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Helen,
Spectroscopy can be challenging and a bit intimidating to the novice. The good news is there are plenty of resources available to assist.
My forum and Webpage (See signature) provides all the basic info and useful Webpage links you need to get started.
Using a grating (SA100 or SA200) provides a great introduction to spectroscopy. I call it "Spectroscopy 101".
To obtain "useful" spectral images you need at least a camera and lens (fit the grating in front of the lens - "Objective grating") and some means of tracking to give longer exposures (>30 sec)
The next step is to fit the grating in front of a camera body in a telescope ("Grating in Converging beam") this allows you to record the spectrum of fainter objects in some detail. A small telescope and EQ mount is needed.
You could start with an ED80 on the HEQ5 mount. This would also provide some good views of the moon, planets and deep sky objects.
Then comes "Spectroscopy 201" - where a slit spectroscope is use to give even more spectral resolution. This is the type of instrument used by all "serious" amateurs. Unfortunately these are not cheap and currently Shelyak and Baader are the only two commercial suppliers -Shelyak: ALPY, LISA, LhiresIII, and Baader DADOS. Paul G. has recently designed a 3D printed instrument which is being tested by a few amateurs.
All this is detailed on the Webpage.
To allow analysis of the spectral image you'll need a processing software.
RSpec is OK to start with, but you should also consider some of the more capable software (as used by the ProAm users)
Buil's ISIS, Valerie's VSpec and John's BASS Project are very good. I recommend and use BASS Project which meets all my need for spectroscopy and with the spectroheliograph.
Hope this helps. Any questions/ concerns just let us know - we're here to help.
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