Teaching Astronomy at the UCM Observatory

Abstract

There is a long tradition on teaching Astronomy at the UCMUniversity. Since 1972it is possible to study Astrophysics at the Faculty of Physics ofthe UCM. The facilities of the UCM Observatory are improvingcontinuously every year. Nowadays two domes (4 m) are available.The west dome is mainly used for doing solar observationswhile the east dome is generally used to do nightobservations. The available instruments allow us to make asmall-scaled reproduction of how people work in a largeobservatory. At the UCM Observatory students of the Astrophysicscareer do many different kinds of exercises based on the currenttechniques used by professional astronomers. In addition, duringthe last years of the career they also have the opportunity ofdoing a research work under the supervision of a professor.