Seminar
Spectroscopic Madness - The ProAm WR 140 campaign in 2009/10

Abstract

Golden Age of Astronomy” does not only influence professional but also amateur astronomy. Today, amateurs basically use the same technologies as the professionals. This includes the most important tool – spectroscopy. There is an important gap in professional astronomical spectroscopy which can be filled by amateurs and their smaller telescopes. Some stellar phenomena need longer time coverage, of order, e.g., some weeks. This is especially valid for binary stars. One such interesting target is Wolf-Rayet 140, a WR+O binary with a highly eccentric orbit and a period of about 8 years. The observation of its periastron passage in the visible wavelength range is valuable for measurements in other wavelength domains to understand the wind-wind shock interaction of both components and the global geometry and physics of the system. For this and some other massive star targets, a group of amateur and professional astronomers performed a successful campaign for 116 nights at the 50 cm Mons telescope at Teide observatory, supported by the IAC and embedded in a joint worldwide X-ray, visual and IR campaign. The group of observers was a mix of enthusiastic astronomers from various professions (e.g., physicists, a physics student, a chemist, a physician, a schoolboy, a pilot) but they all have been experienced and enthusiastic observers. The talk will highlight the most important results of this campaign