LFU:online

Learning Outcome:

At the end of this course the students should have

- obtained a good understanding of the broad range of instruments, which are available at a typical professional astronomical observatory, including some of their use cases,

- obtained practical experience in the use of a professional telescope,

- obtained a deeper understanding of how scientific astronomical observations are prepared and conducted,

- applied astronomical data reduction and data analysis techniques that are relevant for the observing program,

- described the conducted observations and obtained results in a report.

During this excursion we will visit one of the major European astronomical observatories located in Spain (Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, Teide Observatory, or Calar Alto Astronomical Observatory).
The students will learn about different telescopes at the observatory, their instrumentation, and example scientific use cases of these instruments.
Weather permitting the students will also conduct supervised scientific observations and corresponding calibration measurements at a professional telescope at the observatory for a specific scientific program. The students will conduct quick-look data analyses for quality monitoring followed by a more in-depth analysis of the obtained data. In the case of poor weather other data sets will be analysed.

An earlier preparatory block lecture will summarize relevant topics, e.g. regarding astronomical data acquisition, observing runs, observing proposals, observing conditions, data reduction, and the planned observing program.
It is also anticipated that each student will give a short presentation as part of the further preparation, e.g. providing an introduction to one of the visited telescopes or instruments.

Lectures and presentations, visits to the telescopes, practical training at the telescope, practical data reduction and data analysis, report writing

Course examination according to § 7, statute section on "study-law regulations".

Astronomical/astrophysical introduction lectures at the Bachelor level. Additionally, it is recommended that the participating students already have general knowledge regarding astronomical instrumentation and at least basic astronomical observing experience. Accordingly, in case of an oversubscription of the course, preference will be given to students who have already taken (or are currently taking) the course Astrophysics 2 and the Advanced Laboratory Class employing the Innsbruck 60cm telescope. Students should indicate such or similar experience when signing up for the excursion.

The excursion will be scheduled outside of the main lecture periods and have a duration of approximately 7 days (including travel time). Depending on the corresponding observatory schedules it may be necessary to move the excursion into the summer semester. Further details regarding the excursion will be announced on the webpage of the Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics (https://www.uibk.ac.at/astro/) as they become available.