I thought I would give a more complete description of the expected spectroscopic addition to AAVSOnet. We have the option on an OMI 50cm f/9 Classical Cassegrain OTA on a Paramount MEII heavy-duty mount, originally owned by Carl Suwiki. This comes with an LhiresIII spectrograph and appropriate cameras. OMI is best known for good mirrors, but they also made a few telescopes. This one seems to have been constructed very well, solid mechanics and proper baffling. The total cost of the system is $20K. The nearest current equivalent is a Planewave CDK20 on an L-500 direct drive mount, which retails for about $80K. The CDK20 is a better telescope, but not 4x better!
As you know, spectroscopy is a “photon-starved” science, so the larger the telescope, the better. The 50cm is the largest telescope that can fit into Mike Paoletti’s Williams Valley Observatory, located north of Prescott, AZ. Mike is offering this space at no cost to the AAVSO, which is a Big Deal. Similar piers at a telescope farm cost ~$12K per year. Mike is a talented amateur and can easily maintain the system. Prescott is a typical southwestern-US site, with over 270 dark, clear nights per year and seeing around 2arcsec.
The AAVSO has provided a down payment for the system, and it will be moved to WVO in about a week. We would like Spectroscopy SIG members to consider showing their support by donating towards the cost of this new telescope. Walt Cooney, our current President, is offering to provide matching funds to any contribution. To make a contribution, go to the “donate now” button at the top of the AAVSO home page, and choose “AAVSOnet” in the “I want to support” dropdown list. Note that you do NOT have to make the optional “10% contribution” to Blackbaud (we can’t figure out how to turn this off; the AAVSO gets nothing of that fee). We would like to have all donations by the time the telescope has “first light” in early July.
This telescope will be made available to AAVSO members. As Scott has said, he envisions a “crawl/walk/run” approach. As such, we will probably use the LhiresIII initially in a “Service Observing” mode, where a few vetted observers (who have been trained to operate the system) take spectral requests from other members. In later phases, we will replace the spectrograph with a motorized UVEX and then automate the system, so that nightly observers will not be needed. Francois Cochard of Shelyak has kindly offered to help with the automated software.
This is a major upgrade to AAVSOnet capabilities, and I’m excited to see enthusiastic support from the SIG. Let’s work together, get funding in place, and create a system that will support personal and professional research for the future!
