Selected chapters on astrophysics (NAST021)

This course is taught in winter semesters and consists of a few independent sub-courses that attempt to provide some insights into the state of the art knowledge in the respective branches of astrophysics or related scientific disciplines. In order to successfully pass the exam, students must complete a set of homework assignments from all of the mandatory sub-courses of the given semester (in maroon below) and present the chosen methods and obtained (correct) results to the examiner (or the whole class) until June 30th of the given academic year. All kinds of information resources are allowed (including consultations with the lecturers and other students). The grade is derived from the degree of correctness of the solutions. Students may enroll to this course repeatedly. In case of any (course related) inquiries, please contact Jaroslav Haas, preferably via email 'haas' (the strange symbol) 'sirrah.troja.mff.cuni.cz'.

Programme of the winter semester 2024/2025

Astronomy at the European Southern Observatory — interferometry

The course aims to offer a view on how the observatories and knowledge base of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) can be used to improve the outcomes and impact of the research projects worked on by the attendees and, in more general terms, what kind of astronomical projects is best suited for the current ESO facilities. In this semester, emphasis will be put on interferometry.

ESO grand scheme and opportunities
Bruno Leibundgut (European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany)

- when: Friday, October 25th from 10:15; expected duration about 2 hours
- where: TAU (directly at the Astronomical Institute of Charles University)
- slides: 1
- lecture description:

Introductory lecture to the course. The main aim is to describe the basic structure and mission of the European Southern Observatory and its offer of various research opportunities for students as well as professional astronomers. Lively discussions with the lecturer are welcome.

ESO studentship (MEYS): personal experience
Alžběta Oplištilová (Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague)

- when: Wednesday, October 30th from 14:00; expected duration about 1 hour
- where: TAU (directly at the Astronomical Institute of Charles University)
- slides: 1
- lecture description:

You will hear about the ESO studentship from the point of view of a PhD student. ESO is a unique place of diversity, where engineers, astronomers, experts from industry and academia, and many other specialists from all over the world cooperate to make very challenging projects possible. ESO is known for its inspiring and supportive community that trains new generations. Come to learn more about ESO studentships, try to apply, and experience being a part of the ESO astronomical community.

The ESO Science Archive: a powerful science resource at your fingertips
Martino Romaniello (European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany)

- when: Wednesday, November 13th from 14:00; expected duration about 1.5 hours
- where: online only, in Zoom, meeting id 934 5400 7646, password on request
- recordings: video, audio
- slides: 1
- lecture description:

The ESO Science Archive collects data from over 25 years of observations at the ESO's La Silla Paranal Observatory. This science treasure of tens of millions of files is readily available and accessible at your fingertips, dramatically shortening the time and lowering the effort needed to get to scientific discoveries and publications. In this lecture, I will give an introduction to the main features of the ESO Science Archive, hopefully providing you with the tools to find the data for your own science goals.

The ESO data reduction tools: a Reflex demonstration
Valentin Ivanov (European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany)

- when & where & recordings: together with the lecture of Martino Romaniello (see above)
- slides: 1
- lecture description:

The complex ESO science instruments generate complex data and require complex data reduction. To help the scientific exploitation of our data ESO offers tools, called pipelines, to process the data in a easy, but flexible way. I will show how to run these pipelines with Reflex - a graphical environment that automates the data reduction and offers data organization, fast reduction, repeatability and interactivity.

Introduction to optical interferometry: basic concepts, observations, and fitting of geometrical models
Robert Klement (European Southern Observatory, Santiago, Chile)

- when: Wednesday, November 20th from 14:00; Monday, November 25th from 14:00; Wednesday, November 27th from 14:00; expected duration of each session about 1.5 hours
- where: online only, in Zoom, meeting id 970 1065 5196, password on request
- recordings: video-1, audio-1, video-2, audio-2, video-3, audio-3
- slides: 1, 2, 3
- PMOIRED installation links: https://github.com/amerand/PMOIRED, https://github.com/amerand/PMOIRED_examples
- series abstract:

