Course and Lab Work
Students use the 24-inch telescope in the Observational Techniques seminar (Astro 121) and for labs in Astrophysics: Stars, ISM, and Galaxies (Astro 16) and in Astrophysics: Exoplanets and Cosmology (Astro 14). We use it occasionally in the Advanced Lab course for physics majors (Phys 81) and in Introductory Astronomy (Astro 1) where we use six 8-inch telescopes more regularly.
Here are two images of Jupiter and its four moons, taken by two groups of Physics 5 students, 20 minutes apart. Can you see one moon disappear behind the planet?
![Jupiter](https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/styles/main_page_image/public/assets/images/peter-van-de-kamp-observatory/jupiter_19oct09_1.jpg.webp?itok=O-AFBDM2)
![Jupiter](https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/styles/main_page_image/public/assets/images/peter-van-de-kamp-observatory/jupiter_19oct09_2.jpg.webp?itok=6KF08s4K)
And you can see some recreational images the Astro 16 students took in fall 2014: the Crab Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Orion Nebula, and the Moon (in the ultraviolet, U band).