Questions tagged [spectroscopy]
Questions about the measurement of light waves whereby the wavelength is classified by its position in the electromagnetic spectrum.
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What is an "Off Rowland-circle Telescope"? Are there "On Rowland-circle Telescope" as well?
The NASA Goddard news item NASA to Demonstrate New Star-Watching Technology with Thousands of Tiny Shutters says:
The technology, called the Next-Generation Microshutter Array (NGMSA), will fly for ...
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How will microshutter arrays be used in the James Webb and future space telescopes?
Question: How will microshutter arrays be used in the James Webb and future space telescopes? Are they acting as a sort of moving pinhole or slit, or is the pattern more complicated, like a coded ...
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What does the opacity of a molecular transition mean?
In particular, what does it mean when a line (e.g, emission line in stellar wind) is optically thick or thin. I know what an optically think/thick medium is, but how does this concept compare to ...
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How spectrographs that measure radial velocities manage to translate variations in the stars' spectrum lines into the "speed" of the star?
Like ESPRESSO or CARMENES, for example. I just don't understand the process or the way these spectrographs manage to obtain the velocity of the "wobble" of the star (due to the presence of another ...
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Thermal Doppler broadening
How to plot Doppler profile corresponding to the spectral line? The spectral line was plotted from data: flux with respect to wavelenght and I know the temperature.
These two function are Doppler ...
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How to convert $K_S$ magnitude to $M_K$
My question is how do I convert a magnitude $K_S$, from a system like 2MASS, to $M_K$, and what are the differences. A use of this $M_K$ can be seen on Delfosse et al. (2000) in the $\log(M/M\odot) - ...
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How to model and subtract nebular emission lines from stellar spectrum
I have optical stellar spectra from a star forming region with spatially varying nebular background.
I want to subtract the nebular lines from the stellar spectra (which are varying in intensity from ...
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What equipment do I need to measure the spectrum of a star?
For an amateur astronomer, is it possible to measure the spectrum of a star?
I can easily take a photo of a star just by putting a camera on one end of a telescope and over exposing it.
But I would ...
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What are realistic and unrealistic values for the high energy gamma ray spectral indices of pulsar wind nebulae?
This summer, I was working on a project fitting very high energy gamma ray spectra of the Crab Nebula, a pulsar wind nebula. At energies about $\sim$1 TeV, a simple power law suffices, i.e. $\phi(E)\...
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SDSS Image Download: Swarp returns all zeros
In the CASJOBS Server, I created the following query for galaxies(DR12)
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First spectroscopic detection of Uranus' rotation?
As an undergraduate exercise quite a while ago, we placed the equator of Jupiter's disk across the slit of a high resolution grating spectrometer and then measured the tilt of the resulting line in ...
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Does Nickel show up in spectra of Nova?
Does a nova, not a supernova, get hot enough that nickel is produced despite its formation by fusion being an endothermic reaction? If nickel is made, does it make it out of the star into the nebula?
...
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Relation between oscillator strengths $\log{gf}$ and the Einstein $A$-coefficient, rotational quantum number,
I'm analyzing the spectra of M dwarfs. Some authors characterize the lines with the oscillator strengths $\log{gf}$ while others follow different paths with the Einstein $A$-coefficient. I would like ...
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Where can I find a good solar irradiance chart for the infrared?
I'm trying to understand the results of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter vs the Mars Express in terms of their abilities to find methane on the surface of Mars. The solution that I'm coming to is that it ...
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Examples of absorption lines for main sequence stars
Where might I find a detailed table or figure containing the absorption lines and their corresponding wavelengths for each type of main sequence star?
I'm trying to get the chemical abundance of ...
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Exposure time for spectroscopy compared to photometry
For a report I'm writing, I'm interested in comparing the exposure time required for spectroscopy versus photometry for a given magnitude. I found the figures on pages 7 and 8 of this lecture ...
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Recording Spectral Lines at Home
I was wondering if it would be possible to record the emission/absorption spectra of stars without expensive spectroscopy equipment. Would it be possible to somehow utilize diffraction grating? I own ...
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what/how do we mean/derive statistical equilibrium equation of certain energy levels?
While reading the research paper "Excitation of the Fe XIII Spectrum in the Solar Corona" by D.R. Flower and G. Pineau des Forets in the summary I found the concept of statistical equilibrium equation ...
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Why a blue spot in some hubble images of NGC 4302?
In some images with coloring like in this one:
There is a noticeably bluer region in the "bottom left" of the image, and the bottom part of the galaxy on the left. Being an inexperienced galaxy ...
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Extracting kinematics from stellar spectra. Why are template stellar spectra necessary?
I am trying to understand how to extract stellar velocity and velocity dispersion maps from spectral cubes, but with no success so far. To be more precise, I do not understand why people use stellar ...
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Reference: First spectrographic observations by Fraunhofer
In several books I find reported that the first scientist to perform spectrographic observations of celestial objects was Fraunhofer with the spectrographs he himself produced. I do not find though a ...
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Strong orange line in wood fire spectrum?
I just built a DIY spectroscope using a CD and after making some tests, I noticed a really strong emission line located in the orange-yellowish zone of the fire spectrum (specifically, burning wood).
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How do you fit a model SED to an observed galaxy spectrum with photometric data?
I have a spectrum of a galaxy from HST data and SDSS data (resulting in a nearly continuous SED from the FUV~1000 Angstroms through infrared). I have created a model SED with the galaxy simulation ...
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How do we know that the mass ratio of hydrogen and helium in the sun is approximately 3:1?
From what I learnt, we can find what elements are in the sun by analysing spectrums since each elements has same emission spectrum, and when you look at the sun's spectrum, you can see absorption ...
