2025/10/30 by Roy, Abhinav, Singh, Niti
#FOS: Physical sciences #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Physics Education (physics.ed-ph)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2510.26689
We present the design and testing of a compact, low-cost stellar spectrometer developed for undergraduate and outreach applications. The instrument employs a 600 lines/mm diffraction grating, a CMOS monochrome sensor, and a 3D-printed mount integrated with reflecting telescopes. Calibration was performed using helium emission sources in the laboratory and Vega as a spectrophotometric standard, supported by a custom Python-based image-processing pipeline for wavelength calibration and spectral stacking. The spectrometer successfully recorded usable spectra of bright stars including Vega, Sirius, Procyon, Capella, and Betelgeuse, covering spectral types A through M. The results demonstrate that meaningful stellar spectroscopy can be achieved with accessible, low-cost equipment, providing a practical framework for student-led astronomical instrumentation projects.