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11 votes
1 answer
559 views

How do astronomers calibrate the intensity scale of their spectrometers?

Discussion on Strange bump in solar spectrum taken with home-made spectrograph made me wonder: How do astronomers calibrate the intensity scale of their spectrometers? I mean, how to take in ...
Luis López's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
105 views

What observational data was there that comet Leonard C/2021 A1 might have been dimming and/or breaking up?

Space.com's Comet Leonard, the brightest of the year, is fading and acting strange seems to be full of inexact language, like "something's wrong" and "unhealthy" and "goner&...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 30.7k
3 votes
2 answers
85 views

Delta Velorum - non-observed variable star

I am a beginner variable star observer from the Southern Hemisphere (but with experience in astronomy) and, when I was looking for VS to observe, I saw that Del Vel has almost no observations. Thus, ...
Vitor Z.'s user avatar
  • 153
5 votes
1 answer
596 views

How bright is the Crab Pulsar's 30 Hz modulation in visible light? What color is it?

This answer to Has great eyesight been necessary for astronomers? mentions Astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell's recounting of a likely first visual observation of a pulsar. This can be found for example ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 30.7k
2 votes
1 answer
158 views

Are there home-brew photometers for amateur observing of variable stars and are they widely used?

Comments on Why do these photometric observations of Betelgeuse look “quantized” in 0.1 magnitude steps? suggest that these are visual estimates, mostly (but not all) to 0.1 magnitude resolution. Are ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 30.7k
1 vote
1 answer
176 views

What kinds of stars would it be possible to observe in M31 with a small amateur telescope?

I was wondering what kinds of stars would be visible in M31 and other nearby galaxies using a moderate (~8") telescope and a CCD camera. This would be a limiting magnitude of around 17. I have heard ...
AstronomyGeek's user avatar