of astronomers and astrophysicists will enter the petabyte domain, providing accurate measurements for billions of celestial objects. This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the cutting-edge statistical methods needed to efficiently analyze complex data sets from astronomical surveys such as the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, the Dark Energy Survey, and the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. It serves as a practical handbook for graduate students and advanced undergraduates in physics and astronomy, and as an indispensable reference for researchers. Statistics, Data Mining, and Machine Learning in Astronomy presents a wealth of practical analysis problems, evaluates techniques for solving them, and explains how to use various approaches for different types and sizes of data sets. For all applications described in the book, Python code and example data sets are provided. The supporting data sets have been carefully selected from contemporary astronomical surveys (for example, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey) and are easy to download and use. The accompanying Python code is publicly available, well documented, and follows uniform coding standards. Together, the data sets and code enable readers to reproduce all the figures and examples, evaluate the methods, and adapt them to their own fields of interest. Describes the most useful statistical and data-mining methods for extracting knowledge from huge and complex astronomical data sets Features real-world data sets from contemporary astronomical surveys Uses a freely available Python codebase throughout Ideal for students and working astronomers