Abstract
A traditional one-meter imaging telescope costs $250,000 and weighs several tons. A novel multi-element spectroscopic telescope is described which trades imaging ability and monolithic size for low cost and weight, producing the same light gathering power at under one-tenth the cost. A complete spectroscopic facility consisting of one-meter equivalent-aperture telescope, fiber optical feed, Newtonian-Ebert spectrograph, and automated processing software has been prototyped, constructed, and placed into operation. The total cost of materials is under $85,000.
A variety of science observations have been conducted with this facility including a tomographic reconstruction of the component spectra of the massive binary Plaskett's star components, a measurement of the line-profile variability of the Be stars Lambda Eridani and BK Camelopardalis, and a dynamical study of the orbit of the triple star system 55 Ursae Majoris. The instrument performs well and is now in regular use as a scheduled telescope at the Georgia State University Hard Labor Creek Observatory. Improvements continue, and the telescope continues to serve a valuable role in the GSU Astronomy program's scientific programs and pedagogical mission.
The dissertation is available in two forms: either as one 3 megabyte Adobe acrobat (PDF) file, or as individual chapters (up to 1 megabyte apiece) of compressed postscript. For browsing, the Adobe form is recommended.
Entire dissertation in PDF format
The files beneath are compressed postscript (some are quite large) of the chapters of the dissertation: