In order to apply for any of the following theses or internships, the candidate must have no more than 3 exams left.
This BSc thesis activity focuses on the analysis of lunar stellar occultation data, combining observational astronomy techniques with time-series data analysis. The student will first become familiar with software tools used for occultation predictions and observation planning. Based on these predictions, the student will participate in the preparation and execution of hands-on observation campaigns using the instrumentation available at the Radio Science and Planetary Exploration laboratory, including a 40 cm Dobson telescope and a high-sampling-rate CMOS camera. The activity will also involve the analysis of previously acquired light-curve observations retrieved from public occultation databases and repositories. The student will process these datasets to extract accurate occultation timings and characterize the associated uncertainties. In parallel, the observations collected during the dedicated campaigns will be reduced and analyzed, with particular attention to signal quality, temporal resolution, noise sources, and overall data reliability. Through this work, the student will gain experience in astronomical observations, instrumentation, time-domain data analysis, and scientific data quality assessment within the context of high-angular-resolution lunar occultation studies.
Activities:
* Learn the how to use occultation prediction software, such as Occult_v4.0 or Grazprep.
* Participate in hands-on observational campaigns for lunar stellar occultations.
* Extract lightcurves data from high-frequency imaging.
* Process the extracted lightcurves to derive precise timings of star disappearance and reappearance behind the Moon’s limb using dedicates software tools like Tangra.
* Write a technical report detailing the observational pipeline and data processing procedures
Topics: Observational Astronomy / Stellar Occultations
Tutor: Riccardo Lasagni Manghi
Uploaded: 26/05/2026