This page is dedicated for the ELTE Particle, Nuclear and Astrophysics Lab, Astronomical observational exercises at Piszkéstető. The aim of the laboratory is to acquaint students with the basics of astronomical observations and instrumentation, and in addition, with the method of basic processing of digital astronomical measurements. On this webpage every preliminary information and file can be found. Because of the unforseen epidemic the excersise can be held online.
It is recommended to use some linux / unix system during the exercise.
If you do not want to install it as a main system, you can use it in a virtual machine.
This system should be up-to-date. If you don't have a Linux system in a virtual machine, you can try
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), but this has not been tested by the instructors and we cannot help you with that.
MacOS probably can be used as an alternative, the programs and scripts used will most likely work on it but
there is no guarantee.
You will need 10 GB of free space on the system used for the excersise.
During the excersise, we will use a software package called FITSH developed by András Pál for digital image processing, photometry and other additional steps. This must work on the system in order to complete the tasks. In some distributions, you can install it from the repository, but installing from the source is also a simple process. It is recommended that you read the software description and examples on its website before the lab.
In addition to the required software listed earlier, you may also have to use other programs. Lab instructors assume that the students have a basic knowledge of computer science, so, for example, moving and creating files is not a problem for them on the operating system they are using. We listed below a few applications that may be helpful.
The Lecture Notes for the lab can be downloaded from the link below. In this, we will walk you through the basics and each step in detail. The tasks include a brief description of the specific problem and usually an example solution to that particular issue. We have highlighted the tasks to be performed by the students, which they have to solve based on their existing knowledge and the previous examples. Because the excersise will be interactive the lab instructors can help with problems encountered during the tasks. Between classes you will have the opportunity to work on the tasks alone.
In the case that working with FITSH and Linux is not
manageable there is an alternative option to work with python.
This walktrough is not officially supported by the lab instructors
and using FITSH and linux is highly recommended.
For this solution the student should solve the problems and tasks
based on Attila Bódi's Python for Astronomers lectures.
Especially this
presentation.
For the necessary python packages see the presentation above.
The student using this method should complete the same tasks as the
ones using FITSH and linux as described in the lecture notes.