SPECTROSCOPY OF DEEP SPACE OBJECTS USING A HOME-BUILT DOBSONIAN TELESCOPE

Conley W. Ditsworth, Jr. Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801-3080 You-Hua Chu Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1002 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801

ABSTRACT
Ever-present, the heavens have been a source of wonderment and curiosity throughout the history of mankind. In a never-ending quest to understand the universe we inhabit, past and present generations have devised ingenious methods of analyzing the meager information received by Earth-bound observers. Spectroscopy, the splitting of light into its component wavelengths, is one of the most ingenious and useful of these methods ever devised. In this paper, I explore the feasibility of modifying a home-built telescope to perform basic spectroscopy on deep space objects using a digital camera. This involved building the telescoping, devising a method for splitting light for analysis, then finally using the equipment in the field to analyze the spectrum from selected astronomical sources. Ultimately, the goal of this exercise is to examine the feasibility of designing an undergraduate astronomy course around this concept. I. INTRODUCTION In the larger world of scientific research, building a home-made telescope and using it to perform crude spectroscopy provides no new theories or ground-breaking discoveries, nor do I expect it to. Instead, my purpose in performing this work is educational. Nothing excites the mind better than hands-on experience; by building this telescope and showing it may be used for some basic science, all within the given time constraints, I hope to prove the viability of designing an undergraduate astronomy laboratory course around this concept. Such a course promises to spark interest in students who might otherwise show no desire to pursue an education in astronomy. As any laboratory researcher knows, assembling an experiment from the ground up instills an understanding of the subject matter that cannot be achieved through traditional textbook education alone. A course in telescope assembly and use may inspire a whole new generation of astronomers who previously had little interest in the subject. II. GENERAL THEORY Several options exist for the amateur astronomer who wishes to build his own telescope. The optics come in two primary configurations: refracting lens systems and reflecting mirrors. Each of these also has many different methods of guiding light to the observer and ways of mounting the completed telescope. For this project, I went with the style that is by far the most popular among amateur astronomers: a Newtonian reflecting mirror system using a Dobsonian mount. -1-

The Newtonian design, shown in figure 1, uses a primary mirror to redirect the incoming light to a smaller, secondary diagonal mirror. The diagonal then deflects the light rays perpendicularly so that they focus on the eyepiece system where the observer can comfortably view the resulting image.

Figure 1: Design of a Newtonian reflecting telescope

In the paraxial theory of geometric optics, light arriving from a distant source will take the form of plane waves. As illustrated in figure 2, plane waves reflecting from a parabolic mirror will converge at the mirrors focal point. For a spherical surface, the focal length equals half the center of curvature as measured from the mirrors face. Conveniently, any light source under consideration in the night (or daytime, for that matter) sky is far enough away to be a source of plane waves, making the parabolic reflecting mirror an ideal telescopic instrument.

Figure 2: Ray tracing of a parabolic mirror

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There are several advantages to using a mirror configuration versus a lens system, the most important involving a mirrors superior optical properties. A mirror focuses light through reflection, whereas a lens uses refraction. According to Snells law, a lens changes the path of a light ray according to ni sin i = n r sin r , where n represents the index of refraction of the medium in which the light is traveling, and represents the angle the incoming or outgoing light makes with the normal to the lens surface. The i and r subscripts indicate the incident and refracted quantities, respectively; figure 3 gives a pictorial representation of refraction through a converging lens.

Figure 3: Refraction through a converging lens for parallel light (i.e., plane waves)

The principle difficulty in using lenses arises from the frequency dependence of the lens materials index of refraction. A quantum mechanical treatment of the dispersion of electromagnetic waves through a medium of N contributing electrons per unit volume gives the following dispersion relation: Nq e2 1 2 , n 2 ( ) = 1 + 2 0 me 0 where n is the index of refraction, qe is the charge of an electron, 0 is the permittivity of free space, me is the mass of an electron, 0 is the electrons resonant frequency, and is the frequency of the incident radiation (Hecht 70). This frequency dependence leads to the undesirable property of lenses known as chromatic aberration, in which the focal length of the lens changes for different colors of light, causing blue light to converge at a shorter focal length than other colors. This effect can be partially (but never completely) eliminated through the use of a complicated lens system dubbed an achromatic lens, but already the system grows more complicated (and expensive) than desired for an amateur telescope. Mirrors, on the other hand, do not suffer chromatic aberration since they work on the principle of reflection. The focal length depends only on the radius of curvature, so all light rays will converge at the same point regardless of wavelength. There are other so-called third-order aberrations, such as spherical aberration, coma, astigmatism and distortion, that arise from higher order terms in the binomial expansion used in the derivation of the paraxial approximation, but -3-

