DOCSLIB.ORG

STAR Atlas:PRO™ USER MANUAL

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
STAR Atlas:PRO™ USER MANUAL STAR Atlas:PRO ASTRONOMY SOFTWARE A spectacular Planetarium and Star Atlas packed with features for astronomers and stargazers of all levels. Find the location of countless celestial objects in no time at all, display and print detailed star charts, point 'n click to control your telescope, plan observations, dozens more features. STAR Atlas:PRO™ USER MANUAL STAR Atlas:PRO™ User Manual. for STAR Atlas:PRO™ PRO-AM Edition STAR Atlas:PRO™ User Manual – Pg 1 STAR Atlas:PRO™ is a product of SKY:Lab® Astronomy Software Located in Newcastle, Australia. Web Site: www.StarAtlasPro.com E-Mail: [email protected] www.StarAtlasPro.com STAR Atlas:PRO™ User Manual This manual is suitable for STAR Atlas:PRO™ PRO-AM Edition or higher. SKY:Lab® is a registered trade mark of Paul Mayo of SKY:Lab Astronomy Software. This User Manual is © Copyright. No part of this Manual may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the publisher. The SKY:Lab® Logo is a trade mark of SKY:Lab Astronomy Software. SKY:Lab® is a registered trade mark of SKY:Lab Astronomy Software. Argo Navis™ is a trade mark of Wildcard Innovations. Meade and Autostar are trade marks of Meade Corporation. Celestron and Nexstar are trade marks of Celestron. Adobe® and Postscript® are trade marks of Adobe. Windows® is a trade mark of Microsoft Corporation. Pentium® is a trade mark of Intel. Copyright 2001-2015 SKY:Lab® Astronomy Software. STAR Atlas:PRO™ User Manual – Pg 2 Contents FOREWORD ............................................................................................................................................. 8 ABOUT THIS MANUAL ........................................................................................................................ 10 How to use this Manual ..................................................................................................................... 10 Sections in this Manual ...................................................................................................................... 10 Typographical Conventions used in this Manual. .............................................................................. 11 INSTALLING STAR ATLAS:PRO™ ................................................................................................... 12 INSTALLATION PRE-CHECKS ................................................................................................................... 12 Check 1. Minimum System Requirements ......................................................................................... 12 Check 2. Operating System Requirements ......................................................................................... 13 INSTALLING STAR ATLAS:PRO™ ......................................................................................................... 13 Step 1. Agree to the End User License Agreement ............................................................................ 13 Step 2. Check your current Graphics Adapter setting ........................................................................ 14 Step 3. Decide where to install STAR Atlas:PRO™ ......................................................................... 15 Step 4. Begin the STAR Atlas:PRO™ Install Wizard ....................................................................... 15 STAR ATLAS:PRO™ ADDITIONAL FEATURES........................................................................................ 15 Step 1. Optionally install the ASCOM Telescope Drivers add-on. .................................................... 16 Step 2. Optionally install the Internet Communications add-on. ....................................................... 16 Step 3. Optionally install the Guide Star Catalogue (GSC) ............................................................... 17 Step 4. Optionally install the Celestial Image Library ....................................................................... 18 INITIAL PROGRAM CONFIGURATION .......................................................................................... 20 SUMMARY OF CONFIGURATION STEPS .................................................................................................... 20 Configuration for STAR ATLAS:PRO™ .......................................................................................... 20 ESSENTIAL SETTINGS FOR STAR ATLAS:PRO™.................................................................................... 21 Step1. Begin STAR Atlas:PRO™ for the first time ........................................................................... 21 Step 2. Initiate STAR Atlas:PRO™ with your Personal CD Key Number ........................................ 21 Step 3. Begin Configuration............................................................................................................... 21 Step 4. Setting the Observer’s Location and Time Zone. .................................................................. 22 Step 5. Setting File Locations. ........................................................................................................... 22 Step 6. Setting the Location to store Images ...................................................................................... 23 Step 7. Setting the HTML Web Browser Program. ........................................................................... 