Astronomy 16: Special Topics - Astrophysics Lab

Welcome to AST-16! This course is traditionally taught by Prof. Danilo Marchesini during the Spring semester. I am excited to be teaching AST-16 during the Summer II session. We will be covering largely the same material and topics as in the Spring semester but in only 6 weeks. The class is primarily intended for students majoring in the physical sciences, but anyone who is interested in astronomy is, of course, welcome. In AST-16, students will:
a) learn practical tools for data and error analysis
b) develop and/or strengthen computer coding skills
c) develop and strengthen a critical thinking attitude
d) perform actual measurements on real astronomy datasets to derive properties of stars, galaxies, dark matter, and dark energy
e) strengthen ability to work as part of a group.

Syllabus & Tentative Schedule

Classes will meet Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays from 2:30 - 4:45pm EST

You can find the syllabus here and the tentative schedule here.

Please also be aware of important dates listed on the Tufts academic calendar. Particularly important are the last day to add a class (July 6th), the last day to withdraw without a grade of W (July 14), and the last day to withdraw with a grade of W (July 21st).

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Assignments:

Exercise Sheet #1
You can grab the Jupyter notebook for this assignment here: Jupyter Notebook for Assignment1

Exercise Sheet #2
Project 2 Notebook

Exercise Sheet #3

Below you can see some plots from the projects you'll be working on.