12/15/2023 0 Comments Star spectra definitionWe would also see an emission line spectrum if we were to look at the spectrum from one of the fluorescent light sources which are now replacing the incandescent lights in houses.Īn absorption line spectrum is in some ways the converse of an emission line spectrum. Rather than being a continuous spectrum, we would see a series of bright lines with a dark background. If, instead of looking at the spectrum of the Sun we were to look at the spectrum of an object like Messier 42 (the Orion nebula), we would notice a very different kind of spectrum. When the filament gets to thousands of degrees, it gives off light. These kinds of bulbs give off light by a very thin coil of metal, the filament, (usually tungsten) getting extremely hot from having an electric current passed through it. We also get a continuum spectrum from a hot solid, so for example the light produced by incandescent light bulbs is a continuum spectrum. So, light from the Sun, and any star, produces a continuous spectrum. (However, as I will discuss in a future blog, if he had been able to produce a more detailed spectrum he would have noticed some subtleties on this continuous spectrum). When Newton did his famous experiment with a prism and sunlight, he noted that the Sun produced a “rainbow” of colours. You can read about these three types of spectra in more detail in my new book – see The three types of spectra are called “a continuous spectrum” (or continuum emission), “an emission line spectrum” and “an absorption line spectrum”. In many ways it was the development of studying and understanding the spectra of astronomical objects that led to the development of astrophysics as opposed to the more traditional astronomy. They are produced in different ways, and can actually tell us about the physical properties of the materials producing the spectra. When we look at objects giving off light (or reflecting light) we find three types of spectra.
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