OBSLAB: an observatory laboratory for third year undergraduates

OBSLAB is an observatory based laboratory for third year students on a physics and astrophysics degree programme at the University of Birmingham, UK. The students work in groups of four at the university observatory, where they obtain spectroscopic data using a computer controlled telescope and CCD detector. Much of the 72 h allocated to the project involves research, planning observations, data reduction and analysis and only about two nights are actually spent at the telescope. The laboratory has been running for more than 20 years and provides students with a unique opportunity to obtain their own real data.