Optical interferometry is an observational technique combining multiple telescopes to achieve the finest possible angular resolution. The state-of-the-art interferometric arrays VLTI (southern hemisphere) and CHARA (northern hemisphere) combine 4 and 6 telescopes, respectively, to routinely achieve an angular resolution of one milliarcsecond (mas) or less in the near-IR. This enables resolving and imaging the surfaces of nearby bright stars, their circumstellar environments, and mapping of close binary orbits, among other science cases. Throughout this short lecture series, I will introduce the basics of interferometry and give an overview of the current capabilities of VLTI and CHARA. This will be followed by practical examples on planning and preparation of observations (using the Aspro and SearchCal tools from JMMC), and a quick overview of data reduction (using dedicated reduction pipelines). Finally, the basics of data analysis will be demonstrated, with a specific focus on fitting of interferometric observables with geometrical models using the Python3 tool PMOIRED (https://github.com/amerand/PMOIRED).

ESO Studentship & Planning your interferometric observations with VLTI
Daniel Jadlovský (European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany & Masaryk University, Brno)

- when: Wednesday, December 18th from 14:00; expected duration about 1 hour
- where: TAU (directly at the Astronomical Institute of Charles University)
- lecture description:

In this session, after briefly mentioning my ESO experience, I will introduce you to ESO observing proposals, with an emphasis on interferometric instruments. Firstly, I will tell you about the process behind the proposal selection and how you should write your proposals. Then, assuming your proposal was accepted, I will show you how to properly prepare your interferometric observations, using some basic hands-on activities with ASPRO, e.g., how to select suitable calibrators or VLTI configurations for your proposal. Therefore, please install the tool https://www.jmmc.fr/english/tools/proposal-preparation/aspro/.
---> update: please install also the SearchCal tool: https://www.jmmc.fr/english/tools/proposal-preparation/search-cal/


Course keeps evolving. Please keep an eye on this website for updates and/or ask JH.