these properties are relatively unimportant in the choice of optics used for building a telescope since they are commonly shared by both lenses and mirrors. These aberrations can be minimized by altering the shape of the mirror or lens to restore the desired convergence. The next major advantage of reflecting telescopes is portability. Figure 4 details the necessary configuration of a lens system for a refracting telescope. In its simplest form, this telescope requires two lenses: the primary objective and the eyepiece. To work properly, the lenses must be spaced a distance equal to the sum of the two lens focal lengths (actually, its typically spaced slightly off this distance to reduce noise effects, i.e., imperfections and dirt on the objective being focused into the eyepiece and interfering with the desired image, but thats unimportant to this comparison). Contrasting this configuration to that in figure 1 for the reflecting telescope, the refractor obviously necessitates a much longer tube than the reflector since the reflector tube depends on only one focal length, that of the mirror. Even then, the Newtonian design deflects the light at a right angle prior to reaching the mirrors focal length, so the tube length doesnt even have to accommodate the entire focal length of the mirror. This difference allows reflecting telescopes to be built with relatively large primary mirrors while maintaining a size conducive to easy transportation.

Figure 4: Optics of a refracting telescope

Finally, reflecting telescopes cost much less to fabricate. This primarily stems from manufacturing differences between lenses and mirrors. Since the light passes through a lens, creating as perfect a lens as possible is critical to limit distortions in the image. Minor imperfections, such as bubbles and small changes in the refractive index, can drastically alter the convergence of the plane waves at the focal plane of the eyepiece. Mirrors, on the other hand, only require perfection on the reflecting surface. Since this surface is typically the top side of the mirror, the inside is relatively unimportant and any bubbles or other imperfections will have no effect on the optical properties. This makes manufacturing mirrors much less expensive than lenses, and the difference in price for the same aperture size can become several thousand dollars for larger diameters. As far as disadvantages to reflecting systems, only one comes to mind: intensity loss due to light blocked by the secondary mirror. The diagonal mirrors position above the primary causes some loss in the light intensity of the final image since it blocks some of the reflecting surface. However, this loss in brightness is pretty minor; for my telescope, I chose an 8 diameter mirror, and the secondary subtends a circular cross-sectional area of approximately 1.5 in diameter. This means the secondary blocks a fraction of the reflecting surface equal to: -4-

As Ds = Ap D p

2 = 1.5" = 0.0352 = 3.52% 8"

Therefore, only about 3.5% of the incoming photons are lost due to this geometry, making this a pretty insignificant disadvantage for the reflecting system. There are ways to counter even this small amount of loss; the mirror can be arranged so that it focuses light off the central axis, allowing the secondary mirror to be placed outside the line of sight of the primary, but this requires high precision in designing and assembling the telescope, and the minimal loss doesnt justify the additional work involved. Since the advantages to reflecting systems far outweigh those of refractor telescopes, my choice of optics clearly makes sense. The next step, then, is to gather the necessary materials and build the telescope. III. BUILDING THE TELESCOPE It would be senseless to try and design the telescope from scratch; that would be tantamount to reinventing the wheel as the old saying goes. Instead, amateur astronomers have been refining and perfecting the art of home-built telescopes for several decades, and many popular designs are freely available. I chose one of the most popular, an easy to build and operate style called a Dobsonian after its inventor, John Dobson, also co-founder of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers Association (see the references for links to the Sidewalk Astronomers and the plans for the Dobsonian telescope). Figure 5 is an illustration of the design of the Dobsonian taken directly from the instruction plans.

Figure 5: Basic design of the Dobsonian telescope; part letters indicate pieces on the plywood cut pattern

Assembly of the telescope requires three main steps: 1) building the tube assembly (typically referred to simply as the telescope), 2) constructing the body, or the rocker box, to hold and position the telescope, and 3) aligning (collimating) the mirrors and all optical components.

