Spectra of Carbon Stars
12.5" Newtonian and Star Analyzer
Uploaded 9/28/13

Carbon stars are a class of stars off the Main Sequence which are very cool, deep red and their maximum luminosity is in the near IR. I first discovered for myself carbon stars years ago when I was a visual observer their super deep red colors, made even more obvious in larger apertures. For each of these examples, I have examined them just before imaging their spectrums visually and still find it enjoyable to see the rich red colors like a glowing ember in a campfire.

Carbon stars are red from the molecule Carbon Monoxide in their atmospheres, and we also find many other molecules because of their lower temperatures. The spectrums are crossed with molecular bands appearing not as single sharp lines, but as diffuse broad features marking the groups of very fine unresolved spectral lines of the compound. Identification is from a variety of sources, the near IR end contains both Terrestrial Oxygen and H20 bands well illuminated by the bright background glow of the stars spectrum here.

Click Thumbnails for full size Images:
  HD173291 in Lyra Class C5 II Calibrated Spectrum
HD173291 in Lyra Class C5 II Calibrated Spectrum Normalized
  T2636:1142:1 in Lyra Class C8 Calibrated Spectrum
  T2636:1142:1 in Lyra Class C8 Calibrated Spectrum Normalized
  SAO112406 in Orion Class N5 Calibrated Spectrum
  SAO112406 in Orion Class N5 Calibrated Spectrum Normalized
  SAO210020738 in Cassiopiea Class C5 Calibrated Spectrum for instrument response First set of data with Vspec
  
   
Instrument: 12.5" f/5 Home made Newtonian Grating: Star Analyzer 100 lpmm Mount: Astrophysics 1200 QMD CCD Camera: DMK51 Imaging Source Location: Payson, Arizona, Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing FWHM = 5 arcsec , Transparency 9/10 Outside Temperature: 55 F Image Processing Tools: RSpec for spectral extraction, Photoshop CS2 HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS