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Spectrography

Discussion in 'General Astronomy Chat' started by Fred Mullins, Oct 18, 2016.

Spectrography

Started by Fred Mullins on Oct 18, 2016 at 8:00 PM

2 Replies 1410 Views 2 Likes

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  1. Fred Mullins

    Fred Mullins Member

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    Fred Mullins, Oct 18, 2016
    #1
    I'm interested in "decoding starlight" and wondered if anyone has built their own astronomy spectrograph? My wife's brother-in-law worked in Chile at ESO's (European Southern Observatory) Cerro Tololo facility from 1984 to 1997 during the early years of computers. He programed the computers used to aim the 2 meter telescope as no one in Chile was able to at that time. I'm very much in the DIY mold and into saving money as well. Any thoughts?
     
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  2. Luling_Skies

    Luling_Skies Member

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    Luling_Skies, Oct 19, 2016
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    Hello Fred, I was in Charleston the week of the flood. I hope. You and your family made out ok.

    I am also interested in spectroscopy of the stars but the cost of the available instrumentation has kept me out of this aspect of astronomy. I am especially interested in measuring the red-shift of stars to estimate their distance. I look at my images or in an eyepiece and you cannot tell foreground from background stars. If you come up with an economical way to to capture and analyze the spectra of a star, I will be most interested to give it a try.

    Tim
     
  3. Fred Mullins

    Fred Mullins Member

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    Fred Mullins, Oct 19, 2016
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    Tim,
    Thanks for the reply. I have researched spectroscope design and have an idea I'm itching to try. It revolves around a direct view pocket spectroscope from e-bay, a barlow, the 50mm lens from my old Minolta 35mm camera and a webcam. I'll post the results, construction plans and parts list later. BTW - Thanks for the concern but I live in Charleston so the flood was a non-issue for me, but horrendous for many just a few miles away. For what its worth, my avatar shows me looking thru the 27" refractor on the campus of the University of Virginia. At one time it was the worlds largest scope:)
     
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