Exploration star spectra (or stellar spectra) are produced by spectrographs, sophisticated instruments that use a CCD detector to record the spectrum of light coming from objects.
Stellar spectra provide astronomers with insights into the chemical elements present in a star, as well as an approximation of its temperature and density.
Detection
Exploration star spectra are one of the main techniques for finding extrasolar planets. This process involves watching as light from a nearby star wobbles over time due to an orbiting planet or stars nearby causing its spectrum lines to move erratically over time, an indicator that planets exist nearby.
The Wobbling Effect
Light waves travel in waves similar to sound waves; each light ray oscillates in one direction. When stars move away from Earth, their spectral lines become bluer while when approaching us their lines tend more toward redness of the spectrum.
Doppler effect is an integral component of astronomers’ attempts to detect planets orbiting other stars, as astronomers look for stars whose spectral lines shift back and forth over time, an indication that there could be planets in orbit around that star.
Astronomers use spectroscopes attached to telescopes to detect star motion by studying its unique set of spectral lines that correspond with its specific light source, much like fingerprints.
For example, the Sun emits various spectral lines for various elements. Hydrogen and helium account for over three quarters of its mass; other elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon iron nitrogen silicon magnesium sulfur all make up approximately 4 to 5%.
Utilizing a spectroscope to detect these spectral lines is known as “spectroscopy,” or spectral analysis, and allows astronomers to accurately ascertain a star’s mass, composition, rotational speed and orbit.
Astronomers use space telescopes to observe stars and determine their temperatures of production of elements as well as type of gases found in their atmosphere, which allows scientists to forecast its chemical makeup and predict how it might change over time.
Observation
Astronomical spectroscopy relies on light’s various wavelengths to identify physical properties of celestial bodies, including their chemical composition, temperature, density, mass distance, luminosity and Doppler shift (varying with star proximity to Earth). It reveals their chemical makeup, temperature density mass distance luminosity doppler shift Doppler Shift is also detected and measured during this process.
Astronomers recognize the vital significance of stellar spectra as an invaluable resource in their astronomy research. By studying stellar spectra, one can quickly and efficiently determine a star’s temperature as well as classifying them into their spectral types.
Star spectra are made up of absorption lines caused by low-pressure gases in their photosphere absorbing light from specific sources, like fingerprints for their various elements that compose each star.
Astronomers use absorption line analysis to extract information from these lines. It builds on Kirchoff and Bunsen’s discovery that hot gases in a star’s photosphere possess distinct absorption lines at specific wavelengths, and this technique enables astronomers to decode its meaning.
Researchers then utilized this information to calculate the relative proportions of various elements within stars. They discovered that stars of certain temperatures contained more hydrogen than stars with higher temperatures; this is likely because hydrogen absorbs more light.
Metallicity of stars can provide us with insight into their composition; for instance, two percent of our Sun’s mass comprises elements heavier than hydrogen and helium such as iron and magnesium.
A star’s amount of metals depends on its pressure and temperature within its photosphere. At high pressure levels, elements heavier than hydrogen have narrow lines which make them hard to see in the spectrum; on the other hand, when pressure decreases significantly they become much easier to see within the spectrum.
Analysis
As light passes through a star’s atmosphere, specific wavelengths of its spectrum are absorbed by elements in its gas. Once absorbed, this light reemerges at that same color producing absorption lines in the spectrum.
Early astronomers were able to use stellar spectra as a basis for classifying stars by identifying certain lines as indicative of chemical elements found on Earth laboratory spectra, providing the first estimates of stellar composition. Furthermore, this discovery became the basis for classifying stellar spectral data (see the Spectral Classification section).
Astronomers gradually developed methods for using star spectra to calculate their radii and pressures, due to changes in density of atoms in their photosphere with temperature; these changes produce wider or narrower spectral lines depending on atmospheric pressure in its photosphere.
These effects of pressure and density are known as rotational broadening and translational broadening respectively, and can be measured using the Doppler effect. Line shifts produced by these effects indicate the star’s radial velocity which can then be calculated using its spectrum.
Wien’s Law was the cornerstone of stellar spectral analysis, showing that maximum energy emitted by black body radiators is directly proportional to temperature. This revolutionized spectroscopic analysis, and enabled astronomers to calculate star temperatures with ease by employing Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams.
Spectrum analysis has become an indispensable element of modern astronomical research. Thanks to Annie Cannon and Cecilia Payne – two notable pioneers who pioneered accurate temperature measurements – it has come to serve as one of the cornerstones of scientific inquiry into space. Together their contributions have increased understanding about how stellar spectra can be used to detect and characterize stars.
Classifying stars spectrally depends on the strength of hydrogen absorption lines and other lines caused by chemical elements present in its gaseous environment, most prominent among lower temperature stars; their lines tend to fade away at higher temperatures (Figure 17.5).
Interpretation
Exploration star spectra provide many insights into a star. Astronomers can use them to determine whether its trajectory is moving toward or away from Earth (Figure 5.26).
A spectrum is a continuous band of colors determined by temperature; cool stars have reddish tints while hotter stars display blue hues. Light from stars is then dispersed into their respective spectrums for analysis by means of spectroscopes.
Absorption lines appear in a star’s spectrum and are formed when certain wavelengths of light absorb certain atoms or molecules and cause their energy levels to change, producing dark features in its spectrum.
Astronomers have devised a system for classifying stars that considers the strength of hydrogen absorption lines to classify stars, with stars with strong lines being classified as A stars while those with weaker ones being B stars.
Astronomers use stellar spectra to learn more about what elements exist within a star’s atmosphere and its rotation, providing essential data about how it moves across space.
Astronomers have also devised a method of using spectral lines to calculate distance to stars. Through red shift, astronomers can accurately gauge this measurement by watching how its lines change when approaching or receding from Earth.
This system, first devised in the 19th century by Harvard astronomer Edward Pickering in collaboration with several women, including Annie Jump Cannon, is still in use today.
Star spectra are made up of various chemical species (atoms, ions, and molecules). Each element has specific absorption lines which vary with temperature; when temperatures increase further still, their presence becomes increasingly prominent as do ionized metal and hydrogen lines while their absorption bands diminish over time.
These fluctuations cause a decrease in intensity for each wavelength in a star’s spectrum; this reduction corresponds with how much energy is being emitted at that wavelength, leading to an overall brightness increase for its owner.