Catalogue of visual spectroscopes
No. 2447,
bought from Ealing Beck in 1970
Notes: A high dispersion instument with a wavelength measurement error of only
a couple of Angstroms. Calibrated by fitting a 3rd order polynomial to
measurements of a mercury vapour lamp. This has been used, with a 3-inch
refracting telescope, to observe prominences on the Sun. The drawing, made with
Adobe Illustrator, shows the mounted spectroscope. The
calibration curve and the calibration data are
shown.
![[An outline drawing of the Wavelength Prism Spectroscope]](RDS_draw.gif)
Direct vision diffraction spectroscope
No. 2426, bought in Brunnings,
Holborn, London in about 1971
Notes: A compact device with quite a large angular field. Suffers from more
scattered light than the prism instruments.
![[A photograph of the diffraction spectroscope]](DS_phot.gif)
No. 2522,
bought from Ealing Beck in 1974
Notes: My favourite device since it produces a very bright spectrum with little
scattered light. The wavelength scale can be set quite precisely. There is a
comparison prism which can be inserted to cover half the slit. A template for sketching spectra with a prism
spectroscope is available.
![[An outline drawing of the Wavelength Prism Spectroscope]](WPS_draw.gif)
Cylindrical lens attachment
No. 2496, for concentrating light from a
point source on the slit.
OPL diffraction grating spectroscope
From Gemmological Instruments
Ltd., Saint Dunstan's House, 2 Carey Lane, London EC2V 8AB
Japanese eyepiece prism spectroscope
Slitless with focussing telescope
(bought in Sydney, Australia in 1975)
GOTO Kogaku Star Spectroscope
Slitless prism eyepiece instrument with
three differently powered cylindrical lens attachments.
RAS thread astronomical spectroscope
By John Browning, 146 Strand,
London: prism train with adjustable slit and focussing telescope (bought in
Campkins, Cambridge in July 1996 and restored). See a higher resolution photograph.
![[A picture of the Browning spectroscope on its box]](BS_phot.gif)
Rayner multi-slit prism spectroscope
Designed to fit in a microscope
eyepiece (from Gemmological Instruments Ltd., Saint Dunstan's House, 2 Carey
Lane, London EC2V 8AB)
Last update: 21 December 1996
rfosbury@eso.org
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