Schedule

Caution

The following is a tentative schedule for the course. It may be subject to significant changes as the course progresses. Assignment due dates are also tentative; the actual dates will be announced in class or via Canvas.

Date	Topics	Assignments	Observations
March 31	Introduction. Syllabus. Introduction: data analysis in astronomy
April 2	Coordinate systems, magnitudes, optics, telescopes (1)
April 4	Lab: Python environment setup
April 7	Coordinate systems, magnitudes, optics, telescopes (2)
April 9	Coordinate systems, magnitudes, optics, telescopes (3)
April 11	Lab
April 14	CCDs (1) — Electronics and readout. FITS files
April 16	CCDs (2) — Noise and CCD characterisation	Assignment 1: coordinate transformations
April 18	Lab
April 21	Basic CCD reductions
April 23	Basic CCD reductions
April 25	Lab
April 28	Basic CCD reductions
April 30	ARCSAT and preparing observing proposals
May 2	Lab
May 5	Basic CCD reductions	Observing proposals	Week 1
May 7	Aperture photometry and calibration		Week 1
May 9	Lab		Week 1
May 12	Aperture photometry and calibration		Week 2
May 14	Catalogue data, formats, best practices		Week 2
May 16	Lab	Assignment 2: CCD reductions
May 19	Databases and SQL
May 21	Plotting and data visualisation
May 23	Lab
May 26	Memorial Day: no class		Week 3
May 28	Plotting and data visualisation		Week 3
May 30	Lab		Week 3
June 2	Spectrographs		Week 4
June 4	Lab	Assignment 3: catalogue data	Week 4
June 12		Final project (ARCSAT paper)

ARCSAT observations will happen between May 5 to 15, and May 26 to June 5. We may not use all nights depending on weather and progress towards obtaining the necessary data.