Astronomical Spectroscopy with the Santa Barbara Instrument Group Self-Guiding Spectrometer

Abstract

Spectroscopy had its beginnings in the latter half of the 19th century where it was primarily the domain of the amateur working from his private observatory. As we entered the 20th century with a greater emphasis on astrophysics, this area of research shifted toward the professional astronomer working from world-class observatories. This shift was primarily driven by the increasing costs and skills required to do state-of-theart spectroscopy and the requirement for large telescopes due to film-based detection of a spectrum. Once again we are experiencing a shift where the amateur can make contributions to the area of spectroscopy. This is due to both the use of more sensitive CCD detectors and the recent availability of powerful and versatile spectrometers aimed at the amateur community. I will focus on the instrument produced by the Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG), the Self-Guided Spectrometer (SGS).