| Background - Observational astrophysics, scale of the universe, nature of the observables. Co-ordinate Systems - Spherical trigonometry, celestial sphere, horizontal, equatorial, ecliptic and galactic coordinates. Time - sideral, solar, UT and atomic time, calendars, Julian date. Positional Measurements - history, constellations, catalogues, refraction, aberration, parallax, nutation, precession, astrometry, mean and apparent coordinates. Photometry - intensity, flux density, luminosity, surface brightness, apparent and absolute magnitudes, filter systems, extinction, atmospheric seeing, absorption. Image Processing - measurements, apeture photometry, CCD processing, counting statistics and signal-to-noise ratios, visualisation, filters. Detectors - theyeye, photography, CCDs, photomultipliers. Telescopes - reflectors, refractors, mounts, aberration, distortion. Spectroscopy - blackbody radiation, ionisation, H-R diagram, spectrographs, elementary spectral analysis, classifications. Radio Astronomy - antennae, beam patterns, detectors, bandwidth, interferometers. |