23 Step 8. Setting the External Image Viewer Program.......................................................................... 23 Step 9. Setting the PDF File Viewer Program. .................................................................................. 24 Step 10. Setting the Pixel Graphics option. ........................................................................................ 24 Step 11. Configuring Telescope Control ............................................................................................ 25 Step 12. Fine tuning Telescope Drivers ............................................................................................. 26 Step 13. Enabling Internet Communications...................................................................................... 29 Step 14. Enabling the Guide Star Catalogue (GSC). .......................................................................... 29 Step 15. Enabling the Celestial Image Library. ................................................................................. 30 STAR ATLAS:PRO™ BASICS ............................................................................................................. 31 THE STAR ATLAS:PRO™ DESKTOP ...................................................................................................... 31 The Main Menu ................................................................................................................................. 33 The Popup Menu ................................................................................................................................ 35 The Status Display Panel ................................................................................................................... 37 CHART MODES ....................................................................................................................................... 38 Planetarium chart mode ..................................................................................................................... 38 Star Atlas chart mode ......................................................................................................................... 40 USING STAR ATLAS:PRO™ ............................................................................................................... 42 COMMON TASKS ..................................................................................................................................... 42 Displaying the main popup menu ...................................................................................................... 42 Changing the Chart’s Field of View – Zooming ................................................................................ 42 STAR Atlas:PRO™ User Manual – Pg 3 Panning and Center Chart .................................................................................................................. 43 Switching Chart Modes ...................................................................................................................... 44 Horizon Views ................................................................................................................................... 44 Printing Charts ................................................................................................................................... 44 Measuring the Angular Separation of Celestial Objects .................................................................... 46 Rotating and Flipping Charts ............................................................................................................. 46 Setting the chart Magnitude Limit ..................................................................................................... 47 Finding the Time of Astronomical Twilight ...................................................................................... 48 IDENTIFYING OBJECTS AND DISPLAYING THEIR ASTRO-PHYSICAL DATA ................................................ 49 Identifying objects on the STAR Atlas:PRO™ desktop chart ........................................................... 50 The Objects located at cursor window.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Mathématiques Et Espace
    Atelier disciplinaire AD 5 Mathématiques et Espace Anne-Cécile DHERS, Education Nationale (mathématiques) Peggy THILLET, Education Nationale (mathématiques) Yann BARSAMIAN, Education Nationale (mathématiques) Olivier BONNETON, Sciences - U (mathématiques) Cahier d'activités Activité 1 : L'HORIZON TERRESTRE ET SPATIAL Activité 2 : DENOMBREMENT D'ETOILES DANS LE CIEL ET L'UNIVERS Activité 3 : D'HIPPARCOS A BENFORD Activité 4 : OBSERVATION STATISTIQUE DES CRATERES LUNAIRES Activité 5 : DIAMETRE DES CRATERES D'IMPACT Activité 6 : LOI DE TITIUS-BODE Activité 7 : MODELISER UNE CONSTELLATION EN 3D Crédits photo : NASA / CNES L'HORIZON TERRESTRE ET SPATIAL (3 ème / 2 nde ) __________________________________________________ OBJECTIF : Détermination de la ligne d'horizon à une altitude donnée. COMPETENCES : ● Utilisation du théorème de Pythagore ● Utilisation de Google Earth pour évaluer des distances à vol d'oiseau ● Recherche personnelle de données REALISATION : Il s'agit ici de mettre en application le théorème de Pythagore mais avec une vision terrestre dans un premier temps suite à un questionnement de l'élève puis dans un second temps de réutiliser la même démarche dans le cadre spatial de la visibilité d'un satellite. Fiche élève ____________________________________________________________________________ 1. Victor Hugo a écrit dans Les Châtiments : "Les horizons aux horizons succèdent […] : on avance toujours, on n’arrive jamais ". Face à la mer, vous voyez l'horizon à perte de vue. Mais "est-ce loin, l'horizon ?". D'après toi, jusqu'à quelle distance peux-tu voir si le temps est clair ? Réponse 1 : " Sans instrument, je peux voir jusqu'à .................. km " Réponse 2 : " Avec une paire de jumelles, je peux voir jusqu'à ............... km " 2. Nous allons maintenant calculer à l'aide du théorème de Pythagore la ligne d'horizon pour une hauteur H donnée.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dunhuang Chinese Sky: a Comprehensive Study of the Oldest Known Star Atlas