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Building the telescope tube is the most time-consuming and sensitive part of the entire project. Accurate measurements are necessary to ensure the incoming light is properly focused to converge at the focal plane of the eyepiece. Aside from the optical components, construction of the tube requires only the tube itself, a small piece of plywood for the tailgate and blocks holding the primary mirror, and collimation bolts for the tailgate. The tube turned out to be the most difficult component to find; I ended up having to order it online since nobody locally had any cardboard forms that were 10 in diameter. The material used is called Sonotube (note: Sonotube is a brand name) and is primarily used for concrete forms in the construction industry. Its a very sturdy thick cardboard tube that is well-suited for telescopes since it is lightweight and doesnt warp under changing temperature extremes. The tube is painted gloss black on the outside and flat black on the inside; black is the preferred color because it keeps the tube cooler, thereby minimizing thermal currents within the tube that can distort the light rays, warping the final image. The critical part in preparing the tube is finding the position for drilling the eyepiece hole. As previously discussed, the total distance from the face of the primary mirror to the diagonal and then from the diagonal to the eyepiece must equal the true focal length of the primary mirror to enable the observer to focus an image in the eyepiece (see figure 1). To accomplish this, the true focal length of the mirror must be determined. For my telescope, I purchased an 8 f/6 mirror, where the f/# property is the ratio of the focal length to the mirror diameter. Theoretically, therefore, the focal length of my mirror should be given by multiplying the f/# by the mirror diameter; in this case the focal length should be 48. However, manufacturing processes dont necessarily provide a perfectly-formed mirror, and the true focal length may be off as much as a couple inches. The way to determine the true focal length is to use the geometrical property that the focal length is one-half the radius of curvature. Examining the raytracing in figure 2, a light source placed at the center of curvature will return an image to the same location. Armed with this knowledge, I used a small flashlight and a piece of cardboard to act as a screen; placing the mirror against a wall, I positioned the cardboard so it was next to the flashlights filament and moved them together back and forth in front of the mirror until a perfect image of the filament formed on the cardboard. I then measured this distance to be 93.5; dividing this distance by two provided a true focal length for my mirror of 46 .

Figure 6: Finding the location to drill the eyepiece hole

Knowing the true focal makes the rest of the procedure fairly simple; I drilled the eyepiece hole at (what I thought) was the proper length and mounted the diagonal mirror so that it lined up

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with the eyepiece hole. Later, at the completion of most of the work, I found that I had mistakenly placed the eyepiece about 5 short of the true focal length and had to re-position it. The final step in the process is making the tailgate and mounting blocks needed to hold the primary mirror in place at the base of the tube. Figure 7 shows the basic plan for this; the tailgate is simply a piece of plywood with three holes drilled into it for the collimation bolts, which are used to make small adjustments to the positioning of the mirror so that the light converges properly to the eyepiece. To protect the back of the mirror, a piece of cardboard is cut and placed over the end of the collimation bolts and small pieces of masonite are then glued to the cardboard directly over the ends of the bolts.

Figure 7: Tailgate assembly (left) and end view of tube showing the mirror mounting blocks

For some unknown reason, the four mounting blocks shown in the right diagram in figure 7 turned out to be the most troublesome and time-consuming part of the entire project. These blocks are nothing more than four pieces of plywood cut to 1x 4, painted flat black and then positioned as shown in the diagram. I attached rubber furniture glides to these blocks; these glides serve to hold the mirror in place so that the mirror edge and front face is protected from damage (figure 8). The difficulty came in getting these four blocks to line up properly inside the tube. It took several attempts and re-cutting these pieces three times before I was finally able to get a perfectly aligned mount for the mirror. I checked the alignment by placing the mirror on the mounts; if it wobbled the alignment was off. I also verified leveling to ensure the mirror wasnt mounted crooked, which would make aligning (collimating) the primary and diagonal mirrors difficult.

Figure 8: Mirror mounting blocks

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With the telescope complete, the rocker box was next on the construction list. This part consisted mainly of carpentry work, cutting and assembling different pieces of plywood to make the configuration shown in figure 9. To control azimuthal motion (i.e., left-to-right) of the completed telescope, the box and ground board are constructed separately. The two pieces are connected using a lag bolt, but to ensure smooth operation, several pieces of Teflon were attached to the ground board. On top of these Teflon pieces I positioned one of my old phonograph records (it was nice to finally find a use for one of them!); this combination allows the rocker box to rotate smoothly on top of the ground board while not being so loose that the telescope moves too freely. Figure 10 illustrates the assembly of the rocker box and ground board.

