Welcome to the PHYS 1156 Astronomy Laboratory Website

There are no prerequisities. You are not expected to have any previous experience using a telescope, or to have any specific knowledge of the night sky. You will learn any related background in the corequisite lecture course Phys 1056 Introduction to Astronomy.

Syllabus

Detailed discussion of how the course will work, grades, etc.

Scholar

To check your lab scores login to Scholar.

Course Materials

SIP

Sky Image Processor (SIP) is the Java web-based image analyzer we use for some of the lab exercises.

Prices Fork Observatory Exercise

The handout for the Prices Fork Observatory Exercise. This exercise must be done at one of the Prices Fork Observatory Open Houses. The Prices Fork Observatory Open Houses are scheduled for every Friday evening when classes are in session, but only occur if the sky is not cloudy! Consult the syllabus and the Open House webpage for more details.

Planisphere

Uncle Al's Sky Wheels can be downloaded in three parts: the star wheel cover, the first insert with constellations and bright star names, and the second insert with constellations and celestial coordinate lines. These downloads are for the 2000 version. The 2009 version does not have star names.

LST Clock at USNO

A link to a page at the US Naval Observatory that shows the Local Sideral Time (LST). First you have to enter "Blacksburg" and "VA" in the appropriate text boxes, then hit the Compute button.

Jupiter's Moons Javascript Utility

A Javascript Utility at Sky and Telescope's website that will display the configuration of the Galilean Moons of Jupiter on any given date and time.

Transit Times of Jupiter's Great Red Spot

A page at Sky and Telescope's website that will display a list of the transit times of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, for a given date.

Astronomy Picture of the Day: The Incredible Expanding Crab

A link to the APOD page showing the expansion of the Crab Nebula from 1973 to 2001. The individual images that went into the expanding time-lapse image are CrabNebula1973.bmp and CrabNebula2001.bmp. An image with labeled, well-defined knots in the Crab filaments is CrabNebulaFilaments.bmp.

Open Cluster Observations

Here are maps necessary for carrying out these observations: Map of the Pleiades, Map 1, Map 2, and Map 3.

ESA Exercise on the Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way

An exercise designed by the European Space Agency, in which you will determine the mass of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Astronomy Minor

Outside Links of Interest

Sky and Telescope's webpage on Pronouncing Constellation Names

Sky and Telescope's webpage on how to pronounce constellation names. Includes mpg files so you can actually hear the pronunciations, and interesting historical information.

VT Astronomy and Astrophysics

The webpage containing links to all VT Astronomy and Astrophysics courses, plus links to many external sources of information on astronomy and astrophysics.