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Chapter 6: Problem 20

What is a spectrograph? Why do many astronomers regard it as the most important device that can be attached to a telescope?

Short Answer

Expert verified
A spectrograph is a device that separates and records light by its wavelength or frequency, effectively creating a 'fingerprint' of the source of that light. This enables astronomers to determine a multitude of properties about celestial bodies, such as their composition, temperature, and motion. This makes it a very valuable tool in astronomy, assisting in answering key questions about the universe.

Step by step solution

01

Definition of a Spectrograph

A spectrograph is a device that separates incoming light by its wavelength or frequency and records the resulting spectrum in some detector. It works on the principle of dispersion, where a prism or a grating disperses the light into different colors (like a rainbow) and these recorded spectra can reveal a lot about the astronomical object that emitted the light.
02

Importance of a Spectrograph

The reason astronomers regard spectrographs as crucial to their work is because these devices allow them to gather detailed information about celestial objects based on their emitted light. By studying the spectrum of light output from stars or galaxies, astronomers can determine many properties of these objects. This includes their chemical composition, temperature, density, mass, distance, luminosity, and relative motion. It's like having a fingerprint of a star. A spectrograph can quite literally tell an astronomer what a star is made of and how it moves. This information helps to answer major questions about the universe.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Explain why a Cassegrain reflector can be substantially shorter than a refractor of the same focal length.2. Explain why a flat piece of glass does not bring light to a focus while a curved piece of glass can.

What are the optical window and the radio window? Why isn't there an X-ray window or an ultraviolet window?

Explain why the light rays that enter a telescope from an astronomical object are essentially parallel.

Explain why combining the light from two or more optical telescopes can give dramatically improved angular resolution.

To search for ionized oxygen gas surrounding our Milky Way Galaxy, astronomers aimed the ultraviolet telescope of the FUSE spacecraft at a distant galaxy far beyond the Milky Way. They then looked for an ultraviolet spectral line of ionized oxygen in that galaxy's spectrum. Were they looking for an emission line or an absorption line? Explain.
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