Broadcast of the October 2, 2020 General Meeting of the Memphis Astronomical Society.

PROGRAM- You Can Almost Touch the Stars
By Tom Field. Contributing Editor for Sky & Telescope Magazine and the creator/author of RSpec software (http://www.rspec-astro.com)
Until recently, spectroscopy was too expensive and too complicated for all but a handful of amateurs. Today, though, new tools make spectroscopy accessible to almost all of us. You no longer need a PhD, dark skies, long exposures, enormous aperture … or a big budget! With your current telescope and FITS camera (or a simple web cam or even a DSLR without a telescope) you can now easily study the stars yourself. Wouldn’t you like to detect the atmosphere on Neptune or the red shift of a quasar right from your own backyard?!

In this talk, with lots of interesting examples, Tom Field shows you what it’s all about and helps you understand how spectroscopy is used in research. Even if you are an armchair astronomer, understanding this field will enhance your understanding of the things you read and the expand your perspective of the night sky.

Tom Field has been a contributing editor for Sky & Telescope Magazine for the past 7 years. He is the author of the RSpec software (http://www.rspec-astro.com) which received the S&T "Hot Product" award in 2011. Tom is a popular speaker who has spoken to hundreds of clubs via the web and in-person at many conferences, including NEAF, the NEAF Imaging Conference, the Winter Star Party, the Advanced Imaging Conference, and others.

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