DIY diffraction grating

[Gfamily]

Many people will be aware of the Star Analyser diffraction grating, which fits into the optical path and allows capture of the spectral profile of stars, as an introduction to spectroscopy.

However, the initial purchase price might put people off.

So here's an affordable way of DIY-ing your own

https://sites.google.com/view/star-analyser-alternative/home

It doesn't provide spectra across the full field, but it'll do some...

To be honest, I've not tried it out yet, waiting for some clear skies. 

 

[Astrobits]

I can assure you that it does work.🙃

I purchased some diffraction film (A4 sized) many years ago ( IRC 500 and 1000 lines per mm ) and put small circles into spare filter holders. The finer the spacing the longer the spectrum. I still have some of that film.

Nigel

 

[skybadger]

Edmund optics sell the holographic transmission grating as an a4 sheet. That's exactly how I started doing spectroscopy before the star analyser came along. Somewhere I also have a thin wedge prism which was to be used to redirect the output spectrum back onto the optical axis. Never quite got around to mounting it. It's purpose was to solve the issue of only part of the spectrum ever being in focus at a time.