VP ASL - Astrowoche Diavolezza

The information event for interested students will be held on Friday 29 September 2023 at 16:00 in HIT J43.1. At this information meeting, details about the schedule of the Astrowoche will be announced. In addition, we will make the experiment and group assignments, i.e. who will do which experiment together with whom. Participation is mandatory.

Registration is required for participation in the Info-Event. Registration opens at the beginning of HS 23.

A Downloadcommitment (DOCX, 29 KB)vertical_align_bottom (in german) form must be filled out and brought to the info event.

The Downloadpresentation of last year's (PDF, 11 MB)vertical_align_bottom info event can be downloaded.

• Warm clothes: wind-proofed jacket, sweater, hat, gloves (ideally you wear 2 pairs simultaneously, one pair with thin finger-gloves to use while working with the equipment and one thick pair to pull over the thin pairs to keep the hands warm), good(!) shoes (temperatures at night around -30ºC are possible)
• Sleeping bag (but there are wool blankets), hand / bath towels
• Personal medication (no pharmacy nearby)
  
• Sun protection: sunglasses, sunscreen, personal medication, possibly ear plugs (mass accomodation)
• Flashlight incl. spare battery. Ideally a red filter (for the optical groups), so that the eyes remain accustomed to the darkness (as with an army flashlight, can be easily made with adhesive tape and a red clear bag).
• Enough cash (see info under "Cost").
• Work materials. Internet connection (WiFi) is available. It is advisable to bring a notebook to make first evaluations. This will also allow us to prepare the presentation of the group work, which we have planned for Friday evening. As a working place (with power supply) we can use the restaurant (except during peak tourist time over lunch).
• Water and provisions for in-between (half board is included in the price, but during the day food and drinks must be purchased from the restaurant or brought by yourself. There is NO drinking water from the tap and water is sold very expensive as usual for mountain restaurants). There is a small kiosk with chocolate bars etc. Cocking is not allowed so bring snacks that don't require heating. During the night hot tea/coffee is provided.  

ETH will cover the largest fraction of the costs for accommodation including half board. The remaining costs have to be covered by the students and each student is required to pay 150.00 CHF for the entire week. This amount must be paid in cash on site at Diavolezza and will be collected in the middle of the week.

Other possible costs depend on personal needs (lunch, drinks, snacks, ski tickets). There is no ATM on Diavolezza. It is therefore advisable to take enough cash with you. Credit cards or debit cards are accepted for amounts larger than typically 20.- CHF.

During the day, a serviced restaurant and a "kiosk" are available at the Berghaus.

The final reports must be submitted to the teaching assistants no later than 23.02.2024. Corrections are to be incorporated and the final report submitted electronically to the manager by 03/31/2024. Please email the reports as a PDF file with unique filename (not just report.pdf) to:

For scoring purposes, you must then show the reports and grades on a regular Monday at the VP issue.

In the following list the available instruments (telescopes and cameras) and the manuals for them are ready for download as pdf files.

• Here you get a list of the available DownloadInstruments (PDF, 91 KB)vertical_align_bottom as pdf file. The instruments will be transported to Diavolezza by the Astrowoche leaders.. After consultation wiht the leaders, students can also bring their own observing material.
• Here is a manual for the Downloadorange Celestron C8 (PDF, 3.6 MB)vertical_align_bottom in English.
• Here is a manual of the new DownloadCelestron Teleskopes C14 (PDF, 6 MB)vertical_align_bottom in English.
• Here is a manual fo the DownloadSBIG STL 6303 CCD Kamera (PDF, 2.1 MB)vertical_align_bottom in English.
• Hier liegt eine Anleitung der CCD Software DownloadCCDOPS (PDF, 8.2 MB)vertical_align_bottom in English.
• Here are the DownloadVersuchsaufbau Schemen (PPT, 242 KB)vertical_align_bottom for the radio experiments (PowerPoint).
• Radio experiments Neutraler Wasserstoff DownloadAusführliche Anleitung Radioteleskop (PDF, 3.9 MB)vertical_align_bottom in Deutsch.
• Radio experiments Neutraler Wasserstoff DownloadKurzanleitung Radioteleskop (PDF, 203 KB)vertical_align_bottom in Deutsch 
• Short instructions 13 cm Radio-DownloadInterferometer (PDF, 534 KB)vertical_align_bottom in English.
• DownloadPython-Slides (PDF, 4.1 MB)vertical_align_bottom "How to keep python projects organized?"
  

• Question: ....have there been cases in the past years where (e.g. if the astronomy experiment failed or for other reasons) the VP refused to award the credits in the end and the participants did not get the necessary credits?
  Answer: Assuming that you put a lot of effort into the astronomy experiment and are very committed to it, reasons like bad weather or failed equipment do not mean that no credits can be awarded. We always have data from previous years that can be reduced and analysied. In the report you need to show why the experiment did not succeed. The requirements for awarding points are: 1) Accepted proposal 2) Participation in the Astrowoche at Divolezza 3) Submission of the report (if necessary with justification why it did not work) The awarding of points was refused once because the participant only submitted the proposal. The points 1) to 3) must be completed 100%, an active participation is important, otherwise you will not learn anything....
  
• Question: .... can you cook by yourself?
  Answer: No, Diavolezza is a hotel with a kitchen. For safety reasons (fire police) cooking is not allowed, not even boiling hot water. We provide warm tea and coffee during the night.
  
• Question: .... is it possible to add a part of the luggage like a big backpack or skis to the transport of the Astro equipment?
  Answer: No, we have over 1.5 tons of instruments with accessories and unfortunately there is no room for private luggage.