Using Amateur Astronomical Spectrographs is aimed at amateur astronomers both advanced and
those wishing to expand their astronomical interests interested in learning more about
astronomical spectroscopy. There is detailed information about how to get started inexpensively
with low-resolution spectroscopy and then how to move on to more advanced high-resolution
spectroscopy. Uniquely Using Amateur Astronomical Spectrographs concentrates very much on the
practical aspects of using commercially-available spectroscopes rather than simply explaining
how spectroscopes work. The book includes a clear explanation of the laboratory theory behind
astronomical spectroscopes and goes on to extensively cover the practical application of
astronomical spectroscopy in detail. Two popular and reasonably-priced commercially available
spectrographs are used as examples. The first is a low-resolution (100 line mm) transmission
diffraction grating the Star Analyser spectrograph. This is inexpensive and can be used for
visual work with an eyepiece but even better it can be screwed into the nosepiece of a CCD
camera or in front of the telephoto lens of a DSLR camera. The Star Analyser produces excellent
spectra of the whole visible spectrum and can include the zero order and higher order spectra.
The second spectrograph considered is at the other end of the market the high-resolution
Lhires III with both 2400 and 600 line mm reflection diffraction gratings. The Lhires III
produces a high-resolution spectrum of a narrow region of the visible spectrum. While
considerably more expensive this is a popular and excellent scientific instrument that allows
more advanced amateur astronomers to produce scientifically valuable data. Using Amateur
Astronomical Spectrographs also deals with computer processing. Two spectrum processing
software programs are discussed RSpec and VSpec. To create a spectrum image the software that
comes with any CCD camera usually works well. But the resulting spectrum image needs to be
processed using this specialist software: RSpec or VSpec must be used to create a line profile
of the spectrum. With all of these tools in place the amateur astronomer is well-prepared to
forger deeper into the night sky using spectroscopy.
