My lovely wife Anita has pointed out  on very many occasions, that men  and Hawksmoor in particular , do not cope with 'a cold' or as I like to refer to it 'a deep seated chest infection'. As a consequence I have time on my hands and a reluctance to do anything useful and/or domestic. Sitting disconsolate in my ‘poorly chair’, I decided to share my latest foray into the wonderful world of low resolution spectroscopy, which hopefully has benefitted from the kind inputs from more knowledgeable SGL members.

I have adapted my capture procedures to avoid anything likely to affect the 'light train' and cause calibration issues.  I have re-read the guidance that comes with BASS software and the BAA work flow information relating to it. This is an essential as it is easy to make 'junior boy' mistakes when processing. (Read the instructions Bonehead). In particular, Robin's advice to align stacks using the zero order is a winner for low resolution work. (The BAA workflow says  to choose 'no alignment' but I came to the opinion that this only applies to  mid to high  resolution work).

My previous problems regarding the zero order profiles not aligning, when I tried to process comparative spectra, was in retrospect what I like to call  ' a HIAI problem' . There is a button under the Image drop down menu that if activated allows you to align a number of profiles🤡 This is best done early in the process after all the spectral images have been stacked and titled and prior to calibration. Each image can then be saved and then the whole project can be saved as a BASS file or Bundle. This is then available for calibration and further processing.  For an arrogant old man with 'a brain as large as a planet'🤖 - the discovery of 'the alignment button' marked a very red faced and low moment in his life.😫

'Anywho', in a Joe Biden changing the subject mode, am I down hearted no, so "ever onwards and upwards" as my old MD was wont to say.

I have been pursuing two strands of interest. The first being capturing spectral profiles from stars in asterisms or close line of sight pairs and linking them with an astro-photograph. I have done a couple  of projects working in collaboration with Prof Greg Parker, which I have very much enjoyed. The second thread is designing a component which I could add into the telescope- spectrometer light train, which would enable me to switch between obtaining low-res stellar spectra and low-res spectra for extended objects.

I have attached a recent combination astro-image-spectral line project for Alltair and Tarazed. The astro-image is mine rather than Greg Parker's - his images are so very much better!

I used Alpha Lyrae Vega to calibrate the profiles of Altair and Tarazed.

With regard to the 'extended object component' I have been having difficulties adding a unit into the eyepiece end of the telescope, so wondered if I could use an array of very short fibre optic cables held in a drilled aluminium and plastic composite slide designed to pivot in front of the telescope's objective lens. The main advantage of this being, it would be much easier to move the slide  'in and out' of the light train without disturbing the light train itself. The design for the plastic housing for a try-out device for my small 66mm refractor is under development using OpenScad software. I have attached a screenshot and hope to 3d print it soon. I guess the concept behind the array is to use the fibre optic cables to convert the parallel light from extended objects to create pseudo point sources. I have a range of differing diameter fibre optic cables and have just acquired a fibre optic cleaver from my old friend Mr Amazon. I am going to try it on something bright like the Moon and planets before trying fainter nebulae, who knows it may work or not as the case may be.

George in Lowestoft next the Sea.