The Santa Barbara Instrument Group self-guided spectrograph is aimed primarily at the advanced amateur astronomer. This study has determined that this instrument is capable of being used for scientific research. A comparison lamp box was built to be used in conjunction with the spectrograph. A test was conducted to determine the accuracy of the grating positioning micrometer. A chart was created to allow the conversion of the micrometer readings to correlate with the position of the low-dispersion grating. To determine the scientific applicability of the spectrograph, it was used to: (1) measure the expansion rate of Nova Sagittarius 2004, (2) look for a 13.9-minute periodicity in the width and position of the H-alpha line of the binary star system X Persei, and (3) to measure the Doppler shift of X Persei. The instrument proved to be capable of being used to determine radial velocities and Doppler shifts. / Department of Physics and Astronomy
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/187709 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Welsh, Frederick V. |
| Contributors | Kaitchuck, Ronald H. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | vi, 72 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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