9351745 Williams An undergraduate astronomical observatory is the focus of an upper division laboratory course that will accompany an intro- ductory astronomy lecture course for science and engineering majors. The observatory will also be used for undergraduate honors research projects and finally will provide the students in the liberal arts astronomy course firsthand experience of the phenomena, tools, and methods of modern astronomy. The observatory will be centered around a 20-inch telescope, equipped with a CCD solid-state imaging camera and a grating spectrograph. Computerized image display and processing facilities will be used to examine and analyze the data acquired at the telescope. the equipment and techniques of modern research astronomy will be emphasized in order to give the students an appreciation of the way observations are really performed. The larger goal of the laboratory course, beyond improving the understanding of the material covered in the lecture course, is to introduce students to both the power and the pitfalls of using modern instrumentation and computers to collect, manipulate, and understand information. Projects will include measuring the masses of planets in our solar system, determining the physical properties of stars and nebulae, measuring the ages and distances of star clusters in our galaxy, and determining the redshifts of distant galaxies, among other topics. The project aims to use the appeal of the astronomical observatory to reach out to a diverse group of students and to thus introduce them to the methods, power, and limitations of modern science. ***
