Examples of observations using the ALPY 200 at Three Hills Observatory

All the spectra are also available for download from the BAA spectroscopy database. There are currently (2023-12-10) 157 spectra of 117 different objects using the ALPY200 at THO in the database.

https://britastro.org/specdb/data.php

Observation details

ALPY 200 23um slit, ATIK 428 science camera, ATIK 16IC-S guide camera, Celestron C11 classic +focal reducer (f5.5 1540mm fl) EQ6 mount, EQMOD, CdC, PHD2

Typical seeing 3 arcsec

Wavelength calibration using quadratic fit to 4 Balmer lines

Original poster paper describing the ALPY 200

presented at meetings in York, UK and Cologne, Germany in 2014

http://www.threehillsobservatory.co.uk/astro/ALPY200_VdS_BAAVSS_poster_2014.pdf

Supernovae

My talks describing the use of the ALPY 200 for supernova classification

BAA meeting 2018

https://britastro.org/videos/using-low-resolution-spectroscopy-to-confirm-supernova-discoveries-2

BAA/AAVSO meeting 2018 “pushing the limits using commercial spectrographs”

https://britastro.org/videos/pushing-the-limits-using-commercial-spectrographs-2

Note the best professional reference justifying the use of R~100 spectra for transient classification is the SED Machine used by ZTF, though the ALPY 200 at THO was used for this first !

https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.02917

A list of transients officially classified in TNS using my ALPY (47 to date, most with the ALPY 200.)

https://www.wis-tns.org/search?&classifier=leadbeater

SN 2016bme (The first supernova to be officially classified spectroscopically by an amateur)

https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2016bme

A “Hostless” supernova SN 2023vxt measured at mag 18 and 0.045 redshift

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20231119_171541_a5ef1da74745623d

SN 2018eaw measured in the nebular phase at mag 18 a year after explosion

https://britastro.org/specdb/view_image.php?obs_id=2290

sn2017eaw_20180523_annot_3

SN 2021huw showing technique for removing contamination from the host galaxy

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20210414_195422_fcf8c246791a7e8b

SN 2021zny a Super Chandrasekhar 1a supernova

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20211019_164620_d851eea702f81ef8

Two mag 16 supernova in Draco/Bootes

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20220730_225949_478d4a98a3137012

SN 2023vyl and galaxy

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20231118_145451_d698c35096a96a2a

Co-authored paper including a spectrum of calcium gap transient supernova SN 2018gwo taken using the ALPY200

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020ApJ...905...58D/abstract

Other references to supernova spectra taken at THO using the ALPY200

https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.11526

https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.10056

https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.10061

https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.07864

https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=11080

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023arXiv230812991K/abstract

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022arXiv221100013S/abstract

QSO

Three QSO at >4.3 redshift including PS1_J134743+495621 which at z =4.564 and g mag 20.2/ r mag 18.4 is perhaps the faintest and most distant object recorded spectroscopically using amateur equipment

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20210411_134753_85f4b3ebf4faaefe

Comets

Five faint comets in one night

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20220313_000333_3d9c87ea7e24b988

also described in detail in an article in “The Comet’s Tale”

https://britastro.org/pdf/CometSection/tail41.pdf

C/2021 A1

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20211128_183451_b1e498b4920861fe

C/2023 H2 (Lemmon)

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20231113_003404_0f0036716e8f66b6

Galaxies

Simple Hubble constant estimate