FYBANP0003 Observational astronomy

Institute of physics in Opava
summer 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
RNDr. Tomáš Gráf, Ph.D. (lecturer)
RNDr. Tomáš Gráf, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
RNDr. Tomáš Gráf, Ph.D.
Institute of physics in Opava
Prerequisites (in Czech)
(FAKULTA(FU) && TYP_STUDIA(B))
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The subject immediately follows the subject Basics of Astronomy and Astrophysics lectured in the previous fall semester and it extends substantially in observational astronomy. Part of the training will be also observations at WHOO!
Learning outcomes
orientation in the night sky, good knowledge of constellations, operation of telescopes and techniques of WHOO! , practical knowledge of CCD/CMOS photometry of stars
Syllabus
  • 1. Transformation of systems of coordinates, time, stellar catalogs and atlases, astronomical databases,
    seminar: orientation on the sky, constellations
    2. Influence of Earth's atmosphere on observations, planning of observational night, seminar: observations with telescope
    3. Telescopes, aberrations, large telescopes, active and adaptive optical systems, detectors, seminar: practical astronomy "for pleasure" I (including critical commentary)
    4. Brief overview of observational methods used in radio, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy, detectors of cosmic rays, neutrinos and gravitational waves, seminar: practical astronomy "for pleasure" II (including critical commentary)
    5. CCD imaging, CCD cameras, seminar: work with a CCD camera
    6. Astronomical photography(classical and CCD), robotic telescopes, seminar: camera obscura, digital camera, CCD camera
    7. Fundamentals of computer image processing, seminar: practical exercises
    8. Photometric systems, practical photometry I, seminar: visual photometry, CLEA, WHOO!
    9. Practical photometry II, astrometric measurements, seminar: CLEA, WHOO!
    10. Fundamentals of spectroscopy, seminar: simple spectroscope
    11. Practical Spectroscopy, seminar: CLEA, WHOO!
    12. Analysis of experimental data, seminar: practical exercises, WHOO!
Literature
    recommended literature
  • T. Gráf. Praktická astronomie. Opava, 2016. ISBN 978-80-7510-194-5. URL info
  • T. Gráf. Metody pozorovací astronomie. URL info
  • C. R. Kitchin. Astrophysical Techniques. London, 2003. ISBN 0750309466. info
  • Robert C. Smith. Observational Astrophysics. London, 1995. ISBN 0521278341. info
Teaching methods
lectures and observation at WHOO!
Assessment methods
oral examination
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms summer 2021, summer 2022, summer 2023, summer 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (summer 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.slu.cz/course/fu/summer2025/FYBANP0003