Spectroscopy

Spectroscopy is the analysis of chemicals that are hot, they glow and each chemical glows differently. The various wavelengths of the glow make a colour that differs in some detail from other chemicals. Spectroscopy separates and measures the brightness of the different wavelengths. It can identify the chemicals in a mixture, and determine some other things, such as how hot the thing is. 

Chemicals telling us the state they are in, on the other side of the Galaxy, or Next Door! I like to know what stars are made of, and the compound that makes Venus Hot.

Steve Zodiac Fireball XL5

A prism  A lump of Glass that splits light into Colours of the rainbow              OR Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain      Red      Orange      Yellow      Green      Blue      Indigo      Violet
A Grating ->?         What does it do ?        A DVD gives you the idea of what a grating does Same as a prism it produces a rainbow but the physics is different.
In our case Light, from a  Star, Galaxy, Nebula, Planet, Asteroid, Comets and other stuff.     The picture on the right is the constellation of Orion                   The picture on the right is the spectrum of Orion
Light from the Prism is split into colours as shown by Isaac Newton 1690 to 1705
Then along came Gustav Kirchhoff 1850 to 1860 using Spectroscopy, Kirchhoff and Bunsen (Famous for his Burner)  used Spectroscopy to study the composition of the sun and in the course of their investigations they discovered the elements caesium and rubidium.

RAG has a Special Interest Group dedicated to Spectroscopy

We provide an additional meeting space for our members who have a strong interest in the chemistry (spectroscopy) of the night sky. Our meetings will aim to appeal both to people who have experience in Chemistry and provide a friendly and supportive route in for beginners, supporting them as they get started in this aspect of astronomy.

We plan a monthly focus on a particular aspect within Spectroscopy with our members demonstrating different approaches and exploring how different equipment and software can be used, and then we spend some time sharing images of the chemistry of the cosmos that we've been able to create. Then we have an unstructured section where we try to help each other with problems we might be having and also show our methods, software and equipment.

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, we continue to hold our meetings online but are looking forward to meeting in our Peter Bolas Observatory when life returns to normal.

If you're interested in any form of Astronomy and in particular spectroscopy of the night sky why not come along? We meet each month - usually on a Friday of the month and always enjoy welcoming 😍 new members.