Python for Astronomy

Python, Colab and Github for Astronomy

Learn the python software language.  Use it for your STEM career.

Python has become the language of astronomy and astrophysics – as well as other sciences and engineering. Join our new Boyce-Astro seminar to get a start in python. As part of this curriculum, we will explore the lifetimes of stars using the Hertzsprung Russell diagram (HRD). We will then learn how to query large amounts of data from the Gaia, Kepler satellite databases using Python within Colab. We will then analyze and filter this data to plot HRDs for thousands of stars in our immediate solar neighborhood and distant globular clusters.

The seminar will introduce you to Python, Google Colab, Github, Markdown, LaTeX Syntax, Jupyter Notebook and much more during the five sessions planned. If Mother Nature cooperates, we might even do a live stream from The Bush Telescope located in Washington State!

Our instructor, Chandru Narayan, is a long time amateur astronomer and currently teaches Computer Science and Astronomy at The Bush School, Seattle, Washington.

If you have taken our IntroSTARS seminar and passed the final Quiz, you have met our prerequisite requirements.

If you have not taken our IntroSTARS seminar, you will need to take our FREE IntroSTARS online course and pass the final Quiz to qualify for this seminar.Please sign up for IntroSTARS here. The IntroSTARS final Quiz to qualify for this seminar will be sent to you approximately two weeks before the seminar begins. 

The seminar is offered during the Spring and Fall Semesters. The announcement for the seminar will include the specific dates and any fee requirements. The announcement will be posted on our website, sent to all our alumni on Slack, and to all recently registered IntroSTARS students.