We are used to seeing spectacular astronomical images in the press and on the internet. This course gives an in-depth introduction to two of the most important instruments used to create these images and explore the science behind them – telescopes and spectographs.

This course is drawn from the preparatory work for the practical residential school at the Observatori Astronomic de Mallorca. The course image shows a student at work in one of the telescope domes at the Observatori.

Voters commonly condemn politicians for being insincere, but politicians often must disguise their true feelings when they make public statements. if they expressed their honest views—about, say, their party's policies—then achieving politically necessary compromises would be much more difficult. clearly, the very insincerity that people decry shows that our government is functioning well. which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines this reasoning? (a) achieving political compromises is not all that is necessary for the proper functioning of a government. (b) some political compromises are not in the best long-term interest of the government. (c) voters often judge politicians by criteria other than the sincerity with which they express their views. (d) a political party's policies could turn out to be detrimental to the functioning of a government. (e) some of the public statements made by politicians about their party's policies could in fact be sincere.