Using Modern And Inexpensive Tools In the Classroom To Teach Spectroscopy And To Do Exciting Citizen Science On Astronomical Objects

Abstract:

Spectroscopy is a key tool used in modern astronomical research. But, it's always been a difficult topic to teach or practice because the expense and complexity of the available tools.

Over the past few years, there's been somewhat of a revolution in this field as new technologies have applied. In this presentation we'll review some new spectroscopy tools that enable educators, students and citizen scientists to do exciting spectroscopic work.

With the addition of a simple, inexpensive grating, it's now possible to capture scientifically significant spectra of astronomical objects with small (6") telescopes and even just a DSLR. See the tools that citizen scientists are using to contribute data to pro-am collaborations around the world.

We'll also examine a simple, surprisingly inexpensive, tripod-mounted spectrometer that can be used in the classroom for demonstrations and hands-on labs with gas tubes and other light sources.

Both of the above instruments use a software program named RSpec, which is state of the art software suite that is easy to learn and easy to use.

In this presentation we'll see these devices in operation and discuss how they can be used by educators to dramatically improve their teaching of this topic. You'll see how these tools can eliminate the frustration of hand-held rainbow foil and plastic spectrometers. And we'll review some exciting examples of astronomical spectra being collected by amateurs and educators.