Organizing a professional–amateur collaboration with a Lhires III spectrograph

Abstract

Amateur spectroscopists are getting organized to contribute to professional astronomy work. We present here the work done within the AUDE association to design, manufacture and distribute the Lhires III high-resolution Littrow spectrograph, which fits usual amateur telescopes and CCD cameras. We also review how the communication is organized through the ARAS distribution list (Spectro-L), forums, and workshops to develop and promote spectroscopic work among amateurs. Last but not least, we introduce the Be stars spectra (BeSS) Virtual Observatory-compatible database and its use for the monitoring of Be stars in association with the COROT satellite.