News
OHP 2024 spectro workshop
The OHP 2024 spectroscopy course will take place from Tuesday July 9th to sunday july 14th. This course is jointly organized by STAROS Projects and Shelyak Instruments, and the official language is French.Pre-registration for the course As every year, we give priority...
Alpy 200 : a “newcomer” to the Shelyak Instruments range
It's always a pleasure to announce a new instrument in our catalog, but this pleasure is increased by the fact that this instrument has been widely requested and even suggested by several observers. It was Robin Leadbeater - many years ago - who first alerted us to...
The whoppshel on a 1m telescope
By Olivier Garde The Calern plateau, near Nice, is a site of the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, which is home to, among other things, the C2PU (Centre Pédagogique Planète et Univers) with 2 twin 1m-diameter telescopes. Every year since 2017, with the 2SPOT team, I've...
An exoplanet collision
How did a team of amateur astronomers become co-authors of an internationally renowned scientific publication?An association of amateur astronomers 2SPOT[1] is a public-interest scientific association created in 2019 by five amateur astronomers (Stéphane...
My experience of the 2023 spectro course
At the end of this article, you will find the different presentations made by the course leaders!August 8th arrival at OHP Great day to plant setups at the Haute Provence Observatory. Amidst rosemary, myriads of little white snails and other small creatures, I arrived...
Remote Spectroscopy – the UVEX Motor Unit
When looking to upgrade from my LISA in 2020, the UVEX had much to recommend it. Its ability to access a broad spectral range was important as was the flexibility to both adjust the grating angle and to swap over gratings to shift between low and mid resolution....
Spectropolarimetry or how to observe the magnetic field of a star with a 72mm telescope and a 3D printed spectrograph
By Guillaume BertrandI started astronomy at the age of 15, in 2003, with the opposition of Mars. I quickly joined the astronomy club "Village du ciel" based in Vendée to exchange with other amateur astronomers. My first instrument was a 114/900, I got all the...
Sol’Ex & Star’EX: a new way to approach astronomy
The Sol'Ex project (later followed by Star'Ex) offers a new way of "entering Astronomy": it is an approach that is affordable, simple, fun and fascinating. Here is what it is in a nutshell.Sol'Ex, to startSol'Ex is a project designed, organized and led by Christian...
2SPOT: a spectro setup in Chile
2SPOT: a spectro setup in ChileBy Olivier Garde, Pascal Le Dû, Lionel Mulato, Thomas Petit, Stéphane Charbonnel© Deep Sky Chile spotSince the 2000s, many amateurs have been installing remotely controllable telescopes on sites in Chile in order to compensate for the...
Sn 1181, an unusual story …
At first glance, it is curiosity that motivates any amateur who observes the sky. Sometimes this curiosity is rewarded by acquiring a very beautiful picture or by explaining a physical phenomenon that takes place thousands of light years from Earth, through spectroscopic observation.
UVEX : Extreme spectra
UVEX is a multi purpose spectrograph allowing spectra to be performed in the near IR and near UV domains but also on weak targets.
RS Oph : the contribution of Shelyak spectrographs
On August 8, 2021, the recurrent nova RS Oph was observed in outburst at magnitude V = 5. The amateur community immediately mobilized to realize many spectra at various resolutions with various spectrographs (with resolving powers R = 600 to R = 30,000).
UVEX, to write a new page in astronomy
UVEX, to write a new page in astronomy by François CochardWe are happy to announce the arrival of a new instrument in the Shelyak range. This event is important for several reasons. It's a sign of the dynamism of the astronomical community, which always pushes the...
Spectroscopic Observations on Beta Persei (Algol)
During my program “Spectroscopic Detection of Interstellar Sodium” I also came across Algol. Because of unclear Na lines, I took new recordings later. I noticed the different position of the HeI line (5875.62 Å) and the greatly changed shape of the Na-D lines.
Creating an image via spectral scans
Take narrow band images from a single spectral scan with an Alpy 600.
UVEX by Shelyak : first light
The very first tests of the UVEX prototype produced by Shelyak Instrument.
The twin Quasar
taken a twin quasar spectrum with an Alpy 600
TimeBox : to accurately measure an occultation
Timing of astronomical occultations and other astronomical phenomena need to be done in an absolute time scale with a precision of a few milliseconds in order to pull and compare recordings done by different observers around the world.
How to choose your autoguiding camera in 2020 ?
In astronomical spectroscopy, guiding camera is an important element, since it’s what makes it possible to point the right target (star, nebula, etc.), then to ensure precise guiding to inject the maximum light into the spectrograph slit.
The Whoppshel in action on a 60 cm telescope
Using a Whoppshel spectrograph R = 30000 on a 600mm telescope at the Hubert Reeves observatory in Mars (Ardèche-south of France)