Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Gary,
Indeed. I had not come across the name before and googled him after I posted. I wonder if his name had any influence on his choice of career ? I decided at an early age that my traditional family occupation was not for me 😉
Robin
The spacing of the lines is different in the two images and there are several extra weak lines in the one with the close double. There has been a big wavelength shift to the left of about half a field between the two images and we are looking at a different part of the spectrum. (The line on the right in the first spectrum corresponds to the line on the left in the second spectrum. The doubled line is outside the right hand edge of the field in the first spectrum)
See attached
Robin
I see there is a paper published on this already
https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.00994
Note the second author’s name. Unless it is a pseudonym, he/she just had to be an astronomer !
Robin
Just seen this paper where they suggest that there was indeed a dip in the light curve around maximum indicating a “super earth” exoplanet
https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.06659
Robin
Hi Hugh,
OK so I assume your two spectra are scaled relative to the continuum over some common wavelength range? From the AAVSO data however, the V band total flux has reduced by ~0.4 mag between the two dates (I assumed values of 8.3 and 8.7) which means the amount of flux in the emission lines in the later relative flux calibrated spectrum is exaggerated. To calibrate in absolute flux I used a tool in ISIS (“Tools”, “Spectra 3” , “Flux density conversion” ) which integrates the flux in the spectrum over the standard (Bessel) V filter passband and uses the photometric V magnitude (from AAVSO) to rescale the spectrum in physical flux values. (Using the relationship between V mag and physical flux established for the standard star Vega). There are some approximations/assumptions in this method I believe and I think David Boyd has published a more rigorous method somewhere where he uses his own photometric brightness measurements but I think it should be good enough to show the trends.
Cheers
Robin
Yes, astronomers in particular seem to be a pocket of resistance against the forces of SI.
In my other life in the paper industry, the US measure the weight per surface area of paper in pounds per ream (now generally 500 sheets) where the specified sheet size depends on the type of paper you are taking about. So 20lb newsprint (36×24 inches) is much lighter than 20lb bond paper (22×17 inches) for example !
Tonight’s spectrum (in absolute flux) compared with previous spectra. Although the H alpha line remains strong in the spectrum relative to the continuum, when expressed in absolute flux the line intensity has fallen significantly over the past 4 days.
Robin
I suspected as much. It looked noticeably brighter in the spectrograph guider but the moment I moved it onto the slit, the mist rolled in so no spectrum last night.
Robin
EDIT: No sign of rebrightening in later data in the AAVSO database though. I am now kicking myself for not grabbing the guider image
EDIT: I see the 7.3mag in VSS was in I. My guider camera is unfiltered and the nova is very interstellar reddened so probably explains why it looked so much brighter to me than the nearby Vmag 9.3 star
The ARAS spectroscopy group have a symbiotic relationship with Prof Steve Shore at the University of Pisa. (We take spectra and he explains what they mean). Today he puts this event into an astrophysical context.
http://www.spectro-aras.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2015&start=30#p10615
Cheers
Robin
Here are my three spectra calibrated in absolute flux (using V mag values from the AAVSO database) rather than relative to the continuum. It is interesting to see how the peak flux at H alpha remains constant as the continuum falls away.
Here is tonight’s spectrum. H alpha is really dominating the spectrum now as the continuum drops away. About 1/3 of the total flux in the visible range is now from H alpha.
Robin
Simbad comes up with LSPM J0443+4722 a high proper motion star for these coordinates – good spot !
Chances are your laptop will not have a serial port though so in that case a USB-serial adaptor (sometimes built into a cable) which emulates a serial (COM) port would be needed.
Robin
Stan Waterman’s Project Cygnus which has been running for many years is an impressive example of an amateur exoplanet/variable star survey of course. No confirmed exoplanets found though as far as I know.
http://www.stanwaterman.co.uk/variablestars/
https://www.britastro.org/vss/Stan%20Waterman%20Winchester%202017.pdf
Robin
Hi Peter,
Are you on he right page of the manual? This is the one I mean
Select the zero order (with the mouse + left click)
select “spectrometry”, “calibration 1 line”
In the box that pops up:-
enter 0 for “wavelength” (the zero order)
enter the dispersion (A/pixel) that you got from the reference star calibration in “sampling”
Click “apply” and the spectrum of the target star should then be calibrated using the calibration from the reference star
Robin
This video tutorial shows how to do a 2 point wavelength calibration on the reference spectrum
http://astrosurf.com/vdesnoux/wink/calibspectrum_en.htm
(Do not crop the spectrum but use the zero order (entering 0 as the wavelength) and one of the H Balmer lines rather than two Balmer lines as shown there)
You can then use the zero order and the A/pixel dispersion (sampling) to calibrate any other spectrum using the 1 point calibration function. There is not a video tutorial of that but it is described on page 53 of the manual
http://astrosurf.com/vdesnoux/web/help.pdf
Cheers
Robin
If you want to filter the reference spectrum first as i suggested in the tutorial in the other thread “ALHENA WITH A STARANALYSER”
https://britastro.org/node/11586
https://britastro.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Correcting%20for%20instrument%20response.pdf
then the spline filter function in Visual Spec can be found at “Operations”, “Spline Filter”
it is also a good idea to roughly rescale the spectra first before calculating the instrument response so you dont have to deal with very large numbers. You can do this by selecting a region of the spectrum using the cursor (mouse left click and drag), then right click and select “normalize”. The result is the spectrum is averaged to 1 over the selected region
Cheers
Robin
Hi Peter,
This video on the Visual Spec website goes though all the steps in detail to calculate and use the instrument response
http://astrosurf.com/vdesnoux/video/reponse.avi
Cheers
Robin
