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Class introduction
ASTRONOMY 535
OBSERVATIONAL TECHNIQUES
CLASS NOTES
Fall 2023
Instructor: Jon Holtzman
Class introduction
Light, magnitudes, and the signal equation
Light
Magnitudes and photometric systems
Colors
Magnitude-flux conversion
Observed fluxes, the signal equation, and photometry
Photometry
Uncertainties and error analysis
Distributions and characteristics thereof
The binomial distribution
The Poisson distribution
The normal, or Gaussian, distribution
Importance of error distribution analysis
Confidence levels
Noise equation: how do we predict expected uncertainties?
Signal-to-noise
Background noise
Instrumental noise
Error propagation
Distribution of resultant uncertainties
Determining sample parameters: averaging measurements
Weighted mean of a series of exposures
Can you split exposures?
Random errors vs systematic errors
