How I Started |
You're probably thinking what would drive a person to want to do spectroscopy. Sounds way too complex. Why bother. Let the
professional people do it. As you will see there is a need for the amateur astronomer to contribute to the real science out there. |
My Current Equipment |
This will show you what equipment I use the capture the photons of light before it is processed into readable calibrated data. I'm not a
Ph.D., nor a rocket scientist, but I have been known to pull a wrench or two, this is how I build the equipment to get the job done. |
Eclipsing Binary Stars
|
As their name indicates, these stars rotate around each other blocking each other out from our line of sight. They vary in size and
rotation speed. Measuring the radial velocity of the binary stars is one of the challenges. |
Be Stars |
Be stars are a class type of B star with emission and absorption lines in the hydrogen-alpha region due to discs of circumstellar
material. Like most stars, they are not fully understood. |
Novas / Supernovas |
It was not until the 1920s that it was realized that there was a difference between novas and supernovas. Novas are stars that suddenly
brighten. Supernovas also brighten and may rival the brightness of the galaxy it resides in. Supernovae completely devastates the star, forming heavy elements because of the high temperature and then
spewing these elements out into space. |
Wolf-Rayet Stars |
This type of class O star exhibits numerous broad emission bands. Near infrared data collection would be the challenge. They loose
mass so rapidly that about all we can see is the spectrum of the lower density out flowing gas. |
Carbon Stars |
Stars in this phase are known as asymptotic gaint branch (AGB) stars. The particular internal structure of AGB stars is an inert, partially
degenerate carbon-oxygen core surrounded by two burning shells, one of Helium and a second, more external, of Hydrogen, operating alternately. Numerous chemical and spctroscopic pecularities are found in this
evolutionary phase of AGB's |
