Course Reference Material

Reference Material Links

Each lecture module has a corresponding page of links to relevant reference material. Each page is split into two sections: internal and external links. Internal links are to archived pages within this web site. External links are to other web sites.

First Year Lecture Modules

Second Year Lecture Modules

General Introductory Material

The following information is relevant to many parts of the certificate course.

Astronomical Information and Resources : Constellation names, the Greek alphabet, physical constants, and links to important on-line resources.
Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) Library : Selected and categorised APOD images (300+). In addition to outstanding images, each picture has accompanying links to relevant information.
Mathematics Notes (PDF) : A discussion of the mathematical content of the course, and an introduction to topics including algebra, powers, special symbols, rearranging equations, logarithms, and trigonometry.
The MKK Atlas and the Revised MK Atlas contain PDF documents plus detailed scans of photographic atlases of stellar spectra. They may prove useful when carrying out the Classification of Stellar Spectra scripted exercise.

Past Exam Papers

Exam papers from previous years are now available as PDF  Adobe Acrobat files from the UCL Library, and are accessible only with a valid UCL computer account and password (not with a ULO account and password). Each exam paper contributes to the assessment of two lecture modules.

  • PHAS1515 : Foundations of Astronomy and Techniques in Astronomy - use PHAS1511 and PHAS2521 past exams
  • PHAS1516 : The Solar System and the Sun and Stars - use PHAS1512 and PHAS1511 past exams
  • PHAS2521 : Techniques in Astronomy and Interstellar Astronomy  (next year this will be changed to PHAS2525 with Extra-Solar Planets and the Search for Life module for Techniques)
  • PHAS2522 : High Energy Astrophysics, and Extra-galactic Astronomy and Cosmology

Copyright Notice: All exam papers are the property of UCL. They are for the personal use of registered UCL students and staff, and may not be distributed or reused in any way without the explicit permission of UCL.

To obtain the past papers, go to the UCL Library web site.  Look for Online resources--More... which has an underlined link to Exam papers.  Once on the Exam papers main page, if you are off campus, you will need to log in (upper right corner under the UCL logo, where it says "Log in here").  After you log in successfully, you should be automatically directed back to the exams main search page.  Thus, for example, if you wanted to see the past three PHAS1511 papers, you would enter PHAS1511 in the search box and click on Exact, then on the Search button.  This will bring up the most recent three papers on file (usually).  To view a paper, click on the PDF icon.  This first takes you to a "challenge" page.  Click on the button marked "Continue>>" and the requested PDF exam file should appear.  You can then print it out or save it as a file for private study use.  Finally, use the "close" at the top right of the PDF window to close the file and return to viewing other past exam papers.

When you are finished with your Library work, don't forget to Log out (at the top right of the library window)!

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