ASTR170 Introductory AstronomyFeb 22rd 20101 Astronomy & Astrophysics at Macquarie Physics can be...

ASTR170 Introductory Astronomy Feb 22rd 2010 1

Astronomy & Astrophysics at Macquarie Physics can be an exciting and dynamic field of study Astronomy and astrophysics courses have been designed to offer an

interesting and diverse range of topics which start with fundamental concepts and background material and finish with a detailed description of astrophysical phenomena and the underlying physics.


Faculty Astronomers at Macquarie Prof. Quentin Parker

Is director of the astronomy CORE. Research activities are mainly but not exclusively associated with Wide Field Astronomy and narrow-band surveys and the Macquarie/AAO/Strasbourg H-alpha Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae (MASH) of which he is head.

Prof. Mark WardleTheoretical investigations of interstellar clouds including supernova remnants, shock waves, masers, star formation, protoplanetary discs and the Galactic Centre. Collaborations here and in the USA on interpretation of radio/sub-mm/ir/optical(HST)/x-ray(Chandra) observations of the Galactic Centre, SNRs, molecular clouds and star-forming regions.

A/Prof Orsola De MarcoResearch activities are mainly focussed on the role of binary stars in the shaping and evolution of Planetary Nebulae and on the theoretical aspects of binary interactions.

Dr Dan Zucker

Dr Jon Lawrence & Dr. Alan Vaughan


ASTR170 – ASTRONOMYProf. Quentin Parker & Dr. Dan Zucker

This is a general-education unit of study which is offered internally every year . It is usually taken in 2nd year except for those entering the astronomy stream when they are encouraged to undertake the subject in first year. It gives a broad introduction to the field and includes:

– some basic mechanics and optics;

– historical development of astronomical instruments and techniques across the whole electromagnetic spectrum;

– celestial coordinate systems & navigation;

– Stars, galaxies, nebulae, quasars, pulsars, black holes;

– evolutionary models and alternatives;

– basic cosmology. Experimental lab work may be chosen from such topics as geometrical and physical

optics, spectra, photography, galaxy classification, use of an optical telescope and a simple radio telescope

Some practical sessions will be spent at the Division's observatory (evenings).

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICSRESEARCH – ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS CORE

Astronomy and astrophysics research has grown rapidly at Macquarie over the last 6 years.There are now ~30 group members including 5 academic staff, 4 associates, 4 postdoctoral fellows, 10 PhD students, 4 masters students and various honours students engaged in a vigorous program of diverse research:See http://www.physics.mq.edu.au/astronomy/

Our deep LMC Hα stack image SMP27

HST image of LMC planetary nebula SMP27

Macquarie astronomers have built a strong international reputation. Current research strengths include wide-field astronomy, optical, infrared and radio studies of planetary nebulae and supernova remnants, stellar proper motions, and theoretical studies of shock-waves, star formation and black holes.

Output metrics 2003-2008: Publications:150+ papers including 60+ in refereed journals; Major Grants with a total value ~$3m; Major telescope access won on world’s most prestigious observatories such as HST, SPITZER, CHANDRA, GEMINI, ESO VLT) equivalent to $4.2m of facility access; 5 PhD completions since Dec 2005 – most go in to industry.

ASTR170 Introductory Astronomy 4Feb 22rd 2010


Please refer to the MU `recommendations for laboratory report writing’ fora general description of what is expected in a lab report in practical classes.


Chandra’s view of the centre of our Galaxy: 94.2 accumulated hours of data!

This 400 by 900 light-year mosaic of several Chandra images of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy reveals hundreds of white dwarf stars, neutron stars, and black holes bathed in an incandescent fog of multimillion-degree gas. The supermassive black hole at the center of the Galaxy is located inside the bright white patch in the center of the image. The colors indicate X-ray energy bands - red (low), green (medium), and blue (high).

Credit NASA/UMass/D.Wang et al. Image is 120 by 48 arcmin


Practical Work


Practical Marking scheme

• Practicals are over 9 weeks plus the evening observing sessions

• Marking will be out of 5 (refer to `recommendations for laboratory report writing’)

• The best 8 lab reports will be used to form your 20% practical component for your overall course mark.


Using the Observatories telescopes!

Meade 16”photo by Lesa MooreWhen a 3rd year student –now starting a PhD here

Observatory Domes

Tarantula Nebulaphoto by Angela Mabee When a 3rd year student


Generic Skills – or what life skills you are picking up without perhaps realising it!

Plagiarism – cheating – not giving it a fair go!

Please refer to the handout on plagiarism for further details


We value your opinion!

At the end of the course some of us may also request students to fill in aTeaching Evaluation Form – multiple choice questions(plus a comments component) to allow assessment of our teaching as a positive feedback mechanism


Your chance to impress!


Course Content: in 36 lectures Introduction QAP/DZ (happening now…) Ancient Astronomy (1) DZ/QAP Basic Optics (1) DZ Telescopes and other Detectors (2) QAP Basic Physics within an astronomical framework (4) DZ Astronomical Measurements (4) QAP Motion of the Sun, Moon and Planets (1) DZ The Solar System (4) DZ The panoply of Stars (5) DZ Pulsars (1) DZ Nebulae (3)QAP The Milky Way (3) QAP Galaxies (2) QAP Peculiar Galaxies and Quasars (1) QAP Cosmology and the large scale structure of the Universe (2) QAP Life in the Universe and Astrobiology (1) QAP/Guest Lecturer

N.B. The progress of the course is generally in the sense of increasing scale N.B. The progress of the course is generally in the sense of increasing scale though the exact order of the lectures is not set in stone!though the exact order of the lectures is not set in stone!

