Monthly Virtual Meeting

RASC Winnipeg

The monthly gathering of the Winnipeg RASC will be held on Friday, April 9, 2021 @ 7:30 pm CDT (8:30 EDT). Due to COVID-19 the meeting will be held via Zoom. Meeting information will be forwarded to members via email.

Agenda:

Welcome and Announcements
Whats New
Whats Up

Main Speaker: Tom Field, Contributing editor at Sky & Telescope Magazine, Author of the RSPEC Spectroscopy Software

“Hi, I’m Tom Field, the author of the RSpec real-time spectroscopy software, and a contributing editor at Sky & Telescope Magazine.

This is not a sales demonstration! I will briefly cover the history and science of spectroscopy, and show exciting sample’s of spectra from small telescopes and DSLRs.  I discuss how to get started in the field, and end the meeting with a Q&A session.

Many amateur astronomers mistakenly think that spectroscopy requires expensive equipment, a mountaintop observatory, and advanced degrees in astrophysics. That was true many years ago, but today’s tools make it surprisingly easy (and affordable) to capture beautiful spectra, and then do some exciting science with those images. Spectroscopy is used in the majority of astronomical research today. In my Zoom presentation, your club members will gain a better understanding of spectroscopy, and they’ll gain the confidence to expand their activities into that field.

Your club members who are already capturing astronomical images will learn how they can use their current setup for spectroscopy simply by adding our inexpensive 1.25″  Star Analyser filter. Spectra can even be captured with a standalone DSLR.  And even the non-imagers in your club will enjoy my presentation because it will deepen their understanding of the scientific topics that fascinate us all.

To see examples of the exciting science that amateurs can do using just a small telescope, see http://www.rspec-astro.com/sample-projects.”