|
|
|
|
| Spectroscopy for Everyone! |
| Tom Field |
| Thursday, Sep 8, 2011 at 8:00 PM |
|
|
|
| Spectroscopy is the art of analyzing the colorful spectrum that a device like a prism produces. Spectroscopy is used in a large majority of today’s astronomy research. However, until the last few years, spectroscopy has been too expensive and difficult for all but a few amateurs. Today, though, new tools make spectroscopy accessible to almost all of us. No PhD, no dark sky, no long exposures, or enormous apertures are needed. With your current telescope and camera (or even a simple web cam) you can now easily capture exciting spectra, including the atmosphere on Uranus or the red shift a quasar. This talk, with lots of interesting examples, will show you what it’s all about, and how you can get started.
This will be our first web-talk, in which the speaker will be giving a live talk from a remote site (in this case, Seattle). He will take and answer your questions just like he was in the auditorium. After this talk, I’d like to get club feedback on what you think of this medium. If it works well, it will potentially open up a much wider range of speakers in the future.
Speaker Bio
Tom Field has been an amateur astronomer for about 20 years. Several years ago, a bit jaded on visual imaging, he decided he wanted to do some real science with his equipment. Frustrated by the spectroscopy software tools that were available, he wrote his own, which is now in use on five continents. Tom says, “My goal is to light a fire under the butts our amateur community, most of whom have no idea how easy and incredibly exciting spectroscopy can be.” Tom’s article on spectroscopy appeared in the August issue of Sky & Telescope Magazine. He is a compelling speaker, making his topic interesting
Please join us for a pre-meeting dinner discussion at Changsho, 1712 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA at 6:00pm before the meeting. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Other Monthly Meetings |
|
<<
2016
>>
|
| Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
| Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
|
Logon
