| Lecture | Date | Topic |
| 1 | 08/23/99 | Grading scheme, course goals, Introduction to the library & its resources |
| 2 | 08/25/99 | Spherical coordinates, geodesics, spherical geometry, Alt-Az Coordinate System, HA-dec coordinates |
| 3 | 08/30/99 | HA-dec coordinates, Equitorial coords, Ecliptic coords, Precession of coordinates (general & specific) |
| 4 | 09/01/99 | General precession of coordinates, Nutation, Parallax, Annual aberration, Galactic Coordinates, Atomic Time, Solar time, Universal time, gregorian year |
| 5 | 09/08/99 | Siderial time, Julian Date, Samples & Parent Population, Probablility density function, parent pop. properties, Estimating properties of a parent population |
| 6 | 09/10/99 | Sample mean & variance, propagation of errors, prob distribution functions, binomial distributions, Poisson distributions |
| 7 | 09/13/99 | Poisson statistics, Gaussian normal distribution, Central Limit theorem, confidence estimation, Significance of results, Maximum Likelihood |
| 8 | 09/15/99 | Maximum Likelihood of gaussian variables, linear regression, linear error correlation, chisquared |
| 9 | 10/04/99 | Confidence Limits for Fitted Parameters, Pros & Cons of Chisquared, Non-gaussian distributions, Wilk's Theorem, Likelihood function, Rank Tests |
| 10 | 10/06/99 | Non-parametric statistics, K-S Test (1 & 2-sample), Reflector vs. Refractor Telescopes, Common Foci of Reflecting Telescopes (Cassegrain, Nasmyth, Coude), Coatings, First order Geometric Optics, Eqn for reflection |
| 11 | 10/08/99 | Snell's Law, Magnification, 2 Mirror Telescope, Telescope size, Baffles, Stops, Pupils, Conic Sections of Revolution, Spherical Aberration |
| 12 | 10/11/99 | Spherical aberration, Coma, Ritchey-Cretien Design, Astigmatism, Distortion, Field Curvature, Hugen's Principle, Airy Diffraction, Aberrated telescope |
| 13 | 10/13/99 | Strehl Ratio, Optical Transfer Function, Modulation Transfer Funciton, Refraction in Atmosphere, Refractive index of air, Differential refraction |
| 14 | 10/15/99 | Seeing, Statistics of Fluctuations, Fried Parameter, Optical Transfer Function, PSF, Diffraction limit, |
| 15 | 10/18/99 | Temperature fluctions in the dome, Adaptive Optics, Tip-tile corrections, atmospheric extinction & causes, Atmospheric emission & how it affections observations, Properties of good observatory sites |
| 16 | 10/20/99 | Solid state physics, intrinsic semiconductors, extrinsic semiconductors, n- & p-type impurities, quantum efficiency, thermal excitation/dark current |
| 17 | 10/25/99 | Thermal excitation/dark current, Donor impurities, photoconductors, how CCDs work, Johnson noise, Equipartition function, bandwidth |
| 18 | 10/27/99 | Noise power, Photodiodes, Biasing the diodes, Bolometers, Specifics on CCDs (structure, how they work, readout, amplifiers, data numbers) |
| 19 | 11/01/99 | Real world CCDs: charge transfer efficiency, blooming, channel stop, CRs, Surface traps, backside illumination, IR Arrays, Data processing: signal, flatfielding |
| 20 | 11/03/99 | SCUBA, IDL introduction |
| 21 | 11/05/99 | Photometry: specific intensity, specific exitence, Emitted flux density, emitted flux, luminosity, resolved sources, Recieved flux density, magnitudes, photometric systems |
| 22 | 11/08/99 | mean, effective, and isophotal wavelength of a filter, Instrumental magnitudes, colors, Atmospheric extinction correction, practical considerations Absolute calibration, S/N, flux vs. background limited observations |
| 23 | 11/10/99 | spectrometer setup, dispersion, anamorphic magnification, optimal slit width, spectral purity, spectral resolution, diffraction limits, prisms, gratings (transmission & reflection), ordinary vs. eschelle grating spectrometers |
| 24 | 11/12/99 | Free spectral range, sorting out overlapping orders, blazed gratings, grating equation, grism, collimators, cameras, gratings. Practical spectroscopic considerations |
| 25 | 11/15/99 | Radio Astronomy, Single aperture & filled aperture antennae, strehl ratio, Beam pattern, Hanning apodization, effective area, directivity, aperture efficiency, brightness temperture, antenna temperature, integrated effective area |
| 26 | 11/17/99 | Interferometry, cross spectrum power density, finite source size, U-V Plane, aperture synthesis, calibration, closure variables, cleaning |
| 27 | 11/19/99 | Calibration of radio data: self calibration, noise issues, brief history of space exploration, technical considerations for satellites, residual atmosphere, communiations, altitude control & determination |
| 28 | 11/22/99 | Slewing satellites, determination (gyros & startrackers), power & thermal control |
| 29 | 11/24/99 | X-Rays: wavelengths, attenuation by atmosphere, issues with X-Ray observations, X-Ray optics, detectors |
| 30 | Neutrinos (sources & detectors), brief introduction to general relativity and gravitational waves. |
Thanks to Megan Novicki for this syllabus.
Joshua E. Barnes (barnes@ifa.hawaii.edu) Last modified: April 24, 2002