ASTR178 Other Worlds: Planets and Planetary Systems

Semester 2 1st year course 3cp (People & Planet unit) This unit explores our solar system and the newly-found planetary systems

around other suns. We examine the processes that have shaped the marvelous variety of worlds

within our own solar system, from the scorched and buckled surface of Mercury to the geysers of frozen methane on Neptune's largest moon, Triton.

From this we build an understanding of how our solar system formed and subsequently evolved to become the system that we inhabit today.

We look at the discovery of a startling variety of planets around other stars. These provide a new and challenging perspective on our place in the Universe

that is modifying the scientific theories of how generic planetary systems are formed. The unit will highlight breaking news as the unit proceeds.

The practical component of the unit includes observing the planets with the telescopes of the Macquarie University Observatory.

Prerequisites and Corequisites: NONE!! Lecturers: De Marco, Parker, (Gilchrist)



ASTR278 – Advanced AstronomyProf. Q.A.Parker & Dr. J.Lawrence

This unit includes material from the following: Coordinates systems (equatorial, ecliptic, galactic, altitude-azimuth) Precession/nutation; The Fourier transform in astronomy (cool!) Detection theory and detectors (CCD’s, photomutlipliers) Observational selection and atmospheric effects (e.g. `seeing’) Multi-wavelength astronomy including: UV, Optical, IR, sub-mm, X-ray,

neutrino, cosmic-ray and gravitational-wave astronomy (big component) Astrophotonics, fibre optics in astronomy, Antartic astronomy Astronomical data/image processing (or how to retrieve that signal!) A variety of astronomy based laboratory practical projects including more

advanced use of the observatories telescopes (some fun assured here) How to write a successful observing proposal! (prize given for best entry –

staff astronomers permitted to steal any such `good ideas’ for their own research)!


Characteristic astrophysical objects seen at specific wavelength regimes

λ E

The course spends some time looking at these regimes


3rd year – Astrophysics courses ASTR370 Astrophysics I (3 credit points)

This unit deals with the physics of the major emission, absorption and scattering mechanisms of astronomy, the passage of waves through ionised and neutral media, stellar models and stellar spectra, together with a detailed treatment of several interesting astronomical objects. Students will carry out an observational project and may visit a number of observatories!

ASTR378 General Relativity and Cosmology (3 credit points)

Review of special relativity, gravity and the equivalence principle, tensor methods, metrics of spacetime and spacetime curvature, the Schwarzschild metric and black holes, experimental tests of general relativity, gravitational radiation, the Robertson-Walker metric, Friedmann, Einstein and de Sitter models, inflation.

now we start to get serious!


Honours yearso you want to be an astronomer?

A variety of honours projects are currently offered as well as advanced (taught) course work.

They involve the reduction, analysis and interpretation of real data taken recently on Australian and overseas telescopes.

The work will involve the use and processing of both large format pixel images and/or the reduction and analysis of spectral data never before examined.

The opportunity to participate directly in the use of major Australian based observing facilities is a real possibility

Staff are involved in vigorous and successful follow-up observing programmes where there are prospects for real discoveries.

Extensive use of image processing, database packages and specialist astronomical software will be required.

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A variety of options are available for PhD graduates wishing to pursue a research or industrial career – it is not just astronomy!

Astronomy graduates have gone into a broad range of careers including remote sensing, medical physics, conservation science, financial modeling, defense industries, teaching, even insurance… some even stay on in Astronomy.

Students leave equipped with a wide range of sophisticated and useful skills. These include but are not restricted to:

– high level analytical skills including data processing, manipulation, interpretation, assessment and evaluation

– Experimental design, testing against data, image processing, spectral analysis

– Computational physics, software development, modeling, scientific writing, science proposals – persuading someone to part with money/resources!

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICSASTRONOMY RESEARCH – POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

PhD projects are available in observational, theoretical and in instrumentation projects that can equip students with a very broad range of capabilitiesCutting-edge instrumentation PhD projects with advanced photonics in collaboration with the AAO are available now…

ASTR170 Introductory Astronomy Feb 22rd 2010


Vacation scholarships

Each summer 4-6 paid vacation scholarships are available to 2nd & 3rd year undergraduates to pursue a supervised research project in the physics department

Astronomy projects form an integral part of this! Budding astronomers also get access to equivalent

programmes at the AAO, ATNF, ANU, Swinburne & Melbourne.


Links with the AAO

Honours Instrumentation projects in collaboration with the AAO including the provision of two $5000 AAO/Mac.University astronomy-instrumentation scholarships.

These would be jointly supervised projects between an AAO instrumentation scientist and Macquarie.

Other honours projects are offered in collaboration with AAO research astronomers from within their areas of speciality (see links below). Interested students can check out the following www pages for related material:

www-wfau.roe.ac.uk/sss/halphawww.roe.ac.uk/wfau/halpha/halpha.htmlwww.roe.ac.uk/wfau/6df/6df.htmlmsowww.anu.edu.au/~colless/6dF/www.aao.gov.au/allstudents/studentsgrad.html

Jointly supervised PhD projects in instrumentation or direct astronomical

research


Some interesting astronomy web-links! http://www.open.hr/space/space/programs.phtml http://astronomylinks.com/ (General extensive astronomy links) http://www3.cerritos.edu/jmclarty/AstronomyPage/Astro_Index.htm http://vrl.tpl.toronto.on.ca/expanding_universe/520.HTM http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/people/faculty/tenn/AstronomyLinks.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html (astronomy picture of the day!) http://oposite.stsci.edu/ (The Hubble Space Telescope site!) http://www.galaxy.com/galaxy/Science/Astronomy/

FREE ASTRONOMY SOFTWARE: http://freeware.intrastar.net/astronmy.htm http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/software.html http://www.cvc.org/astronomy/freeware.htm


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