spectro-aras.com

Hello everybody

I am an Italian amateur astronomer, recently I also got a degree in astronomy at the university of Bologna. Always seeking to improve my knowledge, I am very interested in spectroscopy. At the moment I have built a Lowspec and made some tests with 300 and 600 lines grating, but I also bought a 1800 lines grating and want to test on high res as well.
I have a Celestron Edge HD 8" with a ASI533MM camera that I use for science camera and a ASI294MC PRO colour that I use to center and plate solve the target. I also use ASI120MM to guide, usually with an ASIAIR system.
I usually observe from a mountain next to my city, Trento, at 1650 meters on sea level, that gives me pretty good skys.

I hope to learn very much from you experts and contribute in some way in the future.

Valerio Oss
Trento, Italy

Welcome Valerio.

How do you use the two different cameras? Do you use a flip mirror to switch between them? That is what i use (modified Canon EOS550D for platesolving on the reflected port of the flip mirror, while the spectrograph is on the straight through port of the flip mirror. But it does have the disadvantage of additional backfocus distance requirement, and more leverage on the focuser. More backfocus demand may be not possible with your edge SCT as I believe they are quite specific. Focuser leverage is not a problem for me as I have a killer focuser - the clemente bellerophon, which is completely solid despite the large instrument load. I improved my L200 spectrograph guider optics last year by installing essentially reimaging optics (135mm f3.5 collimator and 85mm camera), so my star images over the whole guider field are quite good, and platesolving with the small guider field is usually working, although sometimes not on crowded milky way fields. The only thing really needing improvement is to stiffen the sideplate of my L200 where the guider optics attach.

Hi Hamish,
yes I use a Baader flip mirror to switch between the 2 cameras, exactly as your configuration. I was able to find the focus for both the cameras, but once the star is plate solved and in the field I can forget the ASI 294 and then concentrate on the ASI533 and the ASI120MM for the guiding. I just purchased the ASI533 so I am still experimentig with everything and nights are not so good in theese days but I will try to post some experiments on this forum
Thank you!

Valerio