Spectroscopy - Page 20

Glenpiper (Bernard) · #**381** 20-05-2009, 07:50 AM

The following probably needs it own thread.

It has always interested me to note over the years, from observing the contents of the many astronomy forums (forii?), and contact with individuals, that the amateur astronomy community is easily divided into two classes of participants, namely:

a) Those that see their equipment as aids to study the night sky ... the 'seekers'

b) Those that see the night sky as an aid to help them develop and perfect their equipment .. the 'tinkerers'

Where do you readers stand?

sheeny (Al) · #**382** 20-05-2009, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glenpiper

The following probably needs it own thread.

It has always interested me to note over the years, from observing the contents of the many astronomy forums (forii?), and contact with individuals, that the amateur astronomy community is easily divided into two classes of participants, namely:

a) Those that see their equipment as aids to study the night sky ... the 'seekers'

b) Those that see the night sky as an aid to help them develop and perfect their equipment .. the 'tinkerers'

Where do you readers stand?

I think that would make a good thread in its own right, with a poll.

The impression I get from a lot of people in IIS is aften they can be split pretty easiy into the two categories, but there those who're somewhere in between. Personally, I think I'm a fence sitter. I do a mix of seeking and tinkering... at present I think I'm largely tinkering with Spectroscopy - trying to learn what I and my gear can do. The seeking will follow.

Al.

Terry B · #**383** 20-05-2009, 09:41 AM

Very good point.
I started as a tinkerer but now am mostly interested in what I can find and measure.
The tinkering is very prominent in lots of forum members I think.

Merlin66 (Ken) · #**384** 20-05-2009, 05:49 PM

My 2c
I think there are probably two types of Tinkerers..
There's the one's on restricted Budgets, limited resources, but keen to be able to "do something". In the early days these were the guys who built their own telescopes ( grinding the mirrors from scratch), even building their own eyepieces (??!) as well the the mountings, drives etc etc. The lack of commercial equipment ( at affordable prices) continued to drive this process. Just look at what John Dobson did.....

Then there's the "cloudy night" guys... nothing else to do...( BTW these seem to make up the majority over here in the UK) who adapt, modify and "improve" their telescopes and equipment. Adding finders, changing focusers, collimating and re-collimating the scope, adding adaptors etc for CCD imaging etc etc. They always seem to be fiddling around with something!
The bottom line: we are a group of interested, dedicated amateurs and it's always been the role of amateurs (look at all the inventions and discoveries made by the Victorians during the Golden Age of astronomy) to dabble, fiddle and keep asking questions.....

Merlin66 (Ken) · #**385** 20-05-2009, 06:04 PM

I agree with the comments that having both a grating spectroscope and a higher resolution reflection grating spectroscope is a wonderful, and very useful combination to have. Each has a different role and purpose, as Bernard said.
I also acknowledge that the hight cost of entry to Hi-Res spectroscopy, means that many novices start with the SA100/ Rainbow Optics and gain satisfaction and experience as they climb the learning curve.
These grating spectroscopes are primarily star spectroscopes and rely on the image of the star to form a "virtual" slit. (Even used as an aid to visual observers they can help in identifying planetary nebulae etc - Hartung made great use of his "prism" in preparing his 'Astronomical Objects'), but they can't easily be used to obtain the spectra of nebulae or galaxies....this really needs a slit.
This was one of the drivers; to see if I could add a slit, easily, to the SA100 and further expand it's role for the amateur. Option 2 does this.
So, by using "off the shelf" components, we can now:
- obtain low resolution spectra of nebulae and galaxies
- gain good experience and practise using and guiding on spectroscope slits

When we move onwards and upwards to the hi-resolution spectroscope, we can look back on this as completion of "Astronomical Spectroscopes - 101".

Glenpiper (Bernard) · #**386** 22-05-2009, 06:30 AM

Hi, from windy (and cold) Wellington.
Another very great advantage of a slit spectrgraph is that it gives you the ability to have calibration lines from, for example, neon or thorium lamp spectra. You can also, to a degree, adjust the resolution by adjusting the slit width, e.g. narrower slit -> more resolution -> less flux -> longer exposure .... and visa versa.

