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Astronomy 102, Fall 2003

Astronomy 102 Laboratory

How the Lab Works

Goals

To learn about the night sky; to learn how to use your eyes and a portable telescope to make observations of celestial objects.

What You will Do

Naked Eye Labs

Some labs will be done outdoors using only your eye for observations. These can be done during the regular scheduled lab time AND as a laboratory homework assignment, i.e., on your own time.

Why? We cannot count on the weather always being clear enough, dry enough, and warm enough for us to work outside; bad weather on your assigned lab night, however, does not excuse you from conducting astronomy observations for this class. Thus, we have planned some lab activities that you can do outside of the normal laboratory hours.

Over the course of the semester, these labs will not add up to extra time spent on your Astronomy lab program. They merely are preplanned projects to make up for the rainy or cloudy nights when you cannot make observations during your regular lab period.

Telescope Labs

The labs will take place outdoor using 20 cm (8 inch) diameter telescopes. In teams of two, you will set these up on each of your lab nights at the observing facility. (7-10 PM).

Web-Based Labs

Depending on the weather conditions during the semester, you may be assigned web-based lab activities to do on your own time.

The Observing Facility

Labs will normally be held at the observing facility. It is located at the top (11th) floor of the 25th Avenue Parking Garage that is between the VA Hospital (big white building) and the tennis courts. Check out the campus map (Lot 20 Garage, near the center of the map). The facility is located near the southwest corner of the garage. There are stairs or elevators in each corner of the structure. There are no facilities of any kind in the garage, however, so plan accordingly. The top floor lights will be turned off during the astronomy labs. If you are concerned for your safety, please make sure you are accompanied by a classmate when you walk over. Do not plan to drive and park by the facility on the top floor. Moving cars are a major source of vibrations and college permits are not valid on the upper floors.

What to Bring to Lab

Come prepared for the lab!

The time you will spend outdoors will be much better used if you come prepared for the lab. The TA's will keep you informed of the upcoming lab activities and observing projects. Read the appropriate sections of this lab manual before your lab night. Print the relevant pages and bring them with you! Everything takes longer to do in the dark and outdoors, so do the reading comfortably indoors and spent your precious observing time observing! Your lab work will go much more smoothly and it will ease the job of the TA's who are quite busy during the outdoor labs. The TA's will provide structure as to when to do which lab, but you are otherwise free to go at your own pace or focus on something you find particularly interesting (Jupiter, spectroscopy, the moon, etc) as long as you are you are progressing in your observing skills.

Bring this stuff on Lab Nights

With each telescope, we will provide you with a laboratory tool kit that includes a red-light flashlight for outdoor labs. You should bring a pencil, paper, your observing log, your star charts (provided by us), a calculator (important!), and printouts of the relevant lab pages to all lab sessions. You may find a clip board useful for taking notes outdoors.

Note that there is no printed lab manual. All of the lab descriptions exist only on these web pages. Read the labs before you come, and bring print-outs of the descriptions of any lab you will be doing!

Lab Partners

Each student will have assigned one lab partner, with whom he or she will share the telescope. Note that while you will work together with your partner, all the work that goes into your observing log must be your own! (For one lab, there are specific exceptions for sharing drawings with your lab partner. Unless the lab explicitly permits this, you may not do it.)

Lab Attendance

You must attend the lab on your assigned night; there is not room to "squeeze in" on another night. There is an open makeup lab on Thursday; this is provided in case you want extra time with the equipment to make observations. You can not substitute Thursday attendance for regular attendance at the lab. If you have a valid reason, scheduled ahead of time with your TA, to miss your lab meeting, you should arrange with the TA to come on another night, or to come on Thursday.

Valid reasons for arranging an alternate lab night include (a) religious holidays; (b) university sponsored extracurricular events in which you are a participant (e.g. orchestra concerts, athletic competitions, theater productions, debate team events). All such events are planned well in advance; thus, you should obtain permission prior to th emissed class and have documented evidence of you rparticipation from the music or atletic departments, or from the faculty sponsor, as appropriate; (c) illness– accompanied by a note from student health. The TAs have the authority to determine the validity of these requests.

Invalid reasons for missing lab or wanting to switch to a different lab night include, but are not limited to: (a) you have a test (paper) tomorrow; (b) you have out of town family or friends visiting; (c) you have a meeting (ASB, fraternity, sorority, freshman programming; (d) you are supposed to attend a movie (lecture, cultural event) for another class; (e) you have concert (theater, basketball game) tickets.

About the Weather

Dealing with uncontrollable weather conditions is an integral part of astronomy. It frustrates amateurs and professionals alike. This is why this lab is more loosely structured than any other lab you have probably taken. There is not a preset list of weekly labs to do. We do not know how fast you will be able to progress because of unpredictable weather. One thing we know is that there will be a limited clear nights for each section. Different sections will enjoy different numbers of clear nights. We cannot tell you in advance how much you will have to do during the semester and adjustments will be made as we go along. This apparent lack of organization is can be frustrating. We will do our best to make the astronomy labs an enjoyable learning experience. We ask you to bear with us regarding the weather and to make an effort to get the most out of the clear nights we have.

Expect the weather to be good through most of September and October (Fall semester) and March and April (Spring semester). The months of November through February are typically cloudy and cold. Due to the predictability of overcast skies in late Fall and early Spring, this lab is heavily "front-loaded" in the Fall and "back-loaded" in the Spring. But if the skies are clear, we will work outside regardless of the temperature. Therefore...

What if it's cold?

Even when the days are warm, you may need warm clothes, including gloves, at night. Some nights are very cold but crystal clear and wonderful for telescope work. Dress warmly enough. We can help with the telescopes but you've got to figure this one out yourself! It is better to wear too much clothing than not enough. Try the "layered look". Many students have been very cold on lab nights beacuse they showed up in their daytime attire. Lack of warm clothing is not an excuse for missing lab or leaving lab early.

What if it rains or is cloudy?

Each lab night, by 6 PM, the TAs in charge will decide whether the weather permits doing a telescope lab at the facility. Lab may be cancelled or your TA may have material to discuss with you, or may want to work outside without the telescope, depending on how good or bad the sky conditions are on a given evening. Classroom meetings (in SC 1320) may be held for those purposes. Consult the Announcements page before coming to lab (and after 6PM) to find out if there will be a lab on any given night. Do not make your own decision! If you decide it's "too cloudy", but the TAs have not decided that, then you will be consiered absent when you do not show up for the lab.

Open Lab on Thursday

To make up for cloudy nights on regularly scheduled lab nights, there will be an "Open lab" on Thursdays (only when clear, check the main course page or the lab announcements page to find out if there will be a lab on a given night). Attendance on Thursday is purely voluntary, although the TAs may strongly advise a section to show up on Open lab nights to make up for unusual bad luck with weather. You can use the Open lab to get your lab projects done faster, to do more observing if you are so inclined, or to get extra help with your observations. This is also an opportunity to make up a lab missed for a valid reason. If for some reason Open lab nights are very popular, we will limit the attendance to 40 students on a first-come, first-served basis.


Last modified: 2003-January-7, by Robert A. Knop Jr.

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