AST 201 - Observational Astronomy

Semester Hours: 4

This course is an introduction to the methods and tools for observing stars, planets, galaxies, and other objects in the Universe. It will require students to learn the motions of astronomical objects in the sky and to complete several observing projects - during both the regularly scheduled night lab and on students’ own time. We will start with naked-eye observing and progress to binoculars and eventually to telescopes. With telescopes, we will progress from eyepieces to cameras and eventually to spectrometers. At the same time, the course will explore the long history of humankind’s observations of the night sky - from early hunter-gatherers through Ptolemy, Galileo, and the professional astronomers of today - and the technology created to observe it - from Stonehenge and Chichén Itzá to the Hubble Space Telescope and Atacama Large Millimeter Array. A laboratory is included. Meets Scientific Discovery Intellectual Perspective requirement (SD).

Intellectual Perspective: SD
Lab Included: LB
When Offered: Offered Spring Semester, alternate years.