An Analysis of the Information from Light Spectrum of Stars

Author Name : Amritaansh Srivastava

ABSTRACT

The light spectrum of stars is the electromagnetic spectrum of the light emitted by the stars. When the electrons of elements absorb energy in the form of light, they “jump” up an orbit. When the electrons come back to their initial orbit, the emit the absorbed light. The spectrum of this light is known as the emission spectrum. The spectrum of the light coming from the star excluding the lines absorbed by the star is known as the absorption spectrum, i.e., the exact opposite of the emission spectrum. Both the emission and absorption spectra are then observed to identify what element make up the star.

The spectra of stars can provide cues about the star’s temperature, constituent elements and much more. Spectra of stars, therefore, can prove to be very helpful to astronomers. This paper aims to analyse the spectra of a few stars and to extract available information from them.