Acknowledgements
By David J. Vakil
This lab manual could never have been written without the enormous efforts put forward by my colleagues prior
to my arrival at El Camino College in Fall 2000. The efforts of Perry Hacking, Leon Palmer, and S. Vincent
Lloyd are greatly appreciated.
I also wish to thank the astronomy lab students who suffered through early versions of these labs between Fall
2000 and Spring 2004. Had we not all struggled together, this manual would not be what it is today. Special
thanks go out to Jessica Asbell, who graciously contributed one of her lab reports to this document.
The astronomy lab class could not exist in its current form without the help of night assistants. I thank Matt
Steele for many years of assistance, as well as Joseph Haberman, Jason Fournier, and now Nora DeMuth, for
also assisting with my teaching. Stephen Schrier has also been of enormous help to the astronomy lab classes,
and no doubt was critical in Leon Palmer’s development of his labs, some of which have been incorporated
here.
Last, but certainly not least, I wish to thank my mother Margaret Chitty, my father Piyush Vakil, and my
brother Stephen Vakil, for their continued support.