Fundamentals of Astronomical Imaging (1051-217)

Winter 2006/2007
Prof. Joel Kastner
Class hours: MWF 11-11:50am in 76-1235; lab hours: Thurs 5-7pm (in 3 rd floor lab rooms of building 76)
JK’s office hours: TBA (or by appointment) in 17-3197 (IT Collaboratory building)
JK’s email: jhk@cis.rit.edu; phone: 475-7179
TA: Rudy Montez (rxm9447@cis.rit.edu)

Course Description: This class will familiarize students with the goals and techniques of astronomical
imaging. The nature of astronomical sources will be outlined, in terms of fundamental physical
characteristics (temperatures, states of matter, compositions) and their size and distance scales. We will
explore how this information translates into requirements on astronomical imaging systems. These
requirements are then investigated in the context of the astronomical imaging chain. Imaging chains in the
optical, infrared, X-ray, and/or radio wavelength regimes will be studied in detail as time permits.
Concepts developed in class will be explored via laboratory assignments involving optical images from
on-line resources and/or collected at the RIT Observatory, radio images collected at MIT’s Haystack
Observatory, and Chandra and Yohkoh X-ray images pulled from on-line astronomical imaging archives.

SYLLABUS (Rev. 1, 11/28/06)

Week Tentative Topic(s) Labs, quizzes, & exams
1 Overview: astronomical coordinates and distance scales
A brief history of astronomical imaging
2 Telescopes, angular resolution, & magnification lab #1: Measuring star colors
Measuring colors and luminosities of stars
3 Star colors & temperatures (cont.) quiz 1
The astronomical imaging chain lab #1: preliminary report due (Weds)
4 Optical astronomy imaging chain lab #1: final report due (Fri)
Optical astronomy: telescopes & detectors lab #2: Multiwavelength imaging
5 X-ray astronomy imaging chain quiz 2
X-ray astronomy: image processing lab #2: preliminary report due (Weds)

6 Radio astronomy imaging chain Exam 1; lab #2: final report due (Fri)
Radio interferometric imaging lab #3: The Sun: radio & UV/X-ray imaging

7 Infrared astronomy imaging chain lab #3: preliminary report due (Weds)

8 CCDs & image processing lab #3 final report due (Fri)

quiz 3; final project assigned
9 NASA’s Space Telescopes: Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer final project: outline due (Fri)

10 TBD quiz 4; project prelim. report due (Weds)

(polarimetric imaging, Doppler imaging, …) Exam 2
11 Final project report due (at end of final exam period)

 Grading: 30% exams; 30% laboratories; 10% quizzes, 30% final project or report. Class participation
also counts, particularly when evaluating students with borderline grades.

 Exams will consist of 20-25 short-answer questions. Quizzes are intended mainly to provide
preparation for exams, and will consist of about 3-4 questions each. I reserve the right to give quizzes
at any time during the week listed above. Your lowest overall quiz grade will be dropped, when
computing course grade.