Description from the Course Catalog: This course requires four to six experiments such as the following: accurate position measurements of stars with subsequent derivation of the diameter of the Earth and refraction of the astmosphere; laboratory exploration of the characteristics of charge-coupled devices; measurement of the distance, reddening, and age o a star cluster; measurement of the Stokes paramenters and linear polarization of dffuse synchrotron and reflection nebulae; measurement of the period and pulse shape of the Crab pulsar using Fourier techniques. There is a heavy emphasis on error analysis, software development in the IDL language, and high-quality written reports.

Most importantly, this class was where I began using IDL. It's true that using a telescope, and that learning about error analysis were highly valuable. But the IDL that I learned was invaluable, because it functioned as a springboard to other exciting things (read: research positions).