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Congratulations on the new magazine Ernst. Great to have another spectroscopy publication!
Eric, you can try translating it with Google Translate. Type ‘Translate’ into Google. Follow the link and upload the document. Then select German to English. You’ll find you need to switch back and forth between the Google translation and the pdf as the table and figures are missing from the translation.
Best wishes,
Andy
Hi Matt,
First of all welcome to the BAA 🙂
Robin has already given you some excellent advice on spectral typing so I won’t bother adding any more.
I own an Lhires III and I find it an excellent spectrograph. It took me several months of practice to get to know it well and tweak its performance, but I was able to get good spectra of bright stars very quickly. While a star analyser is great to start off with, as well as always being a good tool for fainter targets, there are some things that will be easier with the Lhires III. For example wavelength calibration, flat fielding and simply having a slit removes the potential problem of nearby stars contaminating a slitless spectrum. Though of course you do need a good mount to be able to position the star onto the slit and to hold it there accurately.
Best wishes,
Andy
I am completely with you there Gary! 🙂
I think it is an interesting enigma but the evidence does not support any kind of intelligence. It could be an opportunity to help solve the puzzle using science, putting a stop to the unfounded speculation which has dominated some of the press.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Paul,
That is a very useful webpage, thanks for sharing.
Though I usually do spectroscopy, this is not the right kind of target for my setup. So I’m hoping to take a look at it though my Dobsonian instead.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Ernst,
An interesting paper and a good demonstration of what can be achieved with the high resolution spectrographs that are now available to the amateur community.
Best wishes,
Andy
Hi Michael,
That is a very thorough analysis! Hopefully Bill or someone with knowledge of meteor spectroscopy will comment on your spectrum. It certainly looks good but I cannot comment on the line identification.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Bill,
Those are great spectra of the Lyrids! There is a whole wealth of spectral lines. Is it difficult to identify them all or do you have resources that allow you to identify all or the majority of the lines?
Cheers,
Andy
Robin,
That is a good point about ensuring that amateur software should be able to read the files.
Andrew,
Glad to hear you are making progress. Python with astropy are fantastic for programming with fits files. So far I’ve only been using them on a Mac, but I must get around to trying them out on Windows.
Cheers,
Andy
Give me a shout if you get stuck. It would be nice to have a single fits file format for the multiple orders in Echelle spectra, but I suspect agreeing that amongst the community would be no small task.
Andy
Hi Andrew,
You are correct in your assumption that the BAA Spectroscopy Database does not support IRAF multispec format at this time. However, it is possible to build in support. The big question is how long it would take me to build, noting I already have some outstanding development work for the VSS Database.
It may take until the second half of May or June to take a proper look at the file format. Then I can assess whether a ‘quick’ change is possible.
Note of course that the other header fields would need to be BeSS compliant. If this is going to be a problem then it won’t be worth going down the route of building IRAF multispec compatibility.
Best wishes,
Andy, BAA Spectroscopy Database Manager
Hi Marc,
It is great to see how spectroscopy has grown at the BAA over the past couple of years. The subject being one of the main areas of discussion on the forum, with advice being given to help members get started, as well as some fantastic results being shared.
We also have a spectroscopy database where members can upload their 1D fits format files. Noting a separate login is needed as it runs on different software to the main BAA webpages.
I think Ernst’s proposal for a VV Cep campaign is great. Though I am aware that Ernst has a long running campaign on VV Cep and so I am not sure if it is appropriate to think of it as a BAA campaign. There is a separate thread that Ernst has started on the campaign so probably best to post any questions there so that there is a single place to access the information.
Sadly for me a bank holiday weekend when I actually have time to do some spectroscopy and the forecast is for wall to wall cloud! Oh well, as a UK based amateur astronomer I learned along time ago that large reserves of patience are essential 😉
Best wishes,
Andy
Hi Ernst,
Thanks for the information which is useful to know. I’ll try to get an observing session in soon on VV Cep. If that doesn’t work out then I may use my limited observing time on Be stars which are well suited to an occasional spectrum when time allows.
Best wishes,
Andy
Welcome to the BAA Marc and great to have another spectroscopist! As you have no doubt seen, the spectroscopy forum has been very active.
Andy
That is an interesting campaign Ernst.
I’d like to get involved if I can, though my own observing has been significantly curtailed this year due to other commitments. If things settle down over the Spring/Summer then I’ll add it to my target list so that I can contribute.
Best wishes,
Andy
I concur that it was a great weekend, many thanks to Ann Davies, Alan Dowdell, Roger Pickard, and everyone else who were involved in the organisation.
Tough to pick out the best speaker, but I was very impressed by Prof Giles Hammond stepping in for the Gravitational Waves talk, you really could not tell that he stepped in for someone else. I also enjoyed Dr Poshak Gandhi’s talk on black holes as he engaged with the audience and did not simply use PowerPoint. Lots of other great talks but I won’t list them all.
Andy
Hi Tony,
There is no need to re-classify your objects. I did this as part of the checks that I run, though if you do ever spot anything that should be changed then just let me know.
Just look for the new subtypes when uploading spectra, and also let me know if you need any new ones setting up.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Nick,
I think you mean the ALPY guide module rather than a separate off axis guider. Though that doesn’t really matter for this discussion.
I assume that you are using the ATIK Titan for guiding. When you say no response, does it take an image which is blank, or can you not even get it to take any image with the Titan? I take it you are pointing your setup at the blank daytime sky for the solar spectrum. Note it should not be pointed at the Sun for a solar spectrum as the reflected light from the sky is easily bright enough. Pointing directly at the Sun would probably fry the guide camera and might do some other damage.
Otherwise you could try other software rather than MaxIm DL for guiding. Though I use MaxIm DL to acquire my spectrum images, I switched to the free PHD2 for guiding as I found it far superior.
Best wishes,
Andy
Hi Kevin,
That is a nice looking spectrum and an interesting story to go with it. A good example that you can get unexpected results with spectroscopy and by digging around in the literature lots of useful and interesting information can be found.
You are getting some great results with your ALPY.
Cheers,
Andy
