\relax \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {section}{\numberline {1}The Observations}{1}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {section}{\numberline {2} Observing -- Using the Telescope}{2}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.1}Keeping an Observing Log}{2}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.2} Moving the Telescope}{2}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.3}Long Exposures and Guiding}{3}} \@writefile{lof}{\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {1}{\ignorespaces This is an example of the difference that good guiding can make. See how nice and round the star in the image on the left is? That image was properly guided, as opposed to the image on the right where the star looks like more like a loaf of bread!}}{3}} \newlabel{guiding}{{1}{3}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.4}Color Filters}{3}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.5}Taking Images}{3}} \@writefile{lof}{\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {2}{\ignorespaces These are the two windows you will use when observing. The window on the left is used to give commands to the camera on the telescope, the one on the right is used to examine the images you get.}}{4}} \newlabel{nickel_dx}{{2}{4}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.6} Flat fields}{4}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.7} FITS files -- the file format of choice for astronomers}{5}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {section}{\numberline {3} Data Reduction and Analysis}{5}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {3.1} What is data reduction and why is it necessary?}{5}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {3.2}IRAF}{6}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {3.3}Displaying Your Images}{6}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {3.4}Combining Images}{6}} \@writefile{lof}{\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {3}{\ignorespaces this is an example of what the settings for imcombine look like. The settings are appropriate for combining flat field images.}}{7}} \newlabel{imcom-flat}{{3}{7}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {3.4.1}Combining Flat Field Images}{8}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {3.5}Using the Flat Field}{8}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {3.6}Working with Many Files}{8}} \@writefile{lof}{\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {4}{\ignorespaces This is an example of a flat field image. Notice the doughnut-shaped shadows that come from dust on the optics. You can also see that some pixels are more sensitive to light than others, and that there is less light around the edges. The difference between the most sensitive and the least sensitive pixels is about 5\%. }}{9}} \newlabel{flat}{{4}{9}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {section}{\numberline {4} Analyzing the Data}{9}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {4.1} Photometry -- Measuring How Bright Things Are}{9}} \@writefile{lof}{\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {5}{\ignorespaces This is an example of how IRAF measures the brightness of a star. The light from the star is added up from the pixels that are within the smaller circle, and the pixels that are between the smaller and larger circle are used to determine the background sky brightness. You can see that even where there are no stars, there is some light. This light does not come from the star we want to measure, so it has to be removed.}}{10}} \newlabel{aperture}{{5}{10}} \@writefile{lof}{\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {6}{\ignorespaces These are the settings for the qphot command.}}{11}} \newlabel{qphot}{{6}{11}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {4.2}Photometry in IRAF: qphot}{11}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {4.3} The Magnitude System or: Why Astronomers Do Everything Backwards}{11}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {4.4} Registering the Images}{12}} \@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {4.5} Getting the Final Result -- the Light Curve}{12}} \@writefile{lof}{\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {7}{\ignorespaces This is an example of a ``folded'' light curve. These observations may have been taken years apart, but because we plot the variations as a function of phase and not actual time, we can see them all on one plot. }}{13}} \newlabel{folded}{{7}{13}}