ASTR 230 is required for all ASTR degrees, and students who pursue these degrees usually take it the second semester of their sophomore year. Skills learned in this class are important components to any application for summer internships in observational astronomy. However, it is common to have several students from other majors (usually, but not exclusively SCI/ENG) in the class. Typically, freshmen do not take ASTR 230 because it requires particularly good time-management skills.

Only declared majors may preregister for the course, which has an enrollment limit of 10. All students interested in taking the class should fill out the questionnaire the first day of class. Most of the time we can accomodate everyone who wants to register, but this is not always the case.

This course deals with observation of astronomical objects, and as such will mean more to a student that has had an astronomy class of some sort, such as ASTR 360, ASTR 202, or ASTR 201. We are changing the prereqs to require some astronomy before taking this class.

Students should be aware that the second half of the course uses unix computers extensively, though we will cover most of what you need to know in class. Mathematics used in class will be primarily trig, geometry, and logarithms; however, we will use some calculus and differential equations when we discuss error analysis.

A less-demanding 2-credit alternative to ASTR 230 aimed towards ACADEMS is ASTR 221, offered in the fall semester. Students may take ASTR 100, ASTR 201 or ASTR 202 in conjunction with ASTR 221 to obtain a thorough, but non-technical introduction to both theoretical and observational astronomy.