Physics 346: Observational Astronomy
Spring 2025

Professor Andrew Baker Serin W309 Phone: 848-445-8887 Email: ajbaker[at]physics.rutgers.edu Instructor Conor Larison Serin W331 Email: cl1449[at]physics.rutgers.edu

Course meetings
Lectures & project meetings: SERC 212, TTh 3:50-5:10pm

Office hours
Every week: by appointment

Textbooks
This course does not have an official textbook.

Overview
Here's the official course catalog listing for Physics 346:
"Introduction to the tools and techniques of observational astronomy across the electromagnetic spectrum and to their application in the context of current research in astrophysics. Extended projects offer each student an opportunity to work with astronomical data from at least two wavelength regimes (among radio, optical/infrared, and X-ray), and in the two core modes of astronomical observations (imaging and spectroscopy)."

The course will also feature some discussion of modes of observation (e.g., detection of gravitational waves and particles like neutrinos and cosmic rays) that do not rely on the electromagnetic spectrum. A significant goal of the course is to develop skills (including programming) that are useful in the context of research and other STEM careers.

Schedule
Lectures: Tuesday classes will have a standard lecture format, following the tenative set of topics that are listed below (which may be updated during the course of the semester). The next-to-last lecture is tentatively reserved for a topic related to observational astronomy to be chosen shortly after spring break by the students enrolled in the course, and may include a discussion with a guest speaker who joins us in person or by videocon.
Project meetings: A majority of your grade will be determined by two group projects that will occupy slightly less than half of the semester apiece. The first project will feature the analysis of imaging data; the second project will feature the analysis of spectroscopic data. Groups will be assigned with some consideration to preference among multiple options. Most Thursday classes will be devoted to meetings with your teammates (and the instructors) to work on the project. Each project will have three key milestones:

• demonstration that students have successfully processed their data to a level enabling analysis (typically, this will be two weeks into the project)
• presentation of a 15-minute group report (with slides) in class
• submission of a written project report, prepared in LaTeX and including all necessary supporting figures

WEEK	LECTURE	TOPIC	DUE
1	Jan 21	course organization; radiative processes; specific intensity
2	Jan 28	practical aspects of observing
3	Feb 4	imaging vs. spectroscopy; coherent vs. incoherent detection
4	Feb 11	Fourier transforms, convolution, and cross-correlation	first project data check
5	Feb 18	radio astronomy: telescopes
6	Feb 25	radio astronomy: aperture synthesis
7	Mar 4	radio astronomy: deconvolution
8	Mar 11	first project presentations
	Mar 14		first project reports (11:59pm)
9	Mar 25	optical/IR astronomy: telescopes and instruments
10	Apr 1	optical/IR astronomy: adaptive optics
11	Apr 8	X-ray astronomy	second project data check
12	Apr 15	multi-messenger astronomy
13	Apr 22	student choice
14	Apr 29	second project presentations
	May 12		second project reports (11:59pm)

Grading
Your course grade will be based on a combination of four elements:

• quizzes during lectures (10%)
• participation during lectures, which includes no use of cell phones for texting or emailing (10%)
• participation during project meetings (20%)
• presentations of projects (25%)
• written reports on projects (35%)

Academic integrity
Students are expected to maintain the highest level of academic integrity. You must follow the university policy on academic integrity.

Use of external sources to obtain solutions to homework assignments or exams is cheating and is a violation of the University Academic Integrity policy. Cheating in the course may result in penalties ranging from a zero on an assignment to an F for the course to expulsion from the University. Posting of homework assignments, exams, recorded lectures, or other lecture materials to external sites without the permission of the instructor is a violation of copyright and constitutes a facilitation of dishonesty, which may result in the same penalties as explicit cheating.

Not only does the use of such sites violate the University's policy on Academic Integrity, using such sites interferes with your achievement of the learning you are paying tuition for. Assignments, quizzes, and exams are given not simply to assign grades, but to promote the active learning that occurs through completing assignments on your own. Getting the right answer is much less important than learning how to get the right answer. This learning is critical to your success in subsequent courses and your careers.

Almost all original work is the intellectual property of its authors. These works include syllabi, lecture slides, recorded lectures, homework problems, exams, and other materials, in either printed or electronic form. The authors hold copyrights in these works, which are protected by U.S. statutes. Copying this work or posting it online without the permission of the author violates the author's rights. More importantly, these works are the product of the author's efforts; respect for these efforts and for the author's intellectual property rights is an important value that members of the university community take seriously.

Other items

• Instructor absences
  I will need to miss at least one lecture and one project meeting, for which a substitute instructor will be available.
• Student absences
  If you miss a lecture or lab, unless I have given prior permission or it is a medical emergency, you will receive a zero for that day's participation (and, for a lecture, quiz) points and will need to rely on your classmates' notes to catch up on the material you missed. All absences should be reported at this website.
• Late assignments
  I am willing to be somewhat flexible, but unless I tell you otherwise, I will deduct 10% off the top for each day an assignment is handed in late (the first deduction hits at 11:59pm on the nominal due date). This means, e.g., that an assignment handed in three days late will receive at best a grade of 70%.
• Auditors
  Students not enrolled for credit are welcome to attend the lectures if space permits.
• Students with disabilities
  If you have a disability, let me know early in the semester so that we can make the necessary arrangements for you to have a successful learning experience. Please consult this web page for more details.
• Student wellness services
  The School of Arts and Sciences and the Rutgers University Student Assembly have requested that all course syllabi include the following information on resources to support student wellness:
  • Rutgers Counseling, ADAP & Psychiatric Services (CAPS) is a University mental health support service that includes counseling, alcohol and other drug assistance, and psychiatric services staffed by a team of professionals within Rutgers Health Services to support students' efforts to succeed at Rutgers University. CAPS offers a variety of services that include individual therapy, group therapy and workshops, crisis intervention, referral to specialists in the community and consultation, and collaboration with campus partners.
  • The Office for Violence Prevention & Victim Assistance (VPVA) (848-932-1181; 3 Bartlett Street in New Brunswick) provides confidential crisis intervention, counseling, and advocacy for victims of sexual and relationship violence and stalking to students, staff, and faculty. Staff can be reached by phone during office hours when the university; advocates can be reached by phone after hours.
  • The Office of Disability Services (848-202-3111; Lucy Stone Hall, Suite A145, Livingston Campus, 54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue in Piscataway) works with students with documented disabilities to determine eligibility for reasonable accommodations, facilitates and coordinates those accommodations when applicable, and lastly engages with the Rutgers community at large to provide and connect students to appropriate resources.