Past years

11 & 12/2023 Raúl Ortega Chametla (Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague): Overview of recent advances in planetary migration: from theoretical models to high-resolution 3D multi-fluid simulations - slides 1, 2, 3
11/2023 Stefano Andreon (Astronomical Observatory of Brera, National Institute for Astrophysics, Milan, Italy): Bayesian methods for the physical sciences - some materials may still be here and here
11/2023—1/2024 Roger Hutton (Lund University, Sweden & Beijing Normal University, China): Spectrometers and atomic structure leading to plasma diagnostics - slides 1, 2, seminar talk
10/2022 Henri Boffin (European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany): Writing and communicating your science - slides 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
10—11/2022 Martin Žonda (Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague), Pavel Baláž (Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague): Machine learning (not only) in physics - slides 1, 2, 3, 4
11—12/2022 Brankica Kubátová (Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ondřejov): Quantitative spectroscopy analysis of massive stars - slides 1, 2, 3, 4
12/2022 Roberto Capuzzo Dolcetta (Sapienza University of Rome & Enrico Fermi Study and Research Center, Rome, Italy): Newtonian dynamics in astrophysics - slides 1, 2, 3
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the lectures in the academic year 2021/2022 were held online, only
10—11/2021 Jiří Krtička (Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Masaryk University, Brno): Stellar winds: from cool dwarfs to hot supergiants - slides 1, 2, 3
11—12/2021 Miroslav Brož (Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague): Non-gravitational and tidal forces acting on asteroids - some materials may still be here
12/2021 Hosein Haghi (Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences, Zanjan, Iran & University of Bonn, Germany): Introduction to the dynamics of collisional stellar systems: the early life of star clusters - slides 1, 2
12/2021—1/2022 Giacomo Beccari (European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany): Introduction to observational astronomy and ESO facilities - slides 1, 2, 3, 4
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all of the lectures in the academic year 2020/2021 were held online, only
9—10/2020 František Dinnbier (Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague): Star clusters as dynamical objects in the galactic ecosystem - slides 1, 2
11/2020 Kateřina Chrbolková (Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague & Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, Finland): Space weathering - pandemic in the Solar System - slides 1
12/2020—1/2021 Ondřej Chrenko (Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague): Planet migration in protoplanetary disks - an astrophysical migrant crisis? - slides 1-online, 1-pdf, 2-online, 2-pdf, 3-online, 3-pdf
pre-recorded Vladimír Kopecký Jr. (Institute of Physics of Charles University, Prague): Selected chapters on astrobiology - some materials on request (not guaranteed)
10/2019 Klára Kalousová (Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague): Icy moons in the Solar System - slides 1, 2, 3, 4
11/2019 Sambaran Banerjee (University of Bonn, Germany): Dynamics of black holes in dense stellar systems - slides & movies 1, 2, 3, m1, m2
11/2019 Anabella Araudo (ELI Beamlines, Dolní Břežany & Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague): Diffusive shock acceleration - slides 1, 2, 3
11/2019—1/2020 Pavel Ševeček (Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague): Numerical solution of partial differential equations - slides, movies, simulations, example codes
12/2019 Sverre Aarseth (University of Cambridge, UK): N-body methods and algorithms - slides
10/2018 Jaroslav Dudík (Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague): On the outer solar atmosphere - slides & movies 1, 2, 3, m1, m2, m3, m4
10—12/2018 Jakub Řípa (Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague & MTA-Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary): Introduction to gamma-ray burst astrophysics - slides 1, 2, 3, 4
11 & 12/2018 Ondřej Pejcha (Institute of Theoretical Physics, Charles University, Prague): Astrophysics of gravitational wave sources - slides 1, 2, 3
1/2019 Hongsheng Zhao (School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, UK): An introduction to gravitational microlensing - slides available upon request; further reading on this Wikipedia page
10/2017 Anatoly Miroshnichenko (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA): The emerging variety of binary systems among objects with gas-and-dust envelopes - slides
10 & 11/2017 Rhys Taylor (Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague): The dark side of galaxy evolution - slides 1, 2, 3, 4
11/2017 Robert Williams (Space Telescope Science Institute & Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA): Emission-line spectroscopy and analysis - slides 1, 2, 3, 4
11 & 12/2017 Petr Brož (Institute of Geophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague): Vulkanismus ve sluneční soustavě - slides 1, 2, 3, 4
12/2017 & 1/2018   Jörg Dabringhausen (Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague): An introduction to dwarf galaxies - slides 1, 2, 3
1/2018 Michael Fellhauer (University of Concepción, Chile): The survival of star clusters - slides
11/2016 Douglas Heggie (University of Edinburgh, UK): Computation and astrophysics of the N-body problem - slides
11/2016 Jason Dexter (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany): The Galactic Centre black hole laboratory - slides 1, 2, 3, 4
12/2016 & 1/2017   Pavel Kroupa (University of Bonn, Germany; Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague): Modern advances in galactic astrophysics: from scale-invariant dynamics to a successful theory of galaxy formation and evolution - slides 1, 2, 3, 4
10 & 11/2015 Petr Kabáth (Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ondřejov): Exoplanety - slides 1, 2, 3, 4
11/2015 & 1/2016   Attila Mészáros (Astronomical Institute of Charles University, Prague), Martin Jelínek (Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ondřejov): Zábleskové zdroje záření gama - slides 1, 2
11 & 12/2015 Pavel Kroupa (University of Bonn, Germany): Stellar populations and star clusters as galactic building blocks - slides 1, 2, 3, 4