    25/02/09JAHH/v4 1 THE DUNHUANG CHINESE SKY: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF THE OLDEST KNOWN STAR ATLAS JEAN-MARC BONNET-BIDAUD Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique ,Centre de Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France E-mail: [email protected] FRANÇOISE PRADERIE Observatoire de Paris, 61 Avenue de l’Observatoire, F- 75014 Paris, France E-mail: [email protected] and SUSAN WHITFIELD The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, UK E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of the star atlas included in the medieval Chinese manuscript (Or.8210/S.3326), discovered in 1907 by the archaeologist Aurel Stein at the Silk Road town of Dunhuang and now held in the British Library. Although partially studied by a few Chinese scholars, it has never been fully displayed and discussed in the Western world. This set of sky maps (12 hour angle maps in quasi-cylindrical projection and a circumpolar map in azimuthal projection), displaying the full sky visible from the Northern hemisphere, is up to now the oldest complete preserved star atlas from any civilisation. It is also the first known pictorial representation of the quasi-totality of the Chinese constellations. This paper describes the history of the physical object – a roll of thin paper drawn with ink. We analyse the stellar content of each map (1339 stars, 257 asterisms) and the texts associated with the maps. We establish the precision with which the maps are drawn (1.5 to 4° for the brightest stars) and examine the type of projections used.
    [Show full text]
  • Quantum Foundations with Astronomical Photons Calvin Leung
    Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont HMC Senior Theses HMC Student Scholarship 2017 Quantum Foundations with Astronomical Photons Calvin Leung Recommended Citation Leung, Calvin, "Quantum Foundations with Astronomical Photons" (2017). HMC Senior Theses. 112. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/hmc_theses/112 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the HMC Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in HMC Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Quantum Foundations with Astronomical Photons Calvin Leung Jason Gallicchio, Advisor Department of Physics May, 2017 Copyright c 2017 Calvin Leung. The author grants Harvey Mudd College the nonexclusive right to make this work available for noncommercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author. Abstract Bell's inequalities impose an upper limit on correlations between measurements of two-photon states under the assumption that the pho- tons play by a set of local rules rather than by quantum mechanics. Quantum theory and decades of experiments both violate this limit. Recent theoretical work in quantum foundations has demonstrated that a local realist model can explain the non-local correlations observed in experimental tests of Bell's inequality if the underlying probability dis- tribution of the local hidden variable depends on the choice of measure- ment basis, or \setting choice". By using setting choices determined by astrophysical events in the distant past, it is possible to asymptotically guarantee that the setting choice is independent of local hidden vari- ables which come into play around the time of the experiment, closing this \freedom-of-choice" loophole.
    [Show full text]
  • Star Chart Lab
    Star Chart Lab 6) a. About how many stars are in the Pleiades cluster? Star Chart Lab b. Why do you think its nick name is “The Seven Sisters”? c. Which constellation is the Pleiades cluster in? •Materials 7) Star Atlas Deluxe Edition a. Which named star is ten arc minutes from the brightest star in the constellation Gemini? •Procedure b. Is the brightest “star” in Gemini actually just one star? In this lab, you will explore the star charts of c. What type of object lies 38 arc minutes less our night sky. You might want to skim the intro- in RA, 0.6o in Dec. south from the star Pollux? duction at the front of the charts before you d. What type of object lies about 20 arc minuets begin. In the front or back of the book you’ll less in RA, 1.5o in Dec. north of Pollux? find a transparency which lays over the charts, giving you more detailed measurements. Star 8) When looking in the night sky from campus, charts use a special type of coordinates, called you certainly see fewer stars than are on these the Equatorial system. If you are not familiar maps. Many constellations are actually easier to with this system, e.g. Right Ascension (RA) and find in conditions such as on campus. Declination (Dec.), then take a minute to read a. Which stars do you think you can see in the Appendix A of this manual. Otherwise, answer constellation Lyra from campus? the questions below. b. What planetary nebula is in Lyra? c.