The downside, as indicated above, is that the price of high resolution is the need for long exposures and, hence very careful guiding to keep the target on the narrow slit ... not easy as I can tell you from my own experience (I'm sure Ken will confirm this). In my own work on the Ha monitoring of Be stars it is usual to have to make one hour exposures in order to achieve an acceptable SNR of at least 50.

I LOVE taking spectra with a simple 'star spectroscope'

Merlin66 (Ken) · #**387** 27-05-2009, 12:08 AM

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/a...guid=322612425

Just to add to the enjoyment and give us more opportunity to share with others.......

Terry B · #**388** 27-05-2009, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merlin66

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/a...guid=322612425

Just to add to the enjoyment and give us more opportunity to share with others.......

I joined.

Heian (Mark) · #**389** 27-05-2009, 02:28 PM

never let it be said I'm not a trend follower!

I joined as well...

sheeny (Al) · #**390** 27-05-2009, 04:47 PM

I joined too!

It's just like a little IIS home away from home...

Al.

Merlin66 (Ken) · #**391** 27-05-2009, 05:16 PM

More like KISS!

Just to give us a bit more space so we can compare notes and ideas with others, hopefully worldwide, without boring everyone else.
You KNOW IIS will always be home!!

jinxsta · #**392** 27-05-2009, 05:23 PM

Yeah I joined its kinda like the ISS holiday house really.

Merlin66 (Ken) · #**393** 29-05-2009, 04:25 AM

I see from the ABC news you're getting your share of wild weather!!
(and the swine flu virus!!)
The good news is that the weather will clear and you will have excellent seeing conditions; I believe there will also be power outages in Sydney and Melbourne, to give +5mag naked eye skies from the city centres commencing when I arrive back on the 14th June!!!!!
Make the best of it

Still haven't had the opportunity to do any observing over here!!
Al/ Jeff/ Bernard/ Mark/ Terry... any more observations of Eta Car????

justafew (Alice) · #**394** 29-05-2009, 04:29 AM

I don't know about Terry but I would love to have a copy of your spectra exercise! I'm way down here in the shallow end of the spectroscopy pool.

Best regards,
Alice

feel free to email it directly to few_2001 AT yahoo DOT com
Thanks a million

Quote:

Originally Posted by renormalised

Terry, if you want to learn more about spectra and how to analyse them, I can give you an exercise I used as part of my course, dealing with spectra and how to interpret them. It's quite interesting to do the exercise

theodog (Jeff) · #**395** 29-05-2009, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merlin66

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/a...guid=322612425

Just to add to the enjoyment and give us more opportunity to share with others.......

OK I'm in.

Merlin66 (Ken) · #**396** 29-05-2009, 07:12 AM

Guys/ Gals,
I truly appreciate the support!
Please, Please, remember it only what we make it!!
If it helps the amateur develop his/her skills in spectroscopy, then it's all worthwhile...
Thanks,

sheeny (Al) · #**397** 29-05-2009, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merlin66

when I arrive back on the 14th June!!!!!

Permanently or just a visit?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merlin66

Al/ Jeff/ Bernard/ Mark/ Terry... any more observations of Eta Car????

Not yet... weather...

Al.

Terry B · #**398** 29-05-2009, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merlin66

I see from the ABC news you're getting your share of wild weather!!
(and the swine flu virus!!)
The good news is that the weather will clear and you will have excellent seeing conditions; I believe there will also be power outages in Sydney and Melbourne, to give +5mag naked eye skies from the city centres commencing when I arrive back on the 14th June!!!!!
Make the best of it

Still haven't had the opportunity to do any observing over here!!
Al/ Jeff/ Bernard/ Mark/ Terry... any more observations of Eta Car????

No more obsrecently due to a computer failure in the observatory and lots of cloud.

theodog (Jeff) · #**399** 29-05-2009, 10:35 AM

No obs due to work and construction project.

Thoughts of this weekend, -where did THAT cloud come from?

Heian (Mark) · #**400** 29-05-2009, 02:05 PM

Ken,
tried to do some Be stars in Musca + Centaurus before the cloud parked itself, but no joy

The scoundrels in my local club enticed me to the "other" side of imaging and I got all excited about doing some widefield instead of spectro's...

cheers
Mark