Figure 9: Rocker box and ground board assembly

To hold the tube in place on the rocker box, I cut two cradle boards with triangular notches at about 60 degree angles and attached them as shown in the right sketch of figure 10. A simple square box, also shown in the right diagram of figure 10, attaches to the telescope tube so that the center of mass of the assembly is centered over two 6 diameter circular pieces of plywood. I positioned the cradle boards at a height that allows the telescope to easily rotate into a vertical position with a couple inches clearance from the bottom of the rocker box. For elevational motion (i.e., up and down), I nailed two pieces of Teflon onto each of the notches in the cradle boards at the points of contact of the plywood disks. The Teflon allows the telescope to rotate easily, yet maintains sufficient friction to keep it from rotating freely. Getting the telescope positioned in the tube box so that the center of mass is properly placed over the pivot helps ensure the telescope doesnt move after its been aimed at an object in the sky. I made one modification to this procedure to improve the final product: instead of only using two plywood disks on the tube box, I placed one on every side for a total of four. This modification allows me to rotate the telescope by 90 degrees in the rocker box if desired for more comfortable viewing of objects located in awkward positions in the sky. Other than that, the final design matches the instructions and diagrams as given in the Sidewalk Astronomers website.

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Figure 10: Assembly of rocker box to ground board (left) and rocker box with cradle boards showing positioning of the tube box that holds the telescope in place (right)

To complete the telescope, the optics must be properly aligned to get an image to form in the focal plane of the eyepiece. Rather than building everything from scratch, which the instructions make possible, I purchased the optical components in a kit from e-Scopes (formally known as Coulter Optical; website http://www.e-scopes.cc/). The kit consisted of the primary and secondary mirrors, a 50mm Plossl eyepiece, a 1 mounting tube for the eyepiece, the spider assembly for mounting the diagonal mirror, a finder scope for quick location of objects, and a section of tube guard to fit over the end of the tube. The mounting block on the spider assembly that holds the secondary mirror came equipped with five plastic screws that move the diagonal in all directions for proper alignment. The first step in collimating the mirrors involves adjusting the screws (with the primary mirror and tailgate removed) so that, from the eyepiece hole, the entire bottom of the tube appears perfectly centered in the diagonal.

Figure 11: Aligning the primary mirror

Once the secondary is properly lined up, a small decal (I used a paper hole reinforcement sticker) gets placed exactly in the center of the mirror. This sticker can remain in place permanently; it will not affect the optical qualities of the mirror since it is positioned below the -9-

shadow of the secondary mirror and will not focus into the eyepiece. The mirror and tailgate are then replaced at the bottom of the tube. To get as perfect an alignment as possible, I used the eyepiece tube as a bulls-eye; imagine the end of the tube closest to the observer and the opposite end inside the main tube as two concentric circles. With the eyepiece removed, the eyepiece tube, spider assembly and primary mirror will appear as in figure 11. By making small adjustments to the collimation bolts on the tailgate, the mirror is slowly repositioned until the decal becomes exactly centered in the bulls-eye formed by the eyepiece tube. When the decal is centered, the telescope is ready for use! The final step in the assembly process is entirely aesthetic. With everything now operational, the telescope can be sanded and painted or stained to taste. Prior to sanding, I used wood putty to completely fill in any gaps and defects in the plywood (and my rusty craftsmanship). At the time of this writing, the finishing work is partially complete; I still have to complete sanding of the rocker box and staining the entire thing, but all the puttying and most of the painting is done. Since I had originally placed the eyepiece in the wrong position, I also need to patch the original hole, which I can easily accomplish by using the section I cut out from the new location and patching it into the old hole using automotive bondo. Afterwards I plan to repaint the entire tube with a final coat of gloss black. Then, the telescope will be completely finished. IV. MODIFYING FOR SPECTROSCOPY The first goal of this project involved construction of the telescope; the next goal is to modify it so that it can be used for spectroscopy of deep-space objects. The concept is relatively simple; a method of separating the incoming light into its spectral components at the eyepiece hole needs to be developed. The separated spectrum then gets captured on a charged coupled device (CCD) assembly in a common digital camera; the resulting digital images can then be analyzed as desired. At this point I need to explain that this section of the project, and the remaining sections, still need to be completed. Telescope construction filled the entire time allotted for the project, delayed somewhat by poor weather conditions that kept me from testing and perfecting the telescope optics with enough time left for the actual spectroscopy part of the experiment. All is not lost, however, since the project time only consisted of half the semester and the primary goal is to see if this work can be feasible for a full semester course. I plan to continue working on this project throughout the winter break to fulfill the original goals. Three primary means exist to split light for spectral analysis: prisms, diffraction and reflection gratings. A prism uses refraction according to Snells law to separate light; this works because of the frequency dependence of the index of refraction (figure 12). A reflection grating separates light using a system of angled reflecting surfaces (figure 13), and a diffraction grating works on the principle of Fraunhofer diffraction through multiple slits to form the component spectrum. For simplicity, I decided upon diffraction film as the method of choice for my attempts at separating light. Figure 14 gives a good representation of ways to separate light for capturing spectral images in a camera; the image using a prism shows why I decided against that method. Constructing a mount to hold the prism and camera configuration near the telescopes eyepiece seemed to be a daunting task, especially since the prism would need to be accurately adjusted to aim the spectrum directly into the cameras aperture. The reflection grating, although a popular method of performing both amateur and professional spectroscopy, also seemed more

