Peter Stinner has adjusted our three spectrographs ALPY 600 for the school lab and prepared them for use. They can now be used for spectroscopic observations day and night. Just as thechemist uses the spectroscope in the laboratory to determine an unknown substance, the astronomer uses spectroscopy as a measuringtechnique to analyse starlight. Only in this way is it possible to find out what substances or elements a celestial object contains, whether and how fast the object is moving in space, how fast it rotates, whether a star ejects matter or whether it is surrounded by a gas cloud. Findings of this kind cannot be obtained by simply imaging the celestial object. Because of its great distance, a star remains only a point without structure in a photograph, even in the largest telescopes of the world. Spectroscopy is therefore a method that astronomers must use to make physical processes visible. In the overall technical system, the telescope “only” performs the task of collecting sufficient starlight. The main task of analysis is performed by the spectrometer.
Title image: Solar spectrum with Fraunhofer absorption lines.
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