Around a few years

Forums Spectroscopy New Starlight Xpress spectrometer Around a few years

#582903
Robin Leadbeater
Participant

The lack of understand of what this instrument does compared with the slitless (Star Analyser?)  spectrum of M42 shown there was amusing considering the ~30x difference in cost.

That spectrograph (in non automated form) has been around a few years (Maurice Gavin did a youtube review on it).  I’ve yet to see a published spectrum using one though. There have been quite a few failures by companies bringing instruments into this field in the past few years. I would say to succeed it needs to get into the hands of a few observers who can show what it can do and get some results out there. That is why the Star Analyser and the instruments from the leading supplier in this high end field succeeded where others have struggled. Their latest UVEX spectrograph, also using reflective optics is coming out in commercial form later this year but is already well known from the results produced using 3D printed kit built prototypes. Getting potential customers directly involved in product development has proved to be a good  way of ensuring a market for the final products.