Techniques of Observational Astronomy
AST3722C

Working With the Telescope

Useful Resources

• Procedures manuals for the 18 inch and 30 inch telescopes http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~oliver/rho/schedule/info4observers.htm
• Digital Sky Survey http://stdatu.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form

Advance Planning

• Plan the night: worry about twilight and the moon
• Pick out your objects
• Get finding charts if necessary

Opening Up

• Log In
• Work through the checklist

Starting up the telescope

• get the software up and running
• get the CCD powered up
• synchronize the scope on an alignment star
• focus the scope

Taking CCD Images

• selecting filters
• how long should you expose

Calibrating CCD Images

• dark frames
• flat fielding
• bias frames?

Closing Down

• reverse the startup checklist
• pause for a quiet moment ... what have you forgotten?

This page was last edited October 26, 2004 12:00 PM