David Hyde

[David Hyde]

Hello, or should I say bonjour!
I am a retired biologist (research area neurobiology of vision) and have been interested in astronomy since making my first telescope at 16. Now I have time for astronomy I searched for a topic that will further engage my interest. I have a small roll-off observatory with a Vixen 200l 8" telescope. For the last couple of years I have been busy learning about spectroscopes and have built several versions. Currently I hava a classical spectroscope (inspired by Lisa!) - it is ~2.5A/pixel scale. I also have a Littrow design with ~0.5A/pixel (both self built). I am planning a higher resolution version of 0.1A/pixel but finding this is much more of a challenge. So far I have been working through the Be catalogue, starting with the brighter stars to build up my technique and learn the programmes for data analysis. I am a bit limited by working in a city with restricted view. Eventually I hope to be able to contribute real data when I am satisfied of the quality of my results.
Regards
David Hyde

[Francois Teyssier]

Hello David and welcome to the forum
Could you brief us on the clone of Lisa?
Be stars are a very interesting and important topic in amateur spectroscopy. But there are also many other subjects for which we can achieve an exciting and worthwhile work.
Of course the sporadic phenomena such as supernovae or novae (when they occur), the identification of newly discovered dwarf novae...
But also long-term follow-ups, for example on miras, the symbiotic stars ...
Best regards