Very past years

říjen 2014 Frédéric Marin (AsÚ AVČR): Astrophysical polarimetry (prezentace 1., 2. a 3. část)
listopad 2014 Aleš Bezděk (AsÚ AVČR): Gravitační pole Země: nová pozorování a poznatky z umělých družic (prezentace)
prosinec 2014 Miroslav Bárta (AsÚ AVČR): Úvod do numerických metod řešení PDE a jejich aplikace v astrofyzice (prezentace)
říjen 2013 Brankica Šurlan (AsÚ AVČR): Hot massive star winds (články 1, 2, 3, ZIP) - prezentace 1., 2., 3. a 4. část
listopad 2013 Lukáš Shrbený (prezentace), Pavel Koten (prezentace), Jiří Borovička (prezentace) (AsÚ AVČR): Meteory
prosinec 2013 Jiří Svoboda (AsÚ AVČR): Jak se pozorují černé díry? (prezentace 1, 2, 3, 4)
říjen 2012 Petr Scheirich (AsÚ AVČR): Binární planetky (prezentace)
listopad 2012 Ondřej Čadek (Katedra geofyziky MFF UK): Slapové zahřívání a termální vývoj měsíců velkých planet (prezentace 1., 2., 3. a 4. část)
prosinec 2012 Pavel Jáchym (AsÚ AVČR): Úvod do milimetrové interferometrie (prezentace)
říjen 2011 Marco Delbo (Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, Nice): Asteroids in Thermal Infrared (prezentace)
listopad 2011 Tomáš Pecháček (AsÚ AVČR): O třech statistických metodách (abstrakt, příklad ke zkoušce: zadání, data)
prosinec 2011 Adam Růžička (AsÚ AVČR): Genetické algoritmy
říjen 2010 David Čapek (AsÚ AVČR): Tepelné jevy v meteoroidech (prezentace 1., 2., 3. část )
listopad 2010 Richard Wünsch (AsÚ AVČR): Hydrodynamické simulace mezihvězdné hmoty (materiály k přednášce)
prosinec 2010 Michal Dovčiak (AsÚ AVČR): Aktivní galaktická jádra z pohledu rentgenové astrofyziky (materiály k přednášce: 1. část, 2. část, 3. část).
říjen 2009 Marek Abramowicz (Göteborg University, Sweden and Copernicus Astronomical Center, Warsaw, Poland): The black hole accretion (syllabus, naskenované poznámky z přednášek laskavě poskytl Ondřej Kopáček)
listopad 2009 Jiří Krtička (Masarykova univerzita, Brno): Hvězdný vítr (prezentace)
prosinec 2009  Vladimír Kopecký (FÚ UK): Astrobiologie (materiály ke stažení)
prosinec 2008 Michael Prouza (FÚ AVČR): Astrofyzika vysokých energií (prezentace 1. část, 2. část, doplňující materiály: astročásticová fyzika – ASPERA roadmap, kosmické záření – přehled, detekce nejenergetičtějších gama fotonů, oscilace neutrin, přímá detekce temné hmoty)
listopad 2008 Pavel Jáchym (AÚ AVČR): Kupy galaxií (prezentace 1., 2., 3. část )
říjen 2008 Michal Švanda (AÚ UK): Sluneční dynamo a fyzika konvektivní zóny (prezentace jsou vystaveny mezi materiály k přednášce Sluneční fyzika)
prosinec 2007 Teorie fotometrických a spektroskopických pozorování (Petr Škoda, AsÚ AVČR, prezentace 1. a 2. část) a ukázky zpracování v programu IRAF (Adéla Kawka, AsÚ AVČR; Marie Hrudková, AÚ UK)
listopad 2007 Miroslav Brož (AÚ UK): Tepelné jevy na planetkách
říjen 2007 Jakub Haloda (Česká geologická služba): Meteority – klasifikace, metody výzkumu a význam pro studium vzniku a vývoje těles sluneční soustavy (sylabus, přednáška)
prosinec 2006Adéla Kawka (AsÚ AVČR): White dwarfs
listopad 2006Jana Kašparová (AsÚ AVČR): Urychlené částice z pohledu sluneční rentgenové emise (1., 2., 3. a 4. část prezentace)
říjen 2006 Rene Goosmann (AsÚ AVČR): Active Galactic Nuclei and Galactic black holes in brief (abstrakt)
květen 2006 Michal Švanda (AsÚ AVČR & AÚ UK): Roztřeseným pohledem na jinak obyčejnou hvězdu za humny (prezentace, část o vývoji Slunce v budoucnosti, populární a přehledný text o helioseismologii, podrobný a více fyzikální text o helioseismologii a Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., 2002: Helioseismology, Reviews of Modern Physics, 74(4), 1073-1129)
duben 2006 Cyril Ron (AsÚ AVČR): Rotace Země její sledování (prezentace 1. a 2. část)
březen 2006 Marek Vandas (AsÚ AVČR): Sluneční vítr a heliosféra (sylabus)
prosinec 2005   David Heyrovský (ÚTF MFF UK): Gravitační čočky na mnoho způsobů (PDF ve velkém a malém rozlišení). Pro další studium je doporučen text R. Narayana a M. Bartelmanna, jenž je ke stažení na webu MPA v Garchingu.
listopad 2005 Bruno Jungwiert (AsÚ AVČR): Koevoluce galaxií a masivních černých děr
říjen 2005 Aleš Bezděk (AsÚ AVČR): Fyzika svrchní atmosféry a její výzkum pomocí umělých družic