Astronomy at Swarthmore College

People

David Cohen, Associate Professor of Astronomy.

Eric Jensen, Associate Professor of Astronomy.

Mary Ann Klassen, Lecturer.

Ana Matković, Visiting Assistant Professor

Physicist Michael Brown has astronomical interests.

John Gaustad, Edward Hicks Magill Professor Emeritus of Astronomy.

Projects

Michael Brown, David Cohen, and Eric Jensen have many on-going research projects involving students. You can find information about specific research projects.

Student Research

For information about student research opportunities both on and off campus, check out the department's webpage about student research. And please feel free to ask any faculty member about getting involved in research.

Swarthmore is a member of the Keck consortium. They host a yearly student research symposium in the fall and sponsor a student summer research exchange program.

Sigma Xi gives out grants in aid of research - money to travel, etc. for research. Their application deadlines are March 15 and October 15.

Our local Sigma Xi chapter also gives out (smaller) grants to enable students to attend meetings, as well as to support student research activities.

Local Astronomical Community

In June 2010 we hosted the seventh Philadelphia Area Astronomers Meeting, affectionately known as AstroPhilly.

In fall 2009 we participated in a series of events celebrating the International Year of Astronomy, commemorating Galileo's first astronomical use of the telescope, in 1609. This program, called No Night Without A Telescope, brought several hundred people to the Swarthmore campus and the Peter van de Kamp Observatory to hear lectures and look at Jupiter and other celestial objects.

Information

There are roughly five colloquia in the department each semester.

You can access information about current astronomical events and the night sky.

There is a telescope open house each month. It is on the second Tuesday of the month and is held from 8 to 9 PM from October through March and from 9 to 10 PM from April through September. Call 610-957-6335 for information (but do not leave any messages there; if you require a reply, please email us at physics -at- swarthmore -dot- edu).

We have started holding these open houses at the new Peter van de Kamp Observatory on the roof of the Science Center. Here is a map and directions.

The next open house is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12, from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM.

Note: Check back here or at the phone hotline on the day of the open house to make sure that the open house hasn't been canceled by bad weather. The weather can change up until the last minute, so you may want to call in the evening before setting out just to make sure the open house is on. You can check the weather data and models yourself to see what the prospects are for clear skies.

Courses

Astro 5/Physics 5: Spacetime, Quanta, and Cosmology is a course taught for the first time in fall 2006, by Profs. Michael Brown and Eric Jensen. It is an introductory course focusing on special relativity, quantum mechanics, and cosmology. It has no prerequisites, and is suitable for any Swarthmore student who has an interest in physics and astronomy. It has six lab meeting scheduled plus one nighttime observing session. It is an NSEP course and is the entry point into the major (physics, astrophysics, or astronomy).

Astro 1 is our introductory survey course.

Astro 16 is a calculus-based modern astrophysics course, generally taken by sophomores who are thinking of majoring. The occasional humanities major takes it too.

Astro 61 is a half-credit class in which we read and discuss articles in the research literature.

We offer three upper-level seminars, generally once each, every two years: Astro 121: Observational Techniques, Astro 123: Stars, and Astro 126: Interstellar Medium.

Students interested in upper-level courses on galaxies and cosmology are encouraged to take advantage of the offerings in the Haverford Department of Physics and Astronomy, notably Astronomy 342 and 344.

We offered a special seminar in spring, 2005: Astro 129: Cosmology, taught by Prof. Chris Burns.

Two new classes are being offered in Spring 2013: Astro 94: Exoplanet Research at the Peter van de Kamp Observatory and Astro 20: Black Holes and the Big Bang.

Course catalog and department's courses webpage.