ESCI 7200 - Observational Astronomy

3 cr.

This celestial survey course is aimed at providing both basic instruction and experience in viewing and recording the evening sky. Participants learn to set up, align and use all types of basic telescopes; view constellations, planets, moons, star clusters, nebulae, galaxies, double stars and variable stars of the fall and early winter sky and learn basic techniques for recording observations through the medium of sketching, photography and CCD cameras. A substantial part of this course consists of field work located at instructor’s observatory in a rural section of Fitchburg approximately 10 minutes from the university. The remaining work consists of labs and analyses of data collected by participants. A project is required of all students. Meetings after the first session are held off-campus and some variable scheduling is done to take advantage of sky conditions or cancellations due to cloud cover.