    [Show full text]
  • SUBJECT INDEX Abell 370 Abell Catalogue Abell Clusters
    SUBJECT INDEX Abell 370 463, 467 Abell catalogue 229 Abell clusters 151, 221, 243, 281, 533, 536, 538, 543, 550 Absorption redshifts 333 Age of the Universe 479 Active galaxies 311 Alignment of clusters 536, 546, 547 Angular momentum 259, 273, 544, 552 Angular 3-point function 161 Anisotropics (large scale) 15 Arcs (giant) 463, 467, 598 Autocorrelation function (spatial) 259 Automatic plate measuring (Cambridge) 151 Baryogenesis 1 Baryon dark matter 77, 93, 513, 589, 592 Biased galaxy formation 43, 161, 169, 245, 437, 495 Biasing 163 Big Bang 1, 281 Bimodal initial mass function (IMF) 387 Bimodal star formation rate (SFR) 387 Binary galaxies 401, 409 Black hole 67, 429 Bootes void 255 Break (4000 Angstroms) 311 Bubble 67, 259 Bulge 273, 301 Burgers equations 273 Carbon stars 409 Centaurus Pavo supercluster 169, 185, 520 Carina 409 CfA catalogue 105, 191, 255, 519 Cloud motions 333 Cold dark matter 37, 43, 77, 93, 169, 191, 259, 273, 281, 293, 387 613 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.229, on 29 Sep 2021 at 05:32:41, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0074180900137313 614 Colors of galaxies 221 Coma cluster 139, 535 Coma supercluster 139, 239 Companions 401 Compton cooling 93 Cooling flows 429, 437 Correlation functions (three points) 161, 163 Cosmological HI 207, 211 Cosmological constant 67, 516, 517 Cosmological parameter (Ω) 1, 51, 191, 259, 273 Corona Borealis supercluster 139, 532 Correlation functions (angular)
    [Show full text]
  • Name a Star Certificate
    Name A Star Certificate LiamObliterated never Jerzyprint-out intimidating any jabbers! punily. Cobbie brazes her klephts stertorously, she vocalizes it veeringly. Piffling or beneficial, Will name certificate What does this is a unique certificates etc place in january, software free photo book, novelty gift set, hart ventures had a star! Sign up today, purchase a luxury gift to do not a star gift that offer to see this element live on customer are! So everyone who assist us how are delivered, all cookies to your partner can be. Imagine all tastes, name a birthday gift that said a configuration that! Own, business people use nicknames and some make use two names. Please enter a name a cute couple names stars named star naming a snowflake design with this manner, helping everyone loves getting a standard shipping! Whether for your life of something to names should be visible constellation should name a star certificate for named star? With name of naming works in space to celestial stars more than enough stars shine forever call your search for their loved ones. Just fade the annual of the welfare you want to surprise, thank you shadow your comment. An eternal health that beautiful shine thorough the heavens for thousands of years to come. Would like you for your certificate and a certificate done over! If you provide an object that is popular gift you will receive launch certificate, it was even one of these programs. But all required fields below for certificates, certificate for your star live constellations, we provide you will be cancelled and discussing it? Our attack of doubt gift specialists will assault their mutual to cleave you are should care nut before at after recording a guest name with us.
    [Show full text]
  • Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sufi and His Book of the Fixed Stars: a Journey of Re-Discovery
    ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following reference: Hafez, Ihsan (2010) Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi and his book of the fixed stars: a journey of re-discovery. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/28854/ The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owner of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please contact [email protected] and quote http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/28854/ 5.1 Extant Manuscripts of al-Ṣūfī’s Book Al-Ṣūfī’s ‘Book of the Fixed Stars’ dating from around A.D. 964, is one of the most important medieval Arabic treatises on astronomy. This major work contains an extensive star catalogue, which lists star co-ordinates and magnitude estimates, as well as detailed star charts. Other topics include descriptions of nebulae and Arabic folk astronomy. As I mentioned before, al-Ṣūfī’s work was first translated into Persian by al-Ṭūsī. It was also translated into Spanish in the 13th century during the reign of King Alfonso X. The introductory chapter of al-Ṣūfī’s work was first translated into French by J.J.A. Caussin de Parceval in 1831. However in 1874 it was entirely translated into French again by Hans Karl Frederik Schjellerup, whose work became the main reference used by most modern astronomical historians. In 1956 al-Ṣūfī’s Book of the fixed stars was printed in its original Arabic language in Hyderabad (India) by Dārat al-Ma‘aref al-‘Uthmānīa.
