Intro to Astronomy Labs

Get going on your lab reports! See the following guide on How to write a lab report. | Sample Lab Report | Labs 1&2 instructions | Lab 3 instructions

Photos taken by the professor are available to students finishing their lab 2B. For reasons of space, there are two different locations for those take with the 50mm focal length lens, and those taken with the 135mm focal length lens. A list of the exposures originally taken and a summary of the success rate is here.

Planned labs for Astro 51:

We will do four of the following labs. If we have exceptionally bad weather, we might be forced to do an additional lab indoors. There will also be observing with the campus observatory, but not as a lab project.

Lab 1: (Indoors) Telescopes and spectroscopes

Lab 2: (Outdoors) Using the star and planet locator, and astrophotography with 35mm cameras (see articles on astrophotography)

Lab 3: (Outdoors) Using portable 6 inch reflecting telescopes

Lab 4: (Indoors) CLEA excercise on Hubble's law and observatory simulation

Alternate Indoor Lab: HR diagram

Labs so far for Fall 2006:


Monday Section: Sept 11: lab 2; Sept 18: Lab 3; Sept 25: lab 1; Oct 30: last lab (indoors)HR or Hubble
Wednesday Section: Sept 13: Lab 1; Oct 18: HR Diagram; Oct 25: Hubble Law; Nov 2: last lab
Thursday Section: Sept 14: Lab 1; sept 21: lab 2; Oct 19: HR diagram; Oct 26: Rain or shine! If cloudy, Hubble Law, if clear, telescopes

Lab due dates

AT THIS POINT ALL LABS ARE DUE, FINAL DEADLINE IS MONDAY NOV 13 FOR THE LAST LAB OF WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY SECTIONS. ALL OF MONDAY SECTION'S LABS SHOULD ALREADY BE IN. Due dates depend upon which section you are in (M, W, Th).

Past deadlines:
Mon: Lab 2A due friday Sept 22
Wed: Lab 1 (parts A and B) due Wed Sept 27
Thurs: Lab 1 (parts A and B) due Wed Sept 27
Mon: Lab 3 Telescopes due Mon Oct 2
Thursday section: Lab 2 reports (both 2A and 2B) due friday Oct 13. Mon: Lab 2B Astrophotography Fri Oct 13

Current deadlines:
Monday Oct 30: HR diagram for Wed, thursday sections Monday section: your lab 1 is due ASAP once you get a graded lab back from me

Further deadlines: