Astroart Forum

I thought you might like to see what sort of spectral results you can get from a simple grating and a Genesis (4" f5) scope. The imaging camera was an ATiK16icS controlled by AA5.
The darks and subs were (eventually! - See my other thread on stacking spectra) pre-processed by AA5.
The spectral profiles were generated and annotated using the freeware "BASS Project"
You can easily see the changes in the Balmer hydrogen lines over the period.
This is challenging and interesting work that is appreciated by the professionals and that any amateur astronomer can do.
Visit our Yahoo group for more details:
http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/astr ... scopy/info

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"Astronomical Spectroscopy - The Final Frontier" - to boldly go where few amateurs have gone before....
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ast ... scopy/info
http://www.astronomicalspectroscopy.com/

Excellent work Merlin66!
Thank you for sharing. Please keep us update with your progress and needs in amateur spectroscopy.

Regards
Martino Nicolini

Martino,
Thanks for the comments. Appreciated.
I accept that spectroscopy isn't for everybody, but seriously if you have the equipment (Scope/ camera/ mount) you could be making some very worthwhile contributions to the science of astronomy.
There are many freeware (and commercial) packages for the final processing/ calibration of spectral images. I don't think AstroArt wants to position itself there.
Where it could help is in the pre-processing - the effective stacking of images - a "quick and dirty" mini-binned profile (just to check out the signal and spectral focus) and possibly background removal. This is usually done by selecting a couple of "zones" one above the spectral image, one below the spectral image and subtracting them from the selected "binning" height of the spectrum. This allows the effective removal of background pollution - no light pollution in spectroscopy
We are a niche area of an already niche hobby, but growing quickly!

Here's some recent medium res spectra of Nova Cen.
Spectra-L200 spectroscope with 300 l/mm grating.
Imaged using AA5 and ATiK314L.
The emission lines of Fe continue to be obvious and some structure coming out in the line profiles.
Enjoy!

Before the clouds moved in, I managed to get a spectrum of the Hb Region.
You can see how the profiles are changing and showing some secondary absorption features....
This is proving to be a very interesting nova!!
Image acquired and pre-processed in AA5 (Thanks Fabio!) and spectral profile from BASS Project (freeware)

Well done Ken! It is very good to talk about spectroscopy also here!
V1369 Cen is a great target like V339 Del has been for many observers around the world. I think your medium resolution spectra are very useful to astronomical community. Although it is the same type of nova (Fe II nova) it seems to me quite different from V339 Del. It's also different photometrically, at least at this early fireball stage.

Observing conditions should improve with time, I hope you'll have many opportunities to take other spectra with L200. Keep us informed and have clear sky!

Paolo