PRISM trick: display Be stars in skymap window

PRISM has a very important feature for those interested in Be stars: the bright Be stars from Be Star Spectra database are available in just few clicks.

First use the "Object to observe" feature which allow to manage a lit of targets. You can of course create your own list easily.

Once you open this module in PRISM, you can actually download the BeSS star spectra top list directly from the web:

Make sure to click the option to display the "list number". This list number is a way to have different types of objects in your target list; for BeSS stars, this is used to give the priority for observtion. L1 mens it is urgent to observe, L2 is that it would be nice to observe, and L3 that it is not mandatory to observe.

Then refresh your sky chart in PRISM and you will see those targets displayed in a specific color wth the list number (ie: priority) attached to it; in this exemple most of them are L3 but 25 Cyg and 28 Cyg are urgent to observe:

PRISM trick: magnifying glass

There is a very nice feature in PRISM which magnifies part of your image. This magnifying glass is very seful to check on the guided star and how it "fits" within the fiber tip (fiber fed echelle spectrograph) or a slit of a slit-spectrograph.

The consign (lock position) can be adjusted at sub-pixel value even when autoguiding is ON - a great functionnality for astronomical spectroscopical acquisition!

OHP 2019 Spectro Star Party

15th spectro star party at OHP took place august 2-7, 2019. Here are some groupe pictures (images by Olivier Garde & Valérie Desnoux):

At the same time I have been starting and monitoring my semi-autoated observations at home... but in the 1.2m dome at OHP! :

Small meteor recorded on august 5th around 2h18 UT:

Visit at OBE - Jim Edlin

Just before going together to OHP spectroscopy workshop, Jim Edlin visited my home and backyard observatory. Got lucky on th first night with fully automated observations.