Observational astronomy

Description

"Astronomy is fundamentally an observational science and as such it is important for astronomers and astrophysicists to understand how their data are collected and analyzed. This book is a comprehensive review of current observational techniques and instruments. Featuring instruments such as Spitzer, Herschel, Fermi, ALMA, Super-Kamiokande, SNO, IceCube, the Auger Observatory, LIGO and LISA, the book discusses the capabilities and limitations of different types of instruments. It explores the sources and types of noise and provides statistical tools necessary for interpreting observational data. Due to the increasingly important role of statistical analysis, the techniques of Bayesian analysis are discussed, along with sampling techniques and model comparison. With topics ranging from fundamental subjects such as optics, photometry and spectroscopy, to neutrinos, cosmic rays and gravitational waves, this book is essential for graduate students in astronomy and physics"-- "This book is based on a required course for graduate students in Astronomy which I taught for a number of years at the University of Illinois. The premise of the course is that both theoretical astronomers and observers should have a basic understanding of the techniques of observational astronomy. The emphasis is on the underlying physics of the methods of detection and analytical tools (statistical and otherwise) that astronomers find useful. The great variety of current instruments and the rapid introduction of new instruments preclude an in-depth treatment of the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of many instruments. But every instrument has its own idiosyncrasies and its own ways of corrupting the data and deceiving the observer. The topics in this book, I believe, cover the minimum which is required of anyone attempting to understand or interpret observational astronomy data.Throughout the book equations are given in mks (SI) units so that it is easy to relate the discussion to practical quantities such as volts and watts. This is true even in the chapter on gravitational waves, a subject for which many texts and references use geometrized units (c = 1, G = 1). I prefer to keep c and G around rather than having to figure out where to put them when I need to calculate power"--

Subjects