As scientists, astronomers do not only take pretty pictures, but also must produce quantitative (mathematical) analyses of these pictures. There are many different methods for analyzing astronomical images, and therefore many different software tools for doing this analysis.
During this workshop, you will be performing your own analysis of images of star clusters. We have selected a program called "ImageJ" for you to use. The advantages of this program are that it is Java-based (so it can run on any computer), it is free, and it is relatively user-friendly.
It will help you to become familiar with a few basic aspects of ImageJ before coming to the workshop. The activities booklet will step you through the installation of ImageJ and then provide you with a few, short activities to familiarize you with the program. Each activity only takes about 15 minutes, and you can work through them at your leisure.
Please try to complete Lessons 1 to 3 before coming to the workshop. If you have trouble or get stuck, don't panic! Just give it your best shot, and we'll work with you at the workshop. If you have trouble downloading the files, or if you don't have acces to broadband internet, contact us and we'll do our best to help you out.
To save the .fits images below to your disk, either right-click (PC) or ctrl-click (Mac) on the file name. DO NOT plain click on the image, as your browser will try to open it, and your browser will crash.