Building a CCD Spectrograph for Educational or Amateur Astronomy

We discuss the design of an inexpensive, high-throughput CCD spectrograph for a small telescope. By using optical fibers to carry the light from the telescope focus to a table-top spectrograph, one can minimize the weight carried by the telescope and simplify the spectrograph design. We recently employed this approach in the construction of IntroSpec, an instrument built for the 16-inch Knowles Telescope on the Harvard College campus.Comment: 17 pages including 7 figures, PASP, accepted (higher resolution figures at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~sheila/introspec.ps.gz

Repressive efficacy of lactic acid bacteria against the human pathogenic and fish-borne spoilage microbiota of fresh Indian mackerel fish chunks

Different strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) namely Lactobacillus acidophilus NCIM 2287, Lactobacillus plantarum NCIM 2085, Lactobacillus helveticus NCIM 2126 and Lactococcus lactis NCIM 2114 were procured from the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) Pune, India. These LAB cells were individually (107 cfu/ml) sprayed using a sterile syringe on the dressed fresh mackerel fish chunks and incubated at 37°C for two days. The growth pattern of each LAB and their antagonism against fish-borne spoilage bacteria namely, specific spoilage bacteria, halophilic bacteria, coliforms, lipolytic, proteolytic bacteria and total plate count were estimated for three days. Pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus was inhibited by Lb. acidophilus on the second day with 4.30 log difference as compared to control. The growth of specific spoilage bacteria was decreased by Lb. plantarum spray on the first day by 1.0 log difference. Lb. helveticus inhibited S. aureus on the third day by 3.5 log difference. Out of the four LABs tried, Lb. helveticus showed the best inhibitory effect against the fish-borne bacteria. All three LABs exhibited inhibition against the fish-borne spoilage bacteria, they may thus be potentially used as bio-preservative bacteria to preserve the whole fish meat or minced meat products etc. for a shorter duration.Key words: Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, antagonism, spoilage bacteria, mackerel fish

The Nearby Field Galaxy Survey: a spectrophotometric and photometric study of nearby galaxies

We report on our observing program to obtain integrated spectrophotometry, intermediate and high resolution major axis spectra, and U,B,R surface photo- metry of a representative sample of ~200 galaxies in the nearby field. The main goal of this program is to provide a comparison sample for high redshift studies and to study the variation in star formation rates (SFR), star forma- tion history (SFH), excitation, metallicity, and internal kinematics over a large range in galaxy luminosity and morphological type. In particular, we extend the work of Kennicutt (1992) to lower luminosity systems. We present the main results of our analysis sofar. In these proceedings, we condense the presented two atlases of (1) images and radial surface brightness profiles and color profiles, and (2) of images and integrated spectra into several example images, profiles and spectra, showing the general trends observed. For the original atlasses we refer to the electronic version, available at http://www.astro.rug.nl/~nfgs/ .Comment: 9 pages, LateX, 6 figures, to appear in the forthcoming issue of Astrophysics and Space Science: "The Evolution of Galaxies on Cosmological Timescales

Antibacterial effect of the Indian squid, Loligo duvauceli (d'Orbigny), ink

The ink of the Indian squid Loligo duvauceli (d'Orbigny) was tested for antibacterial activity. The antibacterial effect of bacteria present in the ink gland was also tested. Only one type of bacteria was found to be present in the ink gland of squid and was identified as Photobacterium leiognathi. Among the various forms of ink extracts, the precipitated and freeze-dried ink showed more pronounced antibacterial effect against Gram-negative bacteria, Salmonella, spp. Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae, V. parahaemolyticus and Pseudoinonas spp., and a less pronounced effect against Gram-positive bacteria, Staphylococcus spp. and Micrococcus spp., P. leiognathi did not inhibit any of the above bacteria. The antibacterial activity was associated with the compounds of the ink

A Broad Search for Counterrotating Gas and Stars: Evidence for Mergers and Accretion

We measure the frequency of bulk gas-stellar counterrotation in a sample of 67 galaxies drawn from the Nearby Field Galaxy Survey, a broadly representative survey of the local galaxy population down to M_B-15. We detect 4 counterrotators among 17 E/S0's with extended gas emission (24% +8 -6). In contrast, we find no clear examples of bulk counterrotation among 38 Sa-Sbc spirals, although one Sa does show peculiar gas kinematics. This result implies that, at 95% confidence, no more than 8% of Sa-Sbc spirals are bulk counterrotators. Among types Sc and later, we identify only one possible counterrotator, a Magellanic irregular. We use these results together with the physical properties of the counterrotators to constrain possible origins for this phenomenon.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, AJ, accepte