Imaging Optics Laboratory for Undergraduate Astronomy

目前提供两门必修实验室课程， 天文学本科专业-初级天文学 技术课程和高级项目课程。 两 课程需要该项目是更新两个所需的实验室 课程包括光电技术以外的材料， 进行恒星测光，通过扩大它们，包括一个 各种成像主题，特别强调噪声 分析. 生成、操作、检测和 涵盖了图像的计算机处理。 一个成像实验室 被设置为包括具有图案的均匀光源 投影仪，一个简单的色散光谱仪， 工作台，高品质的光学CCD成像相机， 可编程读出与控制电路，噪声分析 仪器，以及图像采集和处理 电脑 进行了各种实验，包括 原子线和连续谱源光谱学，图像 采集和校准、噪声和信噪比 分析，光子探测统计和泊松 分布，数字图像的概念及其 处理、图像质量及其对点源的影响 可检测性，电子噪声对图像质量的影响， 以及计算机与现代计算机接口的理论与实践 仪器仪表 这些都纳入初级 实验是两个学生一组进行的结构化练习 与现有的项目和课堂讲座交替进行。 老年人承担特殊项目，一对一监督 开发新的实验， 水平课程。 实验室为学生提供全面的 接触成像理论和技术在一个实际的， 参与环境。

Presently two required laboratory courses are offered to undergraduate astronomy majors - a junior level astronomical techniques course and a senior levels projects course. Both courses need The project is updating two required laboratory courses to include material beyond photoelectric techniques for performing stellar photometry by expanding them to include a variety of topics in imaging, with a special emphasis on noise analysis. The generation, manipulation, detection, and computer processing of images is covered. An imaging lab has been set up to include a uniform light source with a pattern projector, a simple dispersive spectrograph on an optical bench, a high quality optical CCD imaging camera with a programmable readout and control circuit, noise analysis instrumentation, and an image acquisition and processing computer. A variety of experiments are done, including spectroscopy of atomic lines and continuum sources, image acquisition and calibration, noise and signal-to-noise analysis, the statistics of photon detection and Poisson distributions, the concept of a digital image and its processing, image quality and its effect on point source detectability, the effect of electronic noise on image quality, and the theory and practice of computer interfaces to modern instrumentation. These are incorporated into the junior level lab as structured exercises performed in groups of two students alternating with existing projects and classroom lectures. Seniors undertake special projects with one-on-one supervision to develop new experiments for incorporation into the junior level course. The laboratory gives students a comprehensive exposure to imaging theory and techniques in a practical and involved environment.