Practical Amateur Spectroscopy [Paperback]

This book contains everything an amateur astronomer needs to know to begin observing whilst going relatively deeply into the subject for those who are already involved. Covers a very wide range of available equipment, from simple DIY spectroscopes to the most expensive commercially-made instruments. Describes basic principles so that the reader understands how to analyse the spectra he/she sees or records. Contributions by leading amateurs astronomers from the USA and Europe.Because today's amateur astronomical telescopes are both powerful and affordable, spectroscopy - once the province of professionals - is becoming more and more popular. Various spectroscopes, at prices to suit everyone, are now available off the shelf . Practical Amateur Spectroscopy contains everything an amateur needs to grasp the basic principles, to begin observing, and to understand just what the spectra show. Contributions by leading practical amateurs from America and Europe cover a very wide range of amateur equipment and techniques. One even describes how an audio CD can be used to show solar emission and absorption lines!Section 1 Fundamentals of Spectroscopy.- 1 Development of Stellar Spectroscopy.- 2 Gases and Spectra.- 3 Spectroscopes.- 4 The Spectral Classification of Stars.- Section 2 Practical Amateur Spectroscopy.- 5 The CD Spectroscope.- 6 Photographing and Analyzing the Spectra of Stars.- 7 Two Spectrographs for Small Telescopes.- 8 Amateur Astronomical Spectroscopy with Some Commercial Spectrographs.- 9 Astronomical Spectroscopy with the Santa Barbara Instrument Group Self-Guiding Spectrometer.- 10 Building and Using a High-Precision Radial Velocity Spectrograph.- Appendix 1 Suppliers of Spectroscopes.- Appendix 2 Useful Websites.- Appendix 3 Selected Bibliography.- Appendix 4 The Contributors.

From the reviews:

Although essential to professionals  spectroscopy has largely been ignored by amateurs as a black art. This book  tl32