The light from each star is directed through a prism to produce a spectrum. Each of the spectra has a set of absorption lines created by the presence of hydrogen in the stars' atmospheres.

We know the effect of passing white light through a prism and seeing the color spectrum that comes out of the other side. It will not be noticeable to the naked eye, but that rainbow does not ...

White light is made of a spectrum of different colours. Light can be split up into these separate colours using a prism. There are three primary colours of light, which can be combined to make ...

The standard design is simple; a prism or diffraction grating to break up a light source into a spectrum and a detector to measure light intensity. Shine the light through your sample, scan ...