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Correction to inverse square law for cosmology
While reading about the discovery of quasars and the spectroscopic analysis of 3C 273 in this paper by Maarten Schmidt, I came across the following quote:
At these distances, corrections to ...
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How to estimate uncertainty of measurements of equivalent widths?
I'm measuring equivalent widths of absorption lines using a spectrum of a star. I make two or three measurements of each line by making reasonable gaussian fits of the line with IRAF's splot tool. ...
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Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observing modes
I have been reading some literature on using the HST to take spectra of exoplanet atmospheres when exoplanets transit in front of their stars. The literature mention two modes of observations, '...
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Delete key does not always work in IRAF's xgterm on Mac
Sometimes it does not let me delete text in an xgterm terminal and outputs ^H instead.
Example:
Run IRAF:
xgterm -e cl
It opens the xgterm, there I type:
<...
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What is the dimensions of the smallest object detectable by an optical fiber from a specific distance?
Optical fibers are well-known to observe astronomical objects, say, galaxies, to generate massive spectroscopic surveys. The galaxies are often very far from the optical fibers of a telescope. However,...
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Doppler Spectroscopy - Finding mass of an exoplanet
An astronomer, T observed the spectrum of a distant star X. The spectral lines were observed to have tiny blueshifts and redshifts regularly with a period of 1.27 years. T concluded that the star is ...
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Spectra and star identification [duplicate]
Are stellar spectra unique enough that they could be used to identify particular stars? If so, has any attempt been made to use them for navigation or equipment alignment?
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What might a CN filter be in the context of comet watching? Is it showing dust, or gas, or something else?
In this post on the website for the Comet Wirtanen Observing Campaign at wirtanen.astro.umd.edu, there's mention of a CN filter being used to observe the comet, and this cool GIF.
What exactly is a ...
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Help understanding the false MRO observations of hydrated minerals on Mars
The Science News article An orbiter glitch may mean some signs of liquid water on Mars aren’t real begins:
Some signs of water on Mars may have just dried up.
Thanks to the way data from NASA’s Mars ...
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What was the "optical illusion" that led to erroneous metal concentrations in stellar atmospheres in the galactic center?
Articles summarizing a recent result about certain heavy element concentrations in stars near the galactic center all say that earlier reports about high levels in stellar atmospheres were the product ...
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What is a pupil slicer, and how does it work with anamorphic optics in VLT's ESPRESSO Echelle spectrograph?
This excellent answer points to ESPRESSO, - Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations. From there I looked at the Instrument Description and Performance page.
...
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Why does D4000 affect stellar age?
From my understanding D4000 is a ratio between the 'flux densities between 4050 and 4250 Angstroms and that between 3750 and 3950 Angstrom', from Poggianti et al (1997). However I do not understand ...
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Why is $H_\delta$ prominent in type A stars?
I understand factually that H$\delta$ lines are most prominent in type A stars and less so in more extreme types of stars on the H-R diagram. However I was wondering the reason for why they are not ...
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What does the ']' in the spectral line "CIII] 1909 Å" mean?
The above emission line, as I understand, is a useful probe of early star-forming galaxies.
However, I do not understand what the ']' to the right of the 'CIII' means.
I could not find any online ...
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At what speed does something have to travel away from us for it to red shift enough that it becomes invisible to the human eye?
Are there stars, galaxies etc that we cannot see because they are traveling too fast and their spectrum is shifted below our visible range? From what I understand, red shift is caused by stars and ...
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Redshifting restframe SED
I have a template spectral energy distribution (SED) at z=0. I want to shift the template SED to an arbitrary redshift (z>0), how to do this in python?
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How is IR spectroscopy used to determine the composition of asteroids?
I am trying to understand how spectrometers or spectroscopy can be used to calculate the surface composition of asteroids for the purposes of asteroid mining.
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absorption line from the chromosphere
If I understand correctly, the H-alpha and Ca II K lines are absorption lines of the sun and allow to see the chromosphere. Following the Kirchhoff-Bunsen law, an absorption line is produced by a gas ...
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Determining line ratios in planetary nebula
I know that the line strength ratio tells us how hot the electron plasma in a nebula is, and also give information about the electron densities in the nebula. But how do you compute the line ratios? ...
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Where can I find a database of elemental spectra? [closed]
I know that spectroscopy can be used to analyze the light of stars to determine the elements causing their emissions in the visible spectrum, but this requires knowing the emission spectra of the ...
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What spectral feature was used to confirm that S0-2 is "single and available"? What is Brγ?
The Phys.org article Astronomers discover S0-2 star is single and ready for big Einstein test describes the results of a careful analysis of radial velocity measurements of the star S0-2, which orbits ...
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How does an Echelle spectrograph put such a long, high resolution spectrum into a square-ish format?
In order to obtain a very high resolution spectrum to resolve closely spaced lines, or to measure doppler shits, spectrographs are operated with very high dispersion.
But photographic plates and CCDs ...
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Need help understanding stellar spectroscopy data from ESO
The European Southern Observatory webpage has a web page that has tabular spectrogram data from A. J. Pickles, University of Hawaii. There are over 130 .dat files there. Each one represents a ...
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Stellar electromagnetic signatures
By using only the electromagnetic signature of a star, could a star be distinguished with reliable accuracy from any other star?
To elaborate a little, say we have a collection of about 200,000 stars. ...
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How are the ESPRESSO Echelle spectrograph's calibration "lines" produced?
The CBC News Technology and Science Q&A This ESPRESSO machine doesn't make coffee but scans the skies for habitable planets includes a nice description of ESPRESSO (Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky ...
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How does the ESPRESSO Echelle spectrograph fold the spectrum so nicely?
The CBC News Technology and Science Q&A This ESPRESSO machine doesn't make coffee but scans the skies for habitable planets includes a nice description of ESPRESSO (Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky ...
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