LEARNING OUTCOMES
After completing the course the students should be able to: (1) Identify and extract raw data together with the corresponding calibration frames from the ESO Science Archive that are relevant to the astrophysical science question being studied; (2) Reduce these data using a relevant pipeline provided by ESO (use e.g. high-resolution UVES and near-infrared ISAAC spectroscopic data as examples); (3) Carry out an analysis of complex spectroscopic data; (4) Carry out photometry in fully-reduced astronomical imaging observations including both relative photometry and absolute photometry with the full photometric calibration; (5) Carry out both absolute and relative astrometry in fully-reduced astronomical imaging observations; (6) Carry out automatic source detection, characterization and photometry in astronomical imaging observations; (7) Produce a written course report
CONTENT
The course is organized in cooperation with the Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA). The course includes teaching in the form of lectures and supervised hands-on work on the data. The lectures cover the use of the ESO Science Archive and ESO data reductions pipelines (e.g. reduction and analysis of high-resolution optical spectroscopic and near-infrared spectroscopic data), the common methods for photometry and astrometry, automatic source extraction and characterization in astronomical images. The course presents the tools astronomers currently use to analyze large numbers of complex spectroscopic data in AGN (active galactic nuclei) and star-forming galaxies and how users can apply these tools for analysis to their own (potentially non-AGN/galaxy related) data. The course will also help students scale the sometimes daunting initial learning curve by connecting them with the tool's designers or expert users. The students are expected to work individually on their datasets and write-up their individual course reports at the end of the course.