    [Show full text]
  • Fy10 Budget by Program
    AURA/NOAO FISCAL YEAR ANNUAL REPORT FY 2010 Revised Submitted to the National Science Foundation March 16, 2011 This image, aimed toward the southern celestial pole atop the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope, shows the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the Milky Way (Carinae Region) and the Coal Sack (dark area, close to the Southern Crux). The 33 “written” on the Schmidt Telescope dome using a green laser pointer during the two-minute exposure commemorates the rescue effort of 33 miners trapped for 69 days almost 700 m underground in the San Jose mine in northern Chile. The image was taken while the rescue was in progress on 13 October 2010, at 3:30 am Chilean Daylight Saving time. Image Credit: Arturo Gomez/CTIO/NOAO/AURA/NSF National Optical Astronomy Observatory Fiscal Year Annual Report for FY 2010 Revised (October 1, 2009 – September 30, 2010) Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-0950945 March 16, 2011 Table of Contents MISSION SYNOPSIS ............................................................................................................ IV 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 1 2 NOAO ACCOMPLISHMENTS ....................................................................................... 2 2.1 Achievements ..................................................................................................... 2 2.2 Status of Vision and Goals ................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Quasar Pairs with Arcminute Angular Separations
    A&A 372, 1–7 (2001) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20010283 & c ESO 2001 Astrophysics Quasar pairs with arcminute angular separations V. I. Zhdanov1,2 and J. Surdej1,? 1 Institut d’Astrophysique, Universit´edeLi`ege, Avenue de Cointe 5, 4000 Li`ege, Belgium 2 Astronomical Observatory of Kyiv University, Observatorna St. 3, UA- 04053 Kyiv, Ukraine Received 19 October 2000 / Accepted 16 February 2001 Abstract. We use the V´eron-Cetty & V´eron (2000) catalog (VV) of 13 213 quasars to investigate their possible physical grouping over angular scales 1000 ≤ ∆θ ≤ 100000. We first estimate the number of quasar pairs that would be expected in VV assuming a random distribution for the quasar positions and taking into account observational selection effects affecting heterogeneous catalogs. We find in VV a statistically significant (>3σ)excessofpairs of quasars with similar redshifts (∆z ≤ 0.01) and angular separations in the 5000−10000 range, corresponding to projected linear separations (0.2−0.5) Mpc/h75(ΩM =1, ΩΛ =0)or(0.4−0.7) Mpc/h75(ΩM =0.3, ΩΛ =0.7). There is also some excess in the 10000−60000 range corresponding to (1−5) Mpc in projected linear separations. If most of these quasar pairs do indeed belong to large physical entities, these separations must represent the inner scales of huge mass concentrations (cf. galaxy clusters or superclusters) at high redshifts; but it is not excluded that some of the pairs may actually consist of multiple quasar images produced by gravitational lensing. Of course, a fraction of these pairs could also arise due to random projections of quasars on the sky.
