| CODE | PHY3287 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Computational Astronomy | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Physics | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit introduces the students to computational astronomy. It uses and expands on the computational skills learned during the previous three years and applies them to problems in astronomy. The students will be presented with several techniques used in different aspects of astronomy, including radio and optical astronomy, numerical simulations and modelling amongst others. The unit will focus on key areas of computational astronomy, including image processing, signal processing, numerical modelling and data analysis. The unit will be practical based, such that students will get hands-on experience in this area. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit aims to provide the student with several computational skills which can be used both in astronomy as well as other fields. Different scenarios will be presented to the student on which a particular computational technique can be applied to arrive to a satisfactory solution. These problems will be provided from different areas in astronomy, ones which are being actively researched internationally. This study unit will focus primarily on signal processing in the context of radio astronomy, image processing in the context of optical observational astronomy and numerical techniques in the context of galaxy evolution. For all these scenario, data analysis techniques will also be used to understand the solutions. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - define the steps of a solution by decomposing the problem; - explain the statistical/numerical results obtained in data analysis experiments; - infer relationships between the results obtained and the underlying theories in astronomy; - apply signal and image processing algorithms from standard packages. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - design data analysis experiments; - apply advanced programming techniques to different problems domains; - criticise a solution to a problem; - use signal processing techniques to process time domain data; - use image processing techniques to process images. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Course notes will be provided. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-Requisite Study-unit: PHY1135 | ||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Practical | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Andrea De Marco Alessio Magro |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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