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 files beneath are postscript (some are quite large) of the chapters of the dissertation.