WWW course notes - astronomical techniuqes

I finally got around to taking my 70 pages or so of course notes
about astronomical techniques and putting them up as a series of
PDF files at http://www.astr.ua.edu/keel/techniques/
This might seem more of a sci.astro.research thing (aside from
sci.astro becoming a complete morass), but these chapters includes
some things that do come up in s.a.a. :
- coordinate systems and matrix rotations
- reduction of photometric observations
- just how the heck does interferometry work?
- how does deconvolution work and when it is worth doing?
- what sets the limiting accuracy of even perfect detectors?

I also left in some historically interesting stuff about photographic
plates and visual observations. The set finishes up with pieces on
graphic and verbal presentation of results, and career advice which
departs strongly from my own path...

Bill Keel

William C. Keel wrote:
I finally got around to taking my 70 pages or so of course notes
about astronomical techniques and putting them up as a series of
PDF files at http://www.astr.ua.edu/keel/techniques/
This might seem more of a sci.astro.research thing (aside from
sci.astro becoming a complete morass), but these chapters includes
some things that do come up in s.a.a. :
- coordinate systems and matrix rotations
- reduction of photometric observations
- just how the heck does interferometry work?
- how does deconvolution work and when it is worth doing?
- what sets the limiting accuracy of even perfect detectors?

I also left in some historically interesting stuff about photographic
plates and visual observations. The set finishes up with pieces on
graphic and verbal presentation of results, and career advice which
departs strongly from my own path...

Cool! Mind if I refer to it now and then when I write my essays?

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt

Brian Tung wrote:
William C. Keel wrote:
I finally got around to taking my 70 pages or so of course notes
about astronomical techniques and putting them up as a series of
PDF files at http://www.astr.ua.edu/keel/techniques/
This might seem more of a sci.astro.research thing (aside from
sci.astro becoming a complete morass), but these chapters includes
some things that do come up in s.a.a. :
- coordinate systems and matrix rotations
- reduction of photometric observations
- just how the heck does interferometry work?
- how does deconvolution work and when it is worth doing?
- what sets the limiting accuracy of even perfect detectors?

I also left in some historically interesting stuff about photographic
plates and visual observations. The set finishes up with pieces on
graphic and verbal presentation of results, and career advice which
departs strongly from my own path...

Cool! Mind if I refer to it now and then when I write my essays?

Well, that was part of the idea of putting them out there...
One of these days (like the next term it's my term to teach that
course) I may expand that and put all the math into HTML.

Bill Keel

William C. Keel wrote:
Cool! Mind if I refer to it now and then when I write my essays?

Well, that was part of the idea of putting them out there...

Ahh...well, you might not have had me *specifically* in mind, but I'm
touched just the same.

One of these days (like the next term it's my term to teach that
course) I may expand that and put all the math into HTML.

I keep telling myself that, too.

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt

Indeed, cool! Bookmarked for future reference.

Phil

Brian Tung wrote:

William C. Keel wrote:

I finally got around to taking my 70 pages or so of course notes
about astronomical techniques and putting them up as a series of
PDF files at http://www.astr.ua.edu/keel/techniques/
This might seem more of a sci.astro.research thing (aside from
sci.astro becoming a complete morass), but these chapters includes
some things that do come up in s.a.a. :
- coordinate systems and matrix rotations
- reduction of photometric observations
- just how the heck does interferometry work?
- how does deconvolution work and when it is worth doing?
- what sets the limiting accuracy of even perfect detectors?

I also left in some historically interesting stuff about photographic
plates and visual observations. The set finishes up with pieces on
graphic and verbal presentation of results, and career advice which
departs strongly from my own path...


Cool! Mind if I refer to it now and then when I write my essays?

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt

"Brian Tung" wrote in message
...
William C. Keel wrote:
Cool! Mind if I refer to it now and then when I write my essays?

Well, that was part of the idea of putting them out there...

Ahh...well, you might not have had me *specifically* in mind, but I'm
touched just the same.

One of these days (like the next term it's my term to teach that
course) I may expand that and put all the math into HTML.

I keep telling myself that, too.


I would say that 90% of readers would not understand a thing. Anyone who
does this should
take a lot of care at reaching out to the majority rather than the elite.

I would say that 90% of readers would not understand a thing. Anyone who
does this should
take a lot of care at reaching out to the majority rather than the elite.

I haven't looked at all of it yet, but most of what I have seen is on the
bottom shelf, accessible to almost anyone. For some of them, I thought they
were maybe a little too basic (but then I realized that is just where he is
starting). The math in the section on interferometry could intimidate some
at first glance, but even there, it is a matter of how much do you want to
understand it. My last math class was in 1977 and I haven't used anything
more complicated than algebra since then, so I am hardly the "elite."

Rather than "majority" vs. "elite" I think it is "those who want to
understand and will spend a little time thinking to make sure they got it
correct" vs."those who don't want to face something that will require them
to concentrate and really think." The fact is, some of those topics can't be
intelligently discussed without having to think about it. The essays do a
good job of explaining so even without much of a math background, you can
understand it.

Nice job Bill!

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/
And the Lunar Picture of the Day http://www.lpod.org/
************************************

"William C. Keel" wrote

I finally got around to taking my 70 pages or so of course notes
about astronomical techniques and putting them up as a series of
PDF files at http://www.astr.ua.edu/keel/techniques/

Thanks!

I guess I should mention that my course notes are all available
for people to read, too. The astronomical ones are

Intro stellar astronomy
http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys230/phys230.html

Intro extragalactic and cosmology
http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys240/phys240.html

Junior-level stellar astronomy
http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys440/phys440.html

Observational techniques (CCD astronomy)
http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys445/phys445.html

Enjoy.

Michael Richmond