Greetings from Vermont, USA

[Brad Vietje]

Hi All,

I'm a newbie here, and a relative beginner to spectroscopy. At the moment, I am limited to low-resolution spectra with an SA-200 in the filter wheel of a fixed instrument, and an SA-100 in portable instruments with either a mono or color CMOS video cameras. I've been an amateur astronomer since the late 70's, a long-time amateur telescope maker (member at Stellafane for 30 years), and informal astronomy educator since the 80's. I used to own a Starlab portable planetarium, and did planetarium shows part-time for about 15 years.

I am privileged to have access to a very nice dark sky teaching observatory where I work part-time, featuring a Planewave CDK-17 on a fantastic custom mount from Astrometric Instruments (see photo). This telescope is outfitted with an Apogee Alta U16M camera, a 10-position filter wheel (Ha, SII, OIII, I, R, V, B, Blue, Luminance, and SA-200), a Monster MOAG guider, and the IRF-90 focuser/rotator. The observatory was built to serve the educational needs of teachers and students in the area; we work mostly with high school and middle school groups, but also serve as a remote lab for area colleges. Initially just pretty picture deep-sky photography, but more recently, variable star photometry, asteroid light curves, and of course, low-rez spectra.

I've been using RSpec for about 18 months, and plan to explore freeware options which would be more accessible to my students. So far, I've been able to get decent spectra of stars, a few planets, and a few supernovae. With image stacking I can get spectra down to about 14th magnitude, though brighter is a whole lot easier! I've images a few Be stars, and so far, Wolf-Rayet stars are my favorite.

I also have access to a high resolution, fiber-fed spectrograph, which I will need to learn how to use someday -- no rush. At the moment, I would have to use this on a C-8 or 115mm Stellarvue ED refractor on a portable Celestron mount, so I haven't felt motivated yet -- would rather learn this on a more stable, permanent mount.

I'm sure I will learn a great deal by visiting here. I am already indebted to Robin Leadbeater, who has been so helpful on other message boards, and no doubt, others here will have lots to teach me, as well.

Clear skies,

Brad Vietje
Newbury, VT, USA

[Francois Teyssier]

You're welcome Brad
Impressive setup

François Teyssier

[Vincent Bouttard]

Welcome in the forum Brad.
This is a very nice telescope and an incredible mount ! A really good setup to make spectroscopy.

Vincent

[Robin Leadbeater]

Welcome to ARAS Brad

Robin

[Ken Harrison]

Grad,
Good to see you here. You seem to have come a long way in the last couple of years.
Keep it up.
Ken

[Olivier Thizy]

Welcome to ARAS Brad!


Be stars are fun - I am taking several with my setup at the moment and it is always nice to see when changes in their spectra occures!

Specially in high resolution, other targets can be a lot of fun too, for exemple but not only: P Cygni (Luminous Blue Variable) or VV Cep [binary system which is actually entering eclipse at the moment, 20 years after the previous one so better looking at it now! ], pulsating star RR Lyrae, Wolf Rayet (WR140 is 'hot' for the end of the year but won't be easy to observe)...

In lower resolution (or high when bright enough), look at cataclysmic variables, symbiotics, novae... See the list of current hot targets on latest ARAS eruptive stars newsletter:
http://www.astrosurf.com/aras/novae/Inf ... etter.html

In all cases, targets for spectroscopy with your equipment should be numerous - enjoy them!


Cordialement,
Olivier Thizy