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complicated than I cared to attempt since it involves reflection and would require another system of mirrors to direct the light into the camera.

Figure 12: Wavelength-dependent dispersion of light through a prism

Figure 13: Wavelength-dependent dispersion of light by a reflection grating

Figure 14: Photographing spectra using diffraction gratings and prisms

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There are two main considerations to make in choosing the size of diffraction grating film to use: resolution and dispersion. Both of these concepts are intimately related; a higher resolution spreads the spectrum out wider so that lines closer together may be resolved, but in the process lines that are farther away will move completely out of the field of view due to dispersion. The dispersion of a grating is given by: d m = , d d cos where m is the order of the spectral line, d is the spacing between the lines in the grating, and is the angle the line makes with the central axis. This formula is derived by differentiating the grating equation: d sin = m . The resolution of a grating is given by:

R=

where is the difference in wavelength from the central wavelength and N is the number of illuminated slits in the grating; note that N = width of illuminated region/slit spacing d, so the resolution formula may easily be written as a function of the slit spacing. Obviously, the choice of diffraction grating to be used depends on the intentions of the observer. For high resolution spectra, for instance to separate closely-spaced lines associated with hyperfine energy levels in elements, gratings with a large number of slits would be necessary. But if instead the observer wished to sample the entire first order spectrum of an object the resolution, and therefore the dispersion, must be reduced, necessitating a grating with a smaller number of slits. My goal is to sample a wide variety of spectra, so I will attempt to construct numerous diffraction filters at several different values of the slit spacing. To make a feasible mechanical system for using the diffraction filters I plan to modify several normal camera filters by mounting pieces of diffraction grating film into them; these filters should then mount simply to the camera or telescope eyepiece. For placing this set-up on the telescope, I found a universal camera mount at Orion Telescopes and Binoculars (available online at http://www.oriontel.com); figure 15 shows a picture of the mount from Orions website. This very simple device attaches directly to the eyepiece with a clamp and to the tripod adaptor on the camera. It is designed so that it is simple to adjust and the camera easily slides back and forth so the image should be fairly simple to focus into the camera.

= Nm ,

Figure 15: Universal camera mount

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Probably the most important choice to make in this whole modification is the camera itself. I did careful research and found that there are several critical features to look for. The main features necessary are manual shutter and aperture settings, the ability to turn off the flash, a remote control (which I still have to purchase), a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen and optical zoom settings. I found that amateur astrophotographers have a special fondness for the Nikon Coolpix line of cameras, especially some of the older models; after some searching I was able to find a factory refurbished Nikon Coolpix 995. In addition to the other features listed, it also has a wonderful noise reduction mode for long exposures. In this setting, the camera adjusts for the dark current interference inherent in CCD systems by taking two photos, first the normal exposure and then an additional exposure with the shutter closed. The camera subtracts the dark current image from the first picture to reduce the noise. I was thrilled to find such a popular camera; unfortunately, however, it appears to have been incompletely refurbished and refuses to accept any memory cards I place into it, so I am in the process of returning my new purchase for warranty work and hope to have it back for use before too long.

