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Session 9 - Instruments, Techniques.
Display session, Monday, June 09
South Main Hall,
While developing a program for low resolution spectroscopy (120 Angstroms per mm) of Mira variable stars, we noted the loss of light at the spectrograph slit. The loss of light occurs because the stellar seeing disk is sometimes as large as the 3 arcsecond wide slit. In order to take spectra which can be flux calibrated, we began to investigate methods of sending light to the spectrograph by means of a 1 mm fiber optic cable. Putting a 3 arcsecond star image on a 1 mm fiber at the focus of a telescope with a scale of 30 arcseconds/mm, can be easily accomplished. However, sending the light to a slit at the opposite end of the fiber optic cable is challenging. We have begun to develop a unique lens/fiber/lens combination which has the potential to replace the spectrograph slit, and put all the starlight into the spectrograph. We will present the optical layout, and preliminary results. This work is supported by NSF grant AST-9500756. Bales, an undergraduate at East Tennessee State University, gratefully acknowledges support from the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates Supplement program.
