logoMy start with astrospectroscopy


began in late 2004 with the planning and construction of a classical grating spectrograph.

You can find an extensive report (4 MB, german language) about the first half-year of my efforts (click here). It includes a lot of tips and tricks for collimation and testing of spectrographs, the measurement of the real dispersion, and a lot of sample spectra.

Here a second report attached in a short form.  

In addition you can find a presentation about this issue here. This presentation was hold at the annual meeting of the VdS-Spectroscopy Section in Sonneberg, May 2006.

The case of my first self-designed spectrograph consisted of an small wooden stall for mice (that's why I called the spectrograph, "the mice Villa"), as they are sold in pet shops for about 15 euros. The used 120 mm camera lenses (collimator and lens) were auctioned for a total cost about 20 euros. The little blue viewfinder is also given for little money. The most expensive part was the 25x25 mm² grating with 1200 lines / mm for about 70 euros. The costs totaled to around 150 euros (CCD camera not included).

The CCD camera was an old Audine (water cooled, KAF 401E CCD chip).

At the 45° position, the grating reflects the light directly into the viewfinder, so that I can see a large section of the sky. So I can look for my target-star by eye, indentify it, and put it in the middle of the observing field. After little rotation of the grating you can find the spectrum of the object star on the CCD. A very practical device to ensure that the correct star is observed.

The picture you can see on the left side shows an exciting moment in early 2005: first starlight. However, I had to learn during that night: spectroscopy is not so simple.

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