Figure 16: Nikon Coolpix 995 digital camera

After I am able to construct the diffraction grating filters and my camera returns in peak operating condition the telescope should be ready to provide spectral images of deep space objects.
V. ANALYZING THE SPECTRA

The question naturally arises as to the use of these digital spectral images once they are obtained. Spectral lines form in several different ways and therefore provide a wealth of information about their source. From these images, I hope to be able to perform a chemical analysis on the objects in question, and, if the system works exceptionally well, I would like to use Doppler effects to derive mechanical information about the sources radial velocity and possibly its rotational velocity. The light a telescope receives can be formed in a few primary manners as shown in figure 17. A hot body, such as a star, emits light in a continuous spectrum that depends on the sources temperature according to the Planck blackbody function: 2h 3 2 B (T ) = h c , e kT 1

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where B is the intensity at a frequency , h is Plancks constant, c is the speed of light, k is Boltzmanns constant and T is the temperature of the blackbody. Accordingly, any hot source will have a peak intensity at a certain frequency, or wavelength, that depends on its surface temperature. A simple way of determining that peak wavelength is through Wiens displacement law: 0.290 cm K max = T Wiens law provides the first simple use of the obtained spectra: by determining the most intense wavelength in a continuous spectrum, the surface temperature of the object can be derived.

Figure 17: Astronomical sources of spectra

Usually, the light we receive passes through some intermediate material, which may be dust, planetary nebulae, or interstellar gas clouds. As figure 17 shows, the light interacts with atoms and molecules in the interstellar medium, producing either absorption or emission spectra. When the observers line of site is along the path connecting the hot source and absorbing molecule, we receive an absorption spectrum. Absorption occurs when the energy carried by a photon coincides with the energy spacing between energy levels of an electron; the electron will preferentially absorb these photons and excite to a higher energy level, destroying the photons in the process. The absorption spectrum therefore resembles a continuous spectrum, only with certain wavelengths missing. The electron will not, however, remain in the excited state long, but will decay back to its ground state and in the process release another photon with the same wavelength as the one absorbed. In this case we receive an emission spectrum where instead of a continuous spectrum the result is series of lines at specific wavelengths. Since the emission and absorption lines correspond to energy spacings in atoms and molecules, a mathematical description is much more involved and requires a quantum

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mechanical treatment; in some cases even hyperfine energy levels must be considered. For hydrogen, the simplest possible case, the Rydberg formula gives the emission lines as: 1 , = R 2 n n2 i f 1 where R is the Rydberg constant and the values of n represents the initial and final energy states of the electron emitting the photon. Of course, since this only represents hydrogen, and also ignores any energy differences in angular momentum and spin states, its of little practical use for this experiment. Instead, astronomers rely more upon laboratory work providing a catalog of characteristic spectra associated with certain elements with which to compare observed spectra. Figure 18 provides a sampling of a few spectra associated with some common astrophysical elements.

Figure 18: Sampling of emission spectra from several elements

A chemical analysis of all three of these types of spectra was the primary goal I hoped to accomplish with this project, and if all works well this may still be possible.

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In addition, if the chemical analysis works well and Im able to achieve sufficiently high quality spectra, I hope to next attempt to derive the radial velocity of some deep space objects using the Doppler effect. According to the Doppler effect, relative motion between two bodies causes a shift in wavelength in the light received.

Figure 19: The Doppler effect

An object moving towards us causes a shortening in the wavelength of light it emits, called a blueshift, while an object moving away lengthens the wavelength, known as a redshift. The nonrelativistic form of the Doppler effect is given by: = v , c

where = observed emitted , v is the radial velocity of the source and c is the speed of light. The shift is pretty easily detected since the spectrum received will still appear like those seen in figure 18 for a certain element, only the lines will appear uniformly displaced to the left or right of where they would be if emitted by an element or molecule at rest with respect to Earth. The nonrelativistic form suffices for the purposes of this experiment since a light source will only move at relativistic speeds with respect to Earth if it is at cosmologically significant distances,