    [Show full text]
  • Baa Hane’ Story of the Stars
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration S-’ Baa Hane’ Story of the Stars Educational Activities Weaving NASA Science and Navajo Knowledge For use in Classrooms and Community-Based Educational Events S-’ Baa Hane’ Story of the Stars Educational Activities Weaving NASA Science and Navajo Knowledge 1 NASA and the Navajo Nation Project The 2005 NASA Explorer Institute Project entitled “NASA and the Navajo Nation” was led by the NASA Astrobiology Institute in collaboration with ArtReach International. The project was carried out in partnership with The Navajo Nation Council, Office of the Speaker. The project evolved from a 2004 NASA Explorer Institute Focus Group conducted by ArtReach International. In the Focus Group, members of the Navajo education community identified needs and desires in partnering with NASA on educational initiatives. The educational materials created within the NASA and the Navajo Nation project, this activity booklet and a short film, both entitled “S-’ Baa Hane’ - Story of the Stars,” are a direct result of the Focus Group’s findings. The activities and film weave together NASA astrobiology science and Navajo cultural teachings relating to the stars to create a “dual-learning” environment wherein the cultural and scientific concepts are explored together, equally. This product is for non-commercial, educational use only. 2 http://nai.nasa.gov/storyofthestars Iiná Dóó Óhoo’ Aah Bindii’ A’ Overall Diné Education Philosophy From the Diné Culture and Language Curriculum Framework Office of Diné Culture, Language, and Community Services We are the Holy People of the Earth. We are created and placed between our Mother Earth and Father Sky. Our home, the Four Sacred Mountains, with the entrance to the East, embodies our Way of Life.
    [Show full text]
  • From Messier to Abell: 200 Years of Science with Galaxy Clusters
    Constructing the Universe with Clusters of Galaxies, IAP 2000 meeting, Paris (France) July 2000 Florence Durret & Daniel Gerbal eds. FROM MESSIER TO ABELL: 200 YEARS OF SCIENCE WITH GALAXY CLUSTERS Andrea BIVIANO Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste via G.B. Tiepolo 11 – I-34131 Trieste, Italy [email protected] 1 Introduction The history of the scientific investigation of galaxy clusters starts with the XVIII century, when Charles Messier and F. Wilhelm Herschel independently produced the first catalogues of nebulæ, and noticed remarkable concentrations of nebulæ on the sky. Many astronomers of the XIX and early XX century investigated the distribution of nebulæ in order to understand their relation to the local “sidereal system”, the Milky Way. The question they were trying to answer was whether or not the nebulæ are external to our own galaxy. The answer came at the beginning of the XX century, mainly through the works of V.M. Slipher and E. Hubble (see, e.g., Smith424). The extragalactic nature of nebulæ being established, astronomers started to consider clus- ters of galaxies as physical systems. The issue of how clusters form attracted the attention of K. Lundmark287 as early as in 1927. Six years later, F. Zwicky512 first estimated the mass of a galaxy cluster, thus establishing the need for dark matter. The role of clusters as laboratories for studying the evolution of galaxies was also soon realized (notably with the collisional stripping theory of Spitzer & Baade430). In the 50’s the investigation of galaxy clusters started to cover all aspects, from the distri- bution and properties of galaxies in clusters, to the existence of sub- and super-clustering, from the origin and evolution of clusters, to their dynamical status, and the nature of dark matter (or “positive energy”, see e.g., Ambartsumian29).
    [Show full text]
  • Observational Searches for Star-Forming Galaxies at Z > 6
    Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA), Vol. 33, e037, 35 pages (2016). C Astronomical Society of Australia 2016; published by Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/pasa.2016.26 Observational Searches for Star-Forming Galaxies at z > 6 Steven L. Finkelstein1,2 1Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA 2Email: [email protected] (Received November 19, 2015; Accepted June 23, 2016) Abstract Although the universe at redshifts greater than six represents only the first one billion years (<10%) of cosmic time, the dense nature of the early universe led to vigorous galaxy formation and evolution activity which we are only now starting to piece together. Technological improvements have, over only the past decade, allowed large samples of galaxies at such high redshifts to be collected, providing a glimpse into the epoch of formation of the first stars and galaxies. A wide variety of observational techniques have led to the discovery of thousands of galaxy candidates at z > 6, with spectroscopically confirmed galaxies out to nearly z = 9. Using these large samples, we have begun to gain a physical insight into the processes inherent in galaxy evolution at early times. In this review, I will discuss (i) the selection techniques for finding distant galaxies, including a summary of previous and ongoing ground and space-based searches, and spectroscopic follow-up efforts, (ii) insights into galaxy evolution gleaned from measures such as the rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity function, the stellar mass function, and galaxy star-formation rates, and (iii) the effect of galaxies on their surrounding environment, including the chemical enrichment of the universe, and the reionisation of the intergalactic medium.
    [Show full text]