Spectroscopy Observing Section Webinar @AAVSOHQ

Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

This webinar is part of AAVSO's new Observing Sections' Webinar Series, and was live on August 22nd, 2020. In this webinar, Tom Field gives us all an Introduction to Spectroscopy, then AAVSO Director Stella Kafka presents on Science cases and AAVO's spectroscopy database, AVSpec. Amateur Spectroscopy Projects is discussed by Percy Jacobs, and Lauren Herrington talks about Astronomical Spectra with a Dob. Tim Stone presents, "LowSpec 3D printed spectrometer: Solar and other spectra." A Q & A session wraps up the webinar. If you are interested in learning more or joining AAVSO's Spectroscopy Observing Section, please visit aavso.org/spectroscopy-observing-section --if you are interested in more of what AAVSO has to offer you, please visit our homepage: aavso.org

$AAVSO How-to Hour: Spectography on a Budget [Closed captioning for this webinar is available by clicking the [ cc ] or [ . . . ] icons above. In our April 1, 2021 How-to Hour, guest instructor Lauren Herrington reveals how you can use the drift scanning method to record scientifically useful spectra of tens of thousands of stars using nothing but a camera, diffraction grating, and an untracked telescope. She also discusses how to optimize your resolution, so that you can use your slitless grating to record fine details, such as the blueshifted absorption lines originating in the torrential stellar wind of P Cygni. Lastly, she demonstrates how to process and calibrate your spectra, and how to submit your processed spectra to the AAVSOs database. No prior knowledge is necessary, but viewers will likely find it beneficial to know ahead of time what the terms spectrum, absorption, and emission mean as they relate to astronomy, and how to operate a simple telescope. Recommended pre-view reading: http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys301/lectures/spec_lines/spec_lines.html Explore AAVSO and find out how YOU can make a meaningful contribution to science at aavso.org (our Spectroscopy Observing Section is at https://www.aavso.org/spectroscopy-observing-section)$

SIGs in the Spotlight: Eclipsing Binaries, Instrumentation & Equipment, and Short Period Pulsators

AAVSO Spectroscopy Workshop, Day 3 (includes Lhires III and Lisa sessions)

AAVSO Webinar, with Dennis Conti, leader of AAVSOs Exoplanet Observing Section

Instrumentation & Equipment: Tools of the Trade Observing Section Webinar

Solutions for Barriers to Astronomical Observing