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and the level of detection required for that kind of object is far beyond the expected capabilities of my simple telescope. There are a couple caveats to this Doppler analysis. The first is that the Doppler effect only reveals radial motion; the object will almost certainly not be moving directly towards or away from us, but will have both radial and transverse velocity components. The Doppler effect will detect the radial velocity, but other methods must be employed to detect the transverse motion (such as parallax if the object is close enough). The other item to note is that relative motion is not the only way to cause a Doppler shift in a photon. Gravity and the expansion of the Universe are also key sources of Doppler shifts. Photons being emitted from deep within a gravitational well, such as a large star, a compact object, or maybe near the center of a galaxy, will experience a redshift as they climb out of the potential well. The expansion of the Universe causes an additional velocity effect in very distant objects according to the Hubble Law: v = H 0 d , where H0 is the Hubble constant (currently known with somewhat questionable accuracy) and d is the distance to the object. Since this Hubble velocity component is due to the expansion of the Universe, where the object is being carried along with the flow of spacetime rather than the real motion of the object, it is not considered part of the true radial velocity. For the purposes of this project, I expect the Hubble flow contribution to be insignificant since my telescope is unlikely to detect objects at cosmologically significant distances, but it is possible that gravitational redshifts may cause some interference. For anything I could detect with a home-built telescope, however, the majority of any Doppler shift is likely due to the objects radial motion relative to Earth. One final possible use for these spectra, assuming all else went better than could ever be hoped for, is to try and determine the rotational velocity of some selected objects. Of course, due to the limitations of a home-built telescope, these would have to be objects large enough for the telescope to be able to image the extreme left and right edges separately (possibly with the addition of a slit to differentiate portions of the object); potential sources would be the Sun, the Moon, and maybe the Andromeda galaxy or some other extended deep space object. The idea is that one side of the object will be moving towards us, and therefore is blueshifted, and the other away from us and redshifted. By analyzing the separation between the shifts from either extreme, the relative radial motion can be eliminated, leaving the objects rotational rate. Obviously, this is a much more complicated procedure than either of the two previous analyses, so Im not too optimistic that it will be successful. So, with the telescope completed, prepared for spectral research, and the appropriate physical theory in my arsenal, the next step is to actually identify some potential deep space targets and start collecting data!
VI. SELECTING SOURCES

Choosing suitable targets for this project is as important as any of the previous steps. Since I am dealing with a home-built telescope there are many complications to consider. First and foremost is the long exposure time that would be required to get a good spectrum. Imaging objects in the dark requires lengthy exposure times, as long as several minutes depending on the brightness of the source. Unfortunately, the Earth doesnt cooperate with our desires but instead continues its steady rotation in its eternal repetition of the cycle of day and night. While deep space objects are so vastly far away that their own motion is virtually undetectable under normal conditions, the Earths rotation causes all objects in the sky to appear to rotate in a direction

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opposite the Earths. Professional observatories have mechanical guidance systems that compensate for the Earths movement, and commercial telescopes can be purchased with similar options, but for a home-built Dobsonian telescope the required components, while available, are extremely expensive; with a students budget, it may as well be considered impossible. However, there are other ways to compensate for the Earths stubborn defiance of our objectives. The apparent motion of an object in the night (or day) sky depends strongly upon its declination, which is the angle it makes on the celestial sphere with respect to the celestial equator (which is simply the Earths equator extended into space). Referencing the geometry shown in figure 20, any object in space is considered a point on the celestial sphere; for simplicity, this sphere is assumed at an arbitrary unit distance. The objects velocity is given by: v = R = cos = 2 2 cos = cos = 7.27 x10 5 cos rad / s T 24 hr 3600 s / hr

Figure 20: Apparent motion of a deep space object

Therefore, an object located at the celestial equator will move in the sky with an apparent angular velocity of 7.27 x 10-5 radians/second, but the velocity slows as the declination approaches the North Celestial Pole (NCP) at a latitude of 90 degrees, at which point the velocity is zero (of course, this also occurs at the South Celestial Pole, but since I dont plan on heading towards Australia anytime soon this point is irrelevant). The obvious solution to the exposure time dilemma is to choose objects located as close to the NCP as possible. Another way around this difficulty is to limit the required exposure time by choosing brighter objects. The visual magnitude of astronomical objects is given by the formula L m = 2.5 log F = 2.5 log 2 4R ,

where F is the photon flux received at Earth, L is the luminosity, or power output, of the source, and R is the distance from the source to Earth; note that brighter objects will have a smaller

