Spectrometer

A lot of people are not familiar with spectrometer. A spectrometer is an

instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of
the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to
identify materials. The variable measured is most often the light's intensity
but could also, for instance, be the polarization state. The independent
variable is usually the wavelength of the light or a unit directly proportional
to the photon energy, such as wavenumber or electron volts, which has a
reciprocal relationship to wavelength. A spectrometer is used in
spectroscopy for producing spectral lines and measuring their wavelengths
and intensities. Spectrometer is a term that is applied to instruments that
operate over a very wide range of wavelengths, from gamma rays and Xrays into the far infrared. If the instrument is designed to measure the
spectrum in absolute units rather than relative units, then it is typically
called a spectrophotometer. The majority of spectrophotomers are used in
spectral regions near the visible spectrum. It is typically used to measure wavelengths
of electromagnetic radiation (light) that has interacted with a sample. Incident light can
be reflected off, absorbed by, or transmittedthrough a sample; the way the incident light changes during the
interaction with the sample is characteristic of the sample. A spectrometer measures this change over a
range of incident wavelengths (or at a specific wavelength).

A spectrometer or spectrograph is an instrument attached to a telescope to analyze the radiation

from astronomical objects. It uses a prism or a grating to spread the light from the object into a
spectrum, a rainbow of colours. This allows astronomers to detect many of the chemical elements
by their characteristic fingerprints. Typically these are dark bands in specific locations in the
spectrum caused by energy being absorbed as light passes through an atmosphere of gas. If the
object is glowing by its own light, it will often show bright lines caused by the glowing gas itself.
These lines are named for the elements which cause them, such as the Hydrogen Alpha, Beta,
and Gamma lines. The spectrometer is the most powerful and widely used tool in astronomy
aside from the telescope itself. Almost all of our knowledge of the chemical makeup of the
universe comes from spectra.

A spectrometer is an tool commonly used by astronomers which splits the light

collected by a telescope into its colors. This allows astronomers see the details in the
light from space. Astronomers know how to get a lot of special information about a
space object by studying its light. By using spectrometers, we can find out the
temperature of an object in space, learn which direction it is traveling, find out how
fast it is going, figure out its weight and even find out what it is made of.
Spectrometers help us learn all of this from light!

Spectrometers are ideal for determining compositional makeup for

detecting weak light signals. Spectrometers can also be used to test the
efficiency of an optical filter in order to determine whether a filter has
properly blocked or transmitted specific wavelengths.