Earth and Space Sciences
Natural Science Lab Unit Astrophysics

Marcus Bruggen

Fall 2009

Instructors of Record: M. Bruggen

Course Number: 210141

Type: Mandatory for majors in Earth and Space Sciences

Corequisites:
210102 (General Earth and Space Sciences)

Contents of this web page

When and where

The first session will take place in the CLAMV Teaching Lab in West Hall on Thursday, 12 November 2009, 14:15.

There are two types of sessions.

NOTE: Attendance at the computer sessions is mandatory. In cases of illness the instructors have to be informed before the start of the session.

In addition to the supervised computer sessions students will have the opportunity to work on unfinished computer assignments during the open sessions which are offered on Wednesdays from 14:00-18:15.

Topics and dates

Module 3
Session I Session II Topics Instruction sheet Additional information Due date of report
12 November 13 November The Nature of Light PDF   18 November
19 November 20 November Graphical representation of fields PDF PDF (lecture) 25 November
26 November 27 November Handling of image data PDF PDF (lecture) 2 December
3 December 4 December Variable Stars PDF   9 December

General information

This course module addresses basic computational aspects of astrophysics and space physics, namely, elementary visualisation techniques, graphical representation of data, and basic aspects of numerical modelling. The students will work in the computer teaching lab and learn how to use IDL, a graphics-oriented software package which is ideally suited to address data visualisation and elementary computational problems.

Textbooks:

Links:

Reports and grading

The instruction sheets contain a number of computer assignments which are supposed to be solved during the computer sessions. The results should be summarised in written reports. The final grade will be based on the quality of the reports.

The reports are only accepted as hardcopies. They are to be handed in by 6 pm on the day of the deadline in my mailbox in Res III. Submissions by email will not be considered. Late submission by up to a week leads to an automatic and non-negotiable subtraction of 25 percent points from the grade. Submissions that are late by more than one week will not be accepted. Make sure you complete your report on time and excuses such as "My printer had no paper" will lead to additional penalties.