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visual magnitude. This formula implies that an object has to either have an incredible power output or be really close in order to have a bright enough magnitude to positively affect the required exposure time. To give the formula some perspective, under perfectly dark skies for a person with perfect vision, the limit of human resolution is a magnitude of about six. For a telescope, the limiting magnitude (in general, not counting atmospheric effects) is given by ml = 7.5 + 5 log (aperture in cm ) = 14.0 for an 8 diameter mirror. This limit is for visual observation; for photographic purposes the limit would typically be a couple magnitudes higher. Theoretically, considering the above arguments, the optimal situation is to choose bright objects close to the NCP. Realistically, deep space objects outside of our solar system will not be especially bright, and objects within our solar system are not going to be close to the NCP. My goal is to sample as wide a variety of objects as possible; therefore, my objective is to find deep space objects near the NCP with a visual magnitude no greater than approximately 8. For local objects, I plan to take a solar spectrum, lunar spectrum and those of a couple planets, probably Venus and Jupiter since they are the brightest. My expectations are that all local solar system objects will result in something close to a continuous solar spectrum since the planets and their moons primarily shine from reflected light. In addition to the solar spectrum, there may be some identifiable absorption lines due to the chemical compositions of these objects at their surfaces or within their atmospheres. The selection of extra-solar objects is more subjective. Since I havent yet performed this part of the project, Im not sure of the limitations of my equipment. However, for the purposes of this paper I have selected a couple deep space objects as potential targets for my future observations, a galaxy and a nebula. The first object is the spiral galaxy M81 (the M stands for Messier, a standard catalog for astronomical objects), known as Bodes galaxy. Located at a declination of 69 04 with a visual magnitude of 6.9 and apparent dimensions of 21x10 arcminutes, Bodes galaxy should be well within the capabilities of my telescope. For my nebula, I chose NGC 6543, more popularly known as the Cats Eye Nebula. At a declination of 66 38 and visual magnitude of 8.1, the Cats Eye will likely prove a more difficult target, but its properties are easy to verify since its a favorite observational subject.
VII. RESULTS

Obviously, the project as a whole is incomplete and therefore the results are inconclusive. The first part of the project, building the telescope, was successful. I managed to build and test a Dobsonian reflecting telescope within half a semester, the time constraints of the project, but didnt have enough time, or cooperation from the weather, to actually use the telescope for its intended purpose before the project was due. However, during my research I have learned that it is possible to perform spectroscopy at an amateur level. Although I didnt find anyone who had practiced it quite the way Im proposing, I have found several who use home-made spectrometers in conjunction with digital cameras to take very good spectral images. Figure 21 shows a solar spectrum taken with a digital camera I found on an amateur website; the hydrogen and helium absorption lines from elements in the solar atmosphere are clearly visible.

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Figure 21: Sample solar spectrum captured with a digital camera (Gavin)

Although incomplete, theres still time for success in the primary goal of this experiment. Since the work to date has taken only half a semester, the idea of turning this project into an astronomy laboratory course is definitely feasible. More work will show whether spectroscopy is also a reasonable goal, but even if it doesnt work out, theres plenty of other uses for a home built telescope. Spectroscopy was more of a personal curiosity; for an undergraduate course, the goal could be at a simpler level, like honing observational skills, classifying stars or maybe astrophotography. Therefore, overall, I believe this project was a success!
VIII. REFERENCES

1. Carroll, B., Ostlie, D. 1996, An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. 2. Cash, R., Complete Plans for Building a Dobsonian Telescope, Available http://members.aol.com/sfsidewalk/cdobplans.htm 3. Fowles, G. 1989, Introduction to Modern Optics, 2nd Ed., Dover Publications, Inc. 4. Gavin, M. 2000, Spectroscopy A Practical Beginners Guide, Available http://www.astroman.fsnet.co.uk/begin.htm 5. Griffiths, D. 1995, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Prentice Hall. 6. How Stuff Works, Available http://science.howstuffworks.com/ 7. John Dobson: The Official Site, Available http://www.johndobson.org/ 8. The Many Colors of Sunlight, Available http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Sun4spec.htm 9. The Physics Classroom: Refraction and the Ray Model of Light, Available http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/Class/refrn/u14l1a.html 10. Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, Available